Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

This report provides Parliament’s response to the 2023 and 2024 European Commission Reports on Serbia, reflecting recent events in the country marked by concerns over the state of democracy and the rule of law.

Serbia has been advancing towards EU accession since 2012, when it received candidate country status. Since the opening of Serbia’s accession negotiations in January 2014, 22 out of 35 chapters have been opened. All chapters in cluster 1 on the fundamentals and all chapters in cluster 4 on the Green agenda and sustainable connectivity have been opened. Two chapters have provisionally been closed. In June 2021, Serbia accepted the revised enlargement methodology.

Despite some progress in negotiations, Serbia still has major hurdles to overcome: improving internal political dialogue, rule of law and anti-corruption reforms, reaching a comprehensive normalisation agreement with Kosovo, and full alignment with EU foreign policy.

Ensuring the independence of key institutions, including media regulators such as the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), and full implementation of all outstanding and recent recommendations by the OSCE/ODIHR and the Council of Europe bodies on electoral reform in a transparent and inclusive process and well ahead of any new elections, remain of critical importance.