Changes from plenary report to adopted text

67. Acknowledges the important role of Serbia in the Western Balkans region, while strongly condemning any actions or attempts aimed at asserting a sphere of influence that would undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries;

68. Recalls that the normalisation of relations with Kosovo and implementation of all agreements reached within the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue remain an integral part and a fundamental and necessary component of Serbia's European perspective; stresses that concrete, lasting and verifiable progress in this area is vital in order to strengthen regional stability and advance the country's European perspective; emphasises that normalisation cannot be seen as a secondary concern, but must remain an absolute political priority; underlines the importance of further strengthening the EU’s facilitation efforts between the parties with a view to overcoming the current stalemate;

69. Reiterates that good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation remain essential elements of the enlargement process; stresses the importance of Serbia developing good neighbourly relations, in particular by implementing agreements with EU Member States;

70. Underlines that European integration cannot go hand in hand with the concept of the ‘Serbian World’, which aims to undermine peace and stability in the region; stresses that such narratives run counter to the principles of good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation, which are core elements of the EU accession process; underlines that such narratives threaten the process of normalisation of relations with the Republic of Kosovo; calls on the Serbian authorities to refrain from rhetoric and actions that may fuel regional tensions;

71. Strongly condemns recurring instances of hate speech, hostile rhetoric and inflammatory narratives directed at its neighbouring countries, in particular Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo and Albania, including by public officials and media outlets; underlines that such discourse is incompatible with European values and undermines trust, reconciliation and regional stability; calls on the Serbian authorities to actively counter hate speech, ensure accountability, and promote a climate of respect and constructive dialogue in the region;

72. Reiterates its call to improve the quality of the dialogue process through the participation of women, increased transparency towards the public, and the meaningful involvement of civil society;

73. Reiterates its full support for the EU-facilitated Dialogue and welcomes the extended mandate of Peter Sørensen as the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue until 29 February 2028;

74. Reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of Kosovo and Serbia in order to advance the implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation and the implementation annex thereto, which remains valid and legally binding on both parties; calls on both Kosovo and Serbia to implement the Brussels and Ohrid Agreements in full, including through the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities and the lifting of Serbia’s opposition to Kosovo’s membership of regional and international organisations, and to avoid unilateral actions that could undermine the dialogue process;

75. Condemns the repeated negative, aggressive and chauvinistic rhetoric from Serbian political leaders directed at neighbouring countries and peoples, which undermines efforts to establish good neighbourly relations, including regarding the unconstitutional celebration of Republika Srpska Day, which threatens the stability and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina; calls on Serbia to refrain from escalatory narratives and ensure that its security and defence policies are aligned with European values and respect good neighbourly relations;

76. Condemns the aggressive and inflammatory rhetoric used by the President of Serbia against neighbours when claiming, without evidence, that Croatia, Albania and Kosovo were preparing to attack Serbia, and using this as a pretext to purchase Chinese supersonic missiles;

77. Regrets the fact that Serbia continues its attempts to isolate its neighbouring country Kosovo from the international scene by campaigning against its recognition or by excluding the country from international organisations; calls on Serbia to stop opposing Kosovo’s application to become a member of the Council of Europe, which contradicts the 2013 agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on the normalisation of relations;

78. Calls on Serbia to take a more active approach to tackling war crime denial and historical revisionism, particularly concerning the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo; calls on the Serbian authorities to achieve justice for victims by recognising and respecting court verdicts on war crimes, fighting against impunity for wartime crimes and supporting domestic prosecutors in bringing perpetrators to justice; strongly condemns the widespread public denials of international verdicts for war crimes, including the denial of the Srebrenica genocide; calls for the denial of war crimes and the glorification of war criminals to be included in the Criminal Code, with a view to prosecuting any form of denial of war crimes determined by the verdicts of the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice;

79. Regrets the fact that Serbia has not demonstrated a genuine commitment to addressing its past and effectively investigating and prosecuting war crimes, as reflected in its failure to indict high-level suspects, the absence of a Chief Public Prosecutor for War Crimes since 2023, and the widespread public denial of international war crimes verdicts, including the denial of the Srebrenica genocide; deplores the continued promotion of convicted war criminals by the ruling party and through pro-governmental media outlets, which provides them the space for historical revisionism and hate speech;

