BELGRADE (Serbia), December 18 (SeeNews) – The EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Council (SA Council) encourages Belgrade to intensify reform efforts and to deliver convincing results, in particular on democratic governance and the rule of law, the Council said on Tuesday.
Serbia needs to provide a sustainable track record on results in the reform of democratic governance and the rule of law, including judiciary and war crimes, freedom of expression, and the fight against corruption and organised crime, the SA Council said in a statement following its fifth meeting.
The SA Council recalled that the legislative process in the parliament and its oversight over the work of the executive need to be improved as a matter of priority and expressed its expectation for Serbia to address all OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in an inclusive and transparent manner, and as a matter of priority ahead of the next election cycle. "The SA Council further recalled that an empowered, resilient and diverse civil society is a crucial component of any democratic system and should be recognised and treated as such by the Serbian institutions."
Moreover, Serbia needs to remain constructively engaged in the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in view of concluding a legally-binding agreement on comprehensive normalisation. All dialogue agreements need to be fully implemented without any further delay, it stressed.