Changes from resolution motion to resolution motion joint

RemovedB90108/2024

AddedMotion for a European Parliament resolution on the situation in Serbia following the elections

RemovedEuropean Parliament resolution on the situation in Serbia following the elections

▸4 unchanged paragraphs

(2024/2521(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Serbia, in particular that of 10 May 2023 on the 2022 Commission Report on Serbia,

– having regard to the EU’s previous statements on Serbia, in particular the joint statement by High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi of 19 December 2023 on the parliamentary elections,

Removed– having regard to Serbia’s application for EU membership, submitted on 19 December 2009,

Added– having regard to the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions of the international election observation mission (I-EOM) to the early parliamentary elections in Serbia of 17 December 2023,

Removed– having regard to the Commission opinion of 12 October 2011 on Serbia’s application for membership of the European Union (COM(2011)0668), the European Council’s decision of 1 March 2012 to grant Serbia candidate status and the European Council’s decision of 27-28 June 2013 to open EU accession negotiations with Serbia,

Added– having regard to the joint opinion of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) / Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Venice Commission of 19 December 2022 on the constitutional and legal framework governing the functioning of democratic institutions in Serbia – electoral law and electoral administration,

Removed– having regard to the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) international election observation mission of 18 December 2023 on the early parliamentary elections of 17 December 2023 in Serbia,

Removed– having regard to the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the ODIHR of 20 December 2022 on the constitutional and legal framework governing the functioning of democratic institutions in Serbia –Electoral law and electoral administration,

– having regard to the election observation report of the Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of 17 January 2024 entitled ‘Observation of the early parliamentary elections in Serbia (17 December 2023)’,

Change 1

Removed– having regard to the outcomes of its co-facilitated parliamentary dialogue process in Serbia,

Added– having regard to the speech on the elections in Serbia of 17 January 2024 delivered by the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, on behalf of the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR), Josep Borrell, in the Parliament plenary,

Removed– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

Added– having regard to the open letter on the post-election situation in Serbia signed by the chairs of the Committees on Foreign Affairs of several EU countries,

RemovedA. whereas on 1 November 2023, the President of Serbia misused demands by the opposition for early elections to dissolve the parliament; whereas he scheduled early parliamentary elections for 17 December 2023;

Added– having regard to its co-facilitated parliamentary dialogue process in Serbia,

RemovedB. whereas since 2012, all parliamentary elections in Serbia but one have been early elections; whereas the December elections were the third parliamentary elections in less than four years;

Added– having regard to Serbia’s 2006 Constitution and its 2022 Law on Election of Members of Parliament,

RemovedC. whereas following the sudden and simultaneous resignation of 65 mayors from the ruling party, including the Mayor of Belgrade, and the Assembly of the Autonomous region of Vojvodina’s decision to dissolve itself, early local elections in a third of Serbia’s municipalities and provincial elections were called for the same day, 17 December 2023; whereas the Serbian opposition saw the early local elections as a tool for the current government to use to consolidate power and as a misuse of the voting rights of local communities;

Added– having regard to the European Court of Auditors special report 01/2022 of 10 January 2022 entitled ‘EU support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans: despite efforts, fundamental problems persist’,

RemovedD. whereas the elections unfolded amid heightened social polarisation and intense competition among contrasting political agendas; whereas they were marked by an unprecedented level of negative campaigning and fearmongering, as well as attacks against the opposition and journalists;

Added– having regard to Rules 132(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

RemovedE. whereas a number of concerns about respect for freedom of expression and intimidation and harassment of civil rights activists, LGBTI+ persons, other human rights defenders and journalists remained unaddressed in the lead up to the elections;

AddedA. whereas following the mass shootings in Belgrade and near Mladenovac in May 2023, mass protests under the slogan ‘Serbia against violence’ were organised across Serbia; whereas on 1 November 2023, the President of Serbia cited demands by the opposition for early elections to dissolve the parliament; whereas he scheduled early parliamentary elections for 17 December 2023;

RemovedF. whereas the overall subdued campaign was characterised by even more extreme polarisation, aggressive rhetoric, personal discreditation, verbal abuse and inflammatory language; whereas pressure on public sector employees, misuse of public resources and voter inducement schemes raised concerns about voters’ abilities to make a choice free from undue pressure; whereas these practices, in addition to some challenges in accessing public venues for the opposition, tilted the playing field and blurred the line between the state and the governing party, at odds with international standards;

AddedB. whereas since 2012, all parliamentary elections in Serbia but one have been early elections; whereas these were the third parliamentary elections in less than four years;

RemovedG. whereas the campaign was dominated by incumbent President Aleksandar Vučić, who while not a candidate for these elections, assumed a central role in campaigning through heavy involvement in Serbian Progressive Party events, televised campaign appearances and billboards, which provided an undue advantage to his party; whereas numerous opposition representatives raised concerns that the list for the Serbian Progressive Party-led coalition (‘Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia Must Not Stop’) was named after Mr Vučić, which, along with the use of his name and image for the campaign, challenged the constitutional principle that the president should ‘express the state unity of the Republic of Serbia’;