80. Reiterates its position on the importance of opening and publishing wartime archives, and reiterates its call for the former Yugoslav archives to be opened up and, in particular, for access to be guaranteed to the files of the former Yugoslav secret service (UDBA) and the Yugoslav People’s Army Counterintelligence Service (KOS), and for the files to be returned to the respective successor governments if they so request;

81. Underlines the need for a meaningful regional cooperation in handling of war crimes by avoiding conflicts of jurisdictions and ensuring that war crimes are prosecuted without any discrimination, underlining that all outstanding issues in this regard must be fully resolved;

82. Notes that unresolved ‘missing persons’ cases remain a serious challenge and significant obstacle to normalisation of relations; urges Serbia to step up its reconciliation efforts and take a more active approach; calls on Serbia to fully cooperate with the judicial authorities of the EU Member States in their investigations into war crimes, including those involving crimes against missing persons, and to provide all relevant information that would enable their identification; calls for meaningful bilateral cooperation with the other states concerned through the swift exchange of information, including through access of documentation and archives and through resolution of cases of missing persons, the settlement of succession matters, the prosecution of war crimes and the return of cultural property; urges Serbia to finally adopt its long-announced law on missing persons in a truly inclusive and transparent manner;

83. Condemns the use of the Serbian Orthodox Church as an extension of Serbian influence across the region and calls on religious leaders in the country to promote messages that foster good neighbourly relations and understanding among different countries and religions in the region, as well as to contribute actively to preventing a culture of confrontation; calls for the protection of religious minorities in Serbia and Kosovo and for access to places of worship to be ensured;

Socio-economic reforms

84. Recalls that support from the Reform and Growth Plan is conditional on respect for effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary system, free and fair elections, pluralistic media, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, the fulfilment of all human rights obligations, and constructive engagement in the normalisation of relations with Kosovo; notes with concern that in January 2026, the Commission nevertheless approved the first release of funds to Serbia under the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans; calls on the Commission to explain how the preconditions were fulfilled; notes that providing funds to Serbia sends the wrong message to other countries seeking EU membership, suggesting that EU funds can be obtained without genuine progress on accession-related reforms; believes that European funding should better support the country’s democratic reforms; calls for the relevant existing and future EU funding to be reprogrammed to redirect more funds towards supporting judicial reforms, anti-corruption measures, independent media and civil society organisations and the independent cultural sector, in order to support their critical work; stresses that support channelled through the Serbian Government should be suspended immediately given the absence of clear and credible progress in the areas of the rule of law, media freedom and electoral conditions;

85. Notes that the EU accession process is based on the approximation of national legislation with the EU acquis; stresses the need for further efforts in implementing public financial management and public administration reforms and in addressing continued administrative capacity constraints through sustained EU investment in high-quality capacity development and knowledge-sharing frameworks; calls on Serbia to step up efforts and increase investment in the socio-economic development of its border regions to address depopulation and ensure that residents have access to essential services, including professional opportunities, healthcare and education;

86. Calls for the EU and the Western Balkan countries to establish a framework for cooperation between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and its Western Balkan counterparts and swiftly conclude bilateral working arrangement with the EPPO in order to ensure that the EPPO can effectively exercise its competences on IPA III and Western Balkan Facility funds in the recipient countries; calls for funding under future Global Europe to be disbursed under strict rule of law conditionality;

87. Expresses concern about the scale and scope of contracts awarded that are exempted from the existing legislative framework on public procurement;

88. Welcomes the Commission’s proposal to open negotiations with Serbia and other Western Balkan countries with a view to their integration into the EU’s ‘roam like at home’ regime; emphasises that extending the ‘roam like at home’ area to the Western Balkans would deliver tangible benefits to citizens and businesses alike, fostering people-to-people contacts, boosting economic ties, supporting educational exchanges and facilitating tourism; calls for the swift adoption of the negotiating mandates and the timely conclusion of bilateral agreements with the Western Balkan partners;

89. Welcomes the fact that banks in Serbia officially began executing cross-border euro transactions through the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) system;

90. Notes with regret the demographic challenges faced by Serbia due to an ageing population and low birth rates, exacerbated by a youth exodus driven by political uncertainties and socio-economic difficulties;

