Head of the European Union (EU) delegation in Serbia Andreas von Beckerath he repeated that the EU regrets the adoption of judicial laws in Serbia because it undermines confidence in independence judiciary which is important on Serbia's path to the Union.
"We regret the adoption of amendments on judicial laws, because it undermines confidence in the independence of the judiciary, and we expect reforms that will confirm the autonomy of the judiciary and its implementation of the rule of lawVon Beckerat said in the program "Pravi Ugao" on Radio-Television Vojvodina (RTV), as reported by the Beta agency.
The head of the EU delegation said that during the visit of the Serbian Minister of Justice Nenad Vujic Brussels was asked to legally stop the implementation of those laws so that they would not harm the judiciary in the short term, and to then work on the revision of those laws with the support of the EU and the Venice Commission.
Von Beckerat said that the EU expected to be consulted on those laws that are important for Serbia's path to the EU, because he believes that the entire procedure of adopting the amendments took place in a non-transparent manner.
Early talk about the opening of Cluster 3
According to him, it is still too early to talk about the opening of Cluster 3, because the suspension of the application of the newly adopted judicial laws and their revision is needed first.
"We want to review those laws together," Von Beckerath said, adding that the EU wants a democratic one Serbia, as well as that the Union delegation is present to help Serbia, not to punish it.
Cluster 3 refers to the negotiation chapters on competitiveness and inclusive growth.
Von Beckerat said that there is a momentum of EU enlargement and that Montenegro is using that momentum in advancing towards membership, and that Serbia should do the same.
"There is a slowdown in reforms and a standstill in the rule of law, we hope that Serbia, which has expressed its commitment to admission to the EU, will speed up the reforms," he said and added that for this there should be political will of the government, the opposition and civil society, which should cooperate and maintain dialogue.
Source: Beta