AddedC. whereas following the sudden and simultaneous resignation of 65 mayors from the ruling party, including the Mayor of Belgrade, and the Assembly of the Autonomous region of Vojvodina’s decision to dissolve itself, despite stable majorities, early local elections in a third of Serbia’s municipalities and provincial elections in Vojvodina were called for the same day, 17 December 2023; whereas it is not good, long-standing practice to hold partial local and parliamentary elections on the same day; whereas numerous observers see the early partial local elections as a tool for the consolidation of power by the current government and a misuse of the voting rights of local communities;

AddedD. whereas the elections unfolded amid heightened social polarisation and intense competition among contrasting political agendas; whereas they were marked by an unprecedented level of negative campaigning and fearmongering, as well as attacks against political opponents and journalists;

AddedE. whereas prior to the election day, Serbia had failed to implement key recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission, including those on ensuring a level playing field, measures to prevent the misuse of public office and state resources, separation between official duties and campaign activities, and effective mechanisms to prevent intimidation and pressure on voters, including vote buying;

AddedF. whereas the overall campaign was characterised by even more extreme polarisation, aggressive rhetoric, personal discreditation, verbal abuse and inflammatory language; whereas pressure on public sector employees, misuse of public resources and voter inducement schemes raised concerns about voters’ abilities to make a choice free from undue pressure; whereas these practices, in addition to some challenges in accessing public venues for the opposition, tilted the playing field and blurred the line between the state and the governing party, at odds with international standards; whereas Russian-sponsored outlets Sputnik Serbia and Russia Today Balkan actively contributed to spreading disinformation, essentially about opposition candidates;

AddedG. whereas the campaign was overwhelmingly dominated by the incumbent President Vučić, who despite not being a candidate for these elections, assumed a central role in daily campaigning through heavy involvement in events of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS); whereas the SNS-led list was named after Mr Vučić;

AddedH. whereas the campaign and electronic media oversight bodies remained largely ineffective in deterring violations during the election period;

AddedI. whereas an I-EOM was conducted by the OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament in order to determine whether the elections complied with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections and with national legislation;

AddedJ. whereas voter lists were updated through the unified voter register and the final number of voters stood at 6 500 666; whereas it was alleged that numerous deceased persons remained on the register;

AddedK. whereas voter turnout was 58.58 %, slightly higher than for the previous elections, held in 2022;

AddedL. whereas despite the fact that 43 % of the 2 817 parliamentary candidates were women and that efforts to promote women’s participation have been made, women remain generally under-represented in elected and appointed offices;

M. whereas the elections were, overall, conducted smoothly, but the day was marked by numerous procedural deficiencies, including the inconsistent application of safeguards during voting and counting, frequent instances of overcrowding, breaches in secrecy of the vote, numerous instances of group voting and isolated physical attacks;

Change 2

RemovedI. whereas the main allegations of irregularities during election day concern Belgrade in particular, where ‘phantom voters’ from other Serbian municipalities that were not holding elections that day, as well as from neighbouring countries, most notably Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), were being registered by the authorities at apartments where they did not live; whereas there were multiple allegations of voters living abroad being organised and bussed to Serbia by the ruling party to cast their ballots for local elections in Belgrade; whereas even government officials and politicians from BiH openly voted in Belgrade local elections; whereas the Serbian Government has defended this practice as legitimate;

AddedN. whereas according to the Serbian Republic Election Commission (REC) the SNS won 46.75 % of the votes, while the largest opposition coalition, ‘Serbia against Violence’ won 23.66 %, the Socialist Party of Serbia won 6.55 %, the NADA coalition won 5.02 %, ‘We – the Voice of the People’ won 4.69 % and five minority lists won a combined total of 3.68 %;

RemovedJ. whereas other substantive allegations of irregularities include vote buying, media bias, pressure on public sector employees, misuse of public resources, intimidation and ballot-stuffing;

AddedO. whereas the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions of the I-EOM highlighted that ‘the 17 December early parliamentary elections, though technically well-administered and offering voters a choice of political alternatives, were dominated by the decisive involvement of the President which together with the ruling party’s systemic advantages created unjust conditions’; whereas the OSCE/ODIHR final report is expected to be published in the coming weeks;

Change 3

ChangedK.P. whereas the internationalmain allegations of irregularities during election observationday missionconcern concludedBelgrade that,in althoughparticular, Serbia’swhere early‘phantom parliamentaryvoters’ electionsfrom offeredother votersSerbian amunicipalities choicethat betweenwere politicalnot alternativesholding andelections thethat freedomsday, ofas expressionwell andas assemblyfrom neighbouring countries, were generallybeing respected,registered by the electionsauthorities wereat marredapartments bywhere isolatedthey instancesdid ofnot violence,live; proceduralwhereas irregularitiesthere andwere frequentmultiple allegations of voters living abroad being organised and bussed to Serbia to supportby the ruling party into cast their ballots for local elections;elections in Belgrade;

