The European Commission expects Serbia to make “concrete progress, in particular with regard to the Rule of law, fundamental rights and democratic principles”, while specifying on Monday 4 May that no decision has been taken to suspend funding under the ‘Growth Plan’, contrary to what the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, had implied (see EUROPE 13846/8).
“The Commission shall continuously assess whether the conditions for support under EU financial instruments are met. This is part of the normal implementation of these instruments and applies at every stage of the process, including the examination of each payment request under the Growth Plan”, explained a spokesperson at a press conference.
At an event at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland at the end of April, Marta Kos stated that “for the time being, we have stopped all payments under the Growth Plan because it (Serbia) was backsliding in the judiciary”, adding that European funding would not resume until the situation had been rectified, according to an AFP article.
Appearing before the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), the European Commissioner recently warned that the Western Balkans risked losing up to €700 million by the end of June if they did not implement the agreed reforms. For Serbia, up to €135.9 million is at stake.
According to the Commission, Serbia has already received €111 million in pre-financing and a first payment of €61.1 million from the ‘Growth Plan’ out of a total of €1.58 billion earmarked for Serbia, conditional on the implementation of reforms and preconditions in terms of the Rule of law and engagement with Kosovo.
The Commission reiterated its concerns about judicial legislation in Serbia and is now waiting for the Serbian government to fully implement the urgent opinion of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, but “no decision to freeze the funds has been taken” and the assessment is continuing.
In its opinion of 24 April on the amendments to the laws governing the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Serbia, the Venice Commission considers that these amendments “remove previously existing safeguards designed to protect prosecutorial autonomy” and makes several recommendations (see EUROPE 13856/20). (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)