Serbia continues to sufficiently fulfil the political criteria, but it still needs to implement comprehensive reforms and focus on the fundamentals first, in particular on the rule of law, including the full exercise of freedom of expression, public administration reform, together with economic governance, said 2014 European Commission Progress Report on Serbia.
“Economic and structural reforms have started although last May’s catastrophic floods further worsened the fiscal situation, which remains to be consolidated as a matter of priority,” the report said.
The Commission concluded that “it is also crucial for Serbia to continue its commitment to regional cooperation and normalisation of relations with Kosovo through continuous implementation in good faith of all agreements reached in the dialogue.”
“The Serbian government remained actively engaged towards the goal of EU accession, and demonstrated preparedness and dedication in the first phase of the negotiations process”, the report said.
Calling on a dedication to comprehensive reforms, the Commission said that “constitutional reforms early on in the new legislature would represent decisive progress in the accession negotiations.”
“In the foreign and security policy area, Serbia also needs to progressively align its policies and positions with the EU ones, in the period up to accession,” the report said.
The Commission called on Serbia to progressively align its policies and positions with the EU ones, in the period up to accession.
Serbia needs to step up its efforts “towards alignment with the EU acquis in particular in the fields of energy – including on the South Stream gas pipeline,” it said.
“Urgent parliamentary procedure should be limited to cases where it is strictly necessary,” the Commission said, urging for a follow up of recommendations of the independent regulatory bodies.
It also called for the “implementation of the 2013-2018 strategies on judicial reform and fight against corruption are at an early stage and needs to be backed by strong monitoring and coordination mechanisms.”
“Significant efforts are still needed to address the very high budget deficit, by streamlining government spending, restoring fiscal discipline and improving tax collection,” the report said.
The Pride Parade in Belgrade which took place on 28 September without major incident is an important milestone for the effective exercise of human rights in general and LGBTI rights in particular, the report said.