Change 4

RemovedL. whereas the Serbian authorities have so far refused to investigate these claims of irregularities and have instead tried to discredit and intimidate the election observers who published accounts of the irregularities;

AddedQ. whereas Serbian civil society organisation CRTA carried out an in-depth analysis, based on limited data and resources, and made the very conservative estimate is that inaccuracies in the voter register account for at least 30 000 voters; whereas they have firm evidence that this inaccuracy was part of a strategy of illegal and illegitimate electoral engineering to influence the election results and distort the will of the voters; whereas people were being transported from all over Serbia and abroad (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro) to vote in municipal elections in Belgrade; whereas even government officials and politicians from BiH openly voted in the Belgrade municipal elections; whereas the Serbian Government has defended this practice as legitimate;

RemovedM. whereas the opposition challenged the results of the elections, especially the local elections in Belgrade, leading to large demonstrations initiated by the Serbia Against Violence coalition and the non-partisan association ProGlas; whereas one of the leaders of Serbia Against Violence, Marinika Tepić, conducted a 13-day hunger strike, which was later joined by other opposition members;

AddedR. whereas other substantive allegations of irregularities include vote buying, media bias, pressure on public sector employees and socially vulnerable groups, misuse of public resources, intimidation and ballot-stuffing;

RemovedN. whereas a protest on 24 December 2023 turned violent when protesters stormed the Belgrade City Assembly, after which police arrested 38 people, including students, who were prosecuted for challenging the constitutional order; whereas several peaceful demonstrators claimed that masked hooligans had infiltrated the demonstrations; whereas the peaceful demonstrators also denounced the police’s disproportionate use of violence; whereas Prime Minister Ana Brnabić publicly thanked the Russian security services for the information they had provided on the protests;

AddedS. whereas the Serbian authorities deny any irregularities; whereas both the Serbian President and Kremlin-controlled media have alleged that other countries have interfered in the electoral process in Serbia in brutal ways, but have not provided substantiated evidence for these claims; whereas Prime Minister Brnabić publicly thanked the Russian intelligence services for providing information on the planned activities of the opposition; whereas the dissemination of Russian disinformation and narratives are a profound and persistent problem in Serbia, in particular during election campaigns; whereas the Kremlin has condemned the public protests against Serbia’s defrauded general elections as Western attempts to overthrow the government and orchestrate another ‘Maidan coup’;

RemovedO. whereas in this highly polarised political climate, independent journalists do not receive sufficient access to information and are often attacked by members of the ruling party; whereas the dissemination of Russian disinformation and narratives are a profound and persistent problem in Serbia, in particular during election campaigns;

AddedT. whereas independent Serbian organisations denouncing the irregularities during the recent elections have been subjected to continuous attacks from government officials; whereas despite the fact that they brought to light a lot of concrete evidence pointing to election fraud, the Serbian authorities have so far refused to investigate these claims of irregularities and have instead tried to discredit and intimidate the election observers who published accounts of the irregularities; whereas since the elections, leading Serbian politicians, including the President, have unjustly vilified Members of the European Parliament and other members of the I-EOM;

Removed1. Deplores the fact that the Serbian parliamentary and local elections held on 17 December 2023 deviated from international standards and Serbia’s commitments to free and fair elections, owing to the incumbents’ persistent and systematic abuse of institutions in order to gain an unfair and undue advantage;

AddedU. whereas the results of the elections, especially the municipal elections in Belgrade, were challenged by the opposition, leading to large peaceful demonstrations initiated by the opposition coalition ‘Serbia against Violence’ and the non-partisan association ProGlas to demand the annulment of the elections and the holding of a new ballot; whereas the REC has rejected the opposition’s complaints; whereas the opposition has called for the annulment of the election results before the Constitutional Court due to allegations of widespread fraud;

Removed2. Notes with serious concern the extensive evidence of irregularities collected by the international and domestic observers showing illegal activities leading up to and during election day, which altered the outcome of the elections; notes that this critically impacted the results of the Belgrade city elections, in particular, and seriously undermined the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections;

AddedV. whereas a protest on 24 December 2023 turned violent when some of the protesters stormed the Belgrade City Assembly, after which police arrested 38 people, including students, who were prosecuted for challenging the constitutional order and of whom some still remain under house arrest; whereas several peaceful demonstrators claimed that masked hooligans had infiltrated the demonstrations; whereas the peaceful demonstrators also denounced the police’s disproportionate use of force;

Removed3. Deplores the lack of institutional response to the serious allegations of the incumbents’ involvement in electoral manipulation and abuse, which contributes to an atmosphere of impunity and ensures the continuation of these criminal practices; stresses that, if allowed to persist without any repercussions, this practice will continue to undermine trust in Serbia’s electoral process and institutions, irrevocably hindering democratic rule and further European integration;