The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, announced on the X social network on Wednesday 18 March that the European Commission was currently assessing whether Serbia still met the conditions for payments under the EU’s financial instruments.
A European source told Agence Europe that this analysis was linked to Serbia’s new laws on the judiciary. “We are currently analysing whether these amendments prejudice the preconditions that Serbia, like any other candidate country, must meet in order to obtain European funding. In these preconditions, there is a clear reference to an independent and transparent judiciary”, they specified.
Following a meeting with the President of the Serbian National Assembly, Ana Brnabic, Ms Kos reiterated that the recent steps taken by the Serbian authorities to curb the independence of the judiciary were a cause for great concern. These reforms include limiting the term of office of public prosecutors, giving court presidents greater powers over judges and limiting the assignment of prosecutors to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime (TOK) to work on specific cases, which critics say would increase the risk of weakening the TOK.
“We expect the implementation of the new judiciary laws to be put on hold until the Venice Commission issues its opinion, and for Serbia’s authorities to respect the opinion and revise the laws accordingly”, explained the Commissioner.
She also urged for attacks on civil society and journalists to come to an end. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)