91. Calls on Serbia to strengthen occupational health and safety protections by adopting specific national policies on psychosocial and emerging risks, including in the gig and platform economy, and by ensuring that workers have an effective right to disconnect; calls on Serbia to ensure that domestic workers are fully covered by occupational health and safety legislation and effectively protected in practice, including through adequate labour inspection and enforcement mechanisms; calls on Serbia to ensure equal pay between women and men by adopting effective measures capable of delivering measurable progress in reducing the gender pay gap;

92. Calls on Serbia to bring its legislation on the right to strike into line with ILO standards; calls on Serbia to step up efforts to reduce the gender employment gap and to promote measurable progress in the representation of women in executive positions;

93. Notes that social dialogue and social partner consultation remains weak and calls on the authorities to strengthen collective bargaining, in law and practice, and to use the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans to support capacity building for the social partners; notes that the disbursement of the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans must remain conditional on the involvement of social partners in drawing up the Reform Agenda;

94. Reiterates the need for Serbia to strengthen transparency regarding the examination of foreign direct investments;

Energy, the environment, sustainable development and connectivity

95. Notes the politically sensitive developments regarding the oil and gas company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) and the transformation of its ownership structure, in the context of the sanctions imposed by the United States and NIS’s majority ownership by the Russian companies Gazprom and Gazprom Neft; notes the engagement and support of the EU and Croatia to find a sustainable solution to this crisis; takes the view that it is an essential security policy objective for Serbia to wean itself off Russian energy;

96. Calls on the Serbian authorities to urgently step up efforts to diversify gas supply sources, including through enhanced regional interconnectivity, investments in renewable energy and alignment with the EU’s energy diversification strategy; regrets the fact that despite Serbia’s efforts to diversify its energy supply away from Russia, recent talks have led to a new gas import deal with Russia, undermining the country’s progress towards alignment with EU energy policy and raising serious questions about Serbia’s commitment to reducing its strategic dependence on Russian energy sources; notes that energy diversification can be viewed as part of the strategic orientation of the country;

97. Reiterates the importance of protecting environmental standards in Serbia, particularly with regard to mining projects, while fully respecting the rights of local communities;

98. Calls on Serbia to properly and transparently scrutinise and evaluate inward foreign direct investment, particularly in terms of environmental standards and sustainability; expresses concern over the reported environmental degradation and social impact linked to large-scale extractive projects, and about the serious environmental and public health impacts of mining and industrial activities involving Chinese investors, which has led to intensified exploitation of copper, gold and other rare materials in the municipalities of Bor and Majdanpek; stresses that Serbia must fully safeguard its constitutional order, ensure strict compliance with environmental standards and protect the rights of local and national minority communities when approving and implementing such projects; calls on the Serbian authorities to ensure full transparency, accountability and due diligence in public procurement, privatisation and concession processes involving foreign state-owned companies, including Chinese contractors;

99. Is concerned about the recent blockades at border crossings into the Schengen Area by professional drivers from Western Balkan countries in relation to the implementation of the EU Entry-Exit System (EES), threatening the livelihood of people in the candidate countries and potentially disrupting supply chains in the EU; calls on the Commission, in close cooperation with the Member States, to assess possible pragmatic and legally sound solutions that balance operational realities in the transport sector with the need to preserve the integrity of the Schengen acquis, ensuring appropriate safeguards and preventing any abuse;

100. Calls on Serbia to increase its efforts towards the transposition of the relevant environmental and climate acquis and to ensure the proper application of environmental protection standards; urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and environmental impact assessment of all investments, including those from China and Russia; welcomes the adoption of the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and the Law on Strategic Environmental Assessment; stresses, however, that effective implementation remains essential, in particular in terms of ensuring that all projects are subject to full and transparent assessment procedures, that public participation is meaningful and timely, and that no administrative practices allow projects to bypass comprehensive environmental scrutiny;

101. Calls on Serbia to accelerate its alignment with the Birds and Habitats Directives and to significantly step up efforts to identify and pre-designate sites for the Natura 2000 network with a view to meeting core obligations under Chapter 27, and to expand and effectively manage protected areas, including by strengthening enforcement against wildlife crime; expresses concern about increasing pressures from extractive industries on high-value biodiversity areas, including protected areas and old-growth forest ecosystems; reiterates its regret over the lack of action on pollution, including of the River Dragovishtitsa, by mines operating in the region and the detrimental effect on the health of the local people and the environment;

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102. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the President of the European Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and to have this resolution translated into Serbian and forward it to the President, Government and National Assembly of Serbia.