BELGRADE – Marta Kos, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, harshly criticized the amendments to the judicial laws adopted by the National Assembly yesterday, at the proposal of Serbian Progressive Party MP Uglješa Mrdić. As reported by N1, Kos stated that this is a “serious step backwards”, and called on the Serbian parliament to revise the adopted acts as soon as possible.
“When a country is a candidate for European integration, as it is the case with Serbia, we expect it to behave in accordance with European values. This is a serious step backwards, because the amendments were adopted in a very fast and non-transparent procedure, without any consultations,” Marta Kos said today upon arrival at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
She stressed that “it is interesting to see a new dynamic in the EU enlargement process, in which Albania and Montenegro are indeed making rapid progress towards the membership”, while Serbia “is moving in the opposite direction”.
“I honestly do not understand why this is happening and it is something we do not want to see. Therefore, I call on the National Assembly of Serbia to review these laws as soon as possible and to harmonize the judicial laws with the EU standards. We really want Serbia to be part of the European Union and I will not stop working on it,” Kos said.
In addition, Marta Kos wrote on X yesterday that “the vote of Serbia’s Parliament to limit the independence of the judiciary is a serious step back on Serbia’s EU path”.
“At a time of great progress for enlargement, when Montenegro & Albania are moving fast, Serbia risks taking the opposite direction. This is not what we want”, she stated.
Similarly, The European Commission noted that the amendments to Serbia’s judicial laws “undermine the independence of the judiciary and the autonomy of the prosecutor’s office”, and called on the authorities to urgently review the adopted measures.
“This undermines the independence of the judiciary, as well as the autonomy and functioning of the prosecutor’s office. Amendments to the laws were prepared and adopted in a hasty and non-transparent procedure, without public debate. The adopted laws are contrary to Serbia’s previous reforms and its previous obligations to strengthen the independence of the judiciary and the autonomy of the prosecutor’s office”, Guