Although Serbia has been on the European path for eight years, since the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement in 2008, it could be said that the first real steps were taken seven years later, at the end of 2015, with the opening of the first two chapters. The new general rule for future member states is that on the road to accession to the European Union, they first open the chapters that take the most time to close, that is, the chapters that close last. For most candidate countries, these are Chapters 23 - Justice and Fundamental Rights, and Chapter 24 - Justice, Freedom and Security.
In the case of Serbia, due to the specific geopolitical situation, so is chapter 35 - other issues. It is the last in order of number, but at least in the case of Serbia, among the most important, and it was opened in December last year. Along with it, chapter 32 - financial control - was opened. A seven-month break followed, and finally in July of this year, after several vetoes by Croatia, Chapters 23 and 24 were opened. Thus, Serbia opened its most difficult chapters. Considering the current crisis and the blocking of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, it is questionable whether and how many will be opened by the end of this year. According to the announcements of the head of the negotiating team, Tanja Miščević, the EU Council is considering chapters 5, 25 and 26 in the membership negotiations with Serbia. Recently, these three chapters have been mentioned as the next ones to be opened, although, it is evident, with much less euphoria and conviction that it could really happen in the short term.
NEW APPROACH: Policies from the domain of internal affairs, on which the security of citizens and their access to justice largely depends, are contained in chapter 24. It consists of a set of regulations that represent the best European practices and standards in areas such as protection of external borders, police cooperation between member countries, regulation migration, judicial cooperation, the fight against terrorism... Along with the aforementioned chapter 23, chapter 24 forms the backbone of the so-called new approach to EU enlargement policy. This "new approach" arose in response to the unsatisfactory level of progress in these key areas during previous enlargement waves. It has been applied since Croatia's accession negotiations and introduces key innovations in the process of membership negotiations for the countries of the Western Balkans. The first novelty is that it is defined that these two chapters open early and close late. Another important novelty is that during the negotiations in these areas, the European Commission plays a key advisory role through consultations on the content of the reforms that the candidate country should implement. Also, transitional measures were introduced (interim benchmarks) and final criteria (closing benchmarks), to ensure that reforms produce results. The last novelty introduced by this "new approach" is the possibility to suspend negotiations in other chapters if the progress in these two chapters is deemed unsatisfactory.
How Serbia fulfills the obligations undertaken by opening the negotiation chapters will be known after receiving the European Commission's Annual Report on Serbia's progress in European integration, which is expected on November 9. While we wait for this report, it is time to see what chapters 23 and 24 predict for us, what kind of changes await us and how difficult it is to achieve them.
As already mentioned, until Croatia's negotiations with the European Union, these two chapters together formed a chapter called Justice and Internal Affairs. It is now divided into two separate chapters, and the harmonization and application of the regulations in these chapters are monitored throughout the negotiation process, and if the country has not made satisfactory progress, it is possible to stop the negotiations in other chapters.
JUDICIARY ON THE EXAM: If we know that chapter 23 includes judicial reform, anti-corruption policy, fundamental rights and the right of EU citizens, it is clear that this will be a long process for Serbia. The aim of the policies contained in this chapter is to preserve and improve the EU as an area of freedom, security and justice. The basis of these policies is an independent judiciary, with the building of the necessary capacities to maintain and protect the rule of law. Judicial independence implies integrity of courts and judges, impartiality and high standards of judgments. Prevention of influence on the judiciary is achieved through the financial independence of judges, capacity building and training. One of the provisions concerning the harmonization of domestic legislation with the European one concerns the change of the Constitution. A change in the Constitution awaits Serbia also due to harmonization with European standards through negotiation chapters, primarily for the purpose of forming an independent judiciary. The current constitution, which these days is ten years old, has often been the subject of polemics. Although the public has created the impression that a change to the Constitution is being sought due to the mention of Kosovo in the preamble, the EU's main request is primarily related to changes in the procedure for electing prosecutors and judges, in which, according to the current system, politics has too much influence.
Respect for fundamental rights and the rights of citizens of the European Union are guaranteed by judicial practice, the acquis of the EU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The aim of this charter is to translate the basic human, political and economic and social rights of the citizens of the European Union into EU law. According to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice, fundamental rights are part of the so-called general legal principles, formulated on the basis of the constitutional and administrative traditions of all member states. These legal principles have a binding character in the legal system of the European Union.
Inseparable from the independence of the judiciary is the issue of basic rights, as well as the right to a fair trial, the fight against corruption... If we were to list all the rights contained in this chapter, we would have to devote several sections of this column to it. We will remind here that the Action Plan for chapter 23 was changed three times until it was finally adopted in April of this year. It foresees activities in harmonizing the legislation of Serbia with the legal acquis of the EU. Serbia has 23 transitional benchmarks in Chapter 50, but it will fulfill them with the activities it has foreseen in the Action Plan for that chapter.
The first report on the implementation of activities from this Action Plan was published in July 2016. According to the Report, as of the second quarter of 2016, Serbia had implemented 77 percent of the planned activities in full, eight percent almost completely and partially, three percent of the activities had not been implemented, and competent institutions did not submit reports for four percent of activities. Within the chapter itself, the percentage of complete implementation is the highest in the area of fundamental rights (82 percent), and the lowest in the area of the fight against corruption (60 percent). Although at first glance it seems that great progress has been made, the question is what is the quality of those changes, that is, the actual progress of Serbia. That progress will be known in a few days, when the European Commission submits its progress report.
In the meantime, the non-governmental organizations gathered in the "prEUgovor" coalition presented their report on progress in chapters 23 and 24 the day before this text was published. The report covers the period from May to October 2016, and in some areas the period from the beginning of the year. As stated, numerous recommendations from this report are similar to the recommendations found in the previous report of the "pre-EU Treaty", since in some areas, despite the positive self-assessment of the state, very little has been done. According to this coalition, the reason for this is, among other things, early elections, which slowed down the reform process or even postponed it for some time in the future.
CHAPTER 24: Justice, freedom and security is the name of the chapter that includes ten sub-policies. This chapter covers the issue of migration, asylum, external border control and Schengen, visa policy, judicial cooperation, police cooperation and the fight against organized crime, cooperation in the fight against terrorism, cooperation in the field of drugs, customs cooperation and counterfeiting of euros. The legal acquis in this area is developing very quickly and - with the additional competences that the EU has in these areas after each amendment of the founding treaties - the number of regulations defining common standards is increasing. One of the greatest achievements of the common policies of the EU is the abolition of internal borders between member states. This led to the need for greater internal security for all citizens, which is inextricably linked to cooperation with other countries. In any case, both in the process of accession and when Serbia becomes a member, by introducing standards and harmonizing with the legal acquis in this area, the safety of Serbian citizens should be greater, and the rule of law and the rule of law should be protected. Also, by joining the EU, Serbia should become part of a large system that solves security challenges through information exchange and close cooperation.
The most important reforms for Serbia are the reforms in the Ministry of Internal Affairs that this chapter foresees. The EU criticizes the Serbian police for having too many administrations, for not working in accordance with the needs of the society it serves, and for being politicized. Not infrequently, politicians interfere in the work of the police or abuse it for daily political and party purposes. Let's remember the "Coup d'état" affair and the press conference of the Minister of Police with MUP members "in full military gear", the demolition case in Savamala. In the report that will arrive on November 9, we will see how much those events cost us.
The project "Accession negotiations with the European Union: 35 steps to the goal" was co-financed from the budget of the Republic of Serbia - Ministry of Culture and Information. The views expressed do not necessarily express the views of the authority that allocated the funds.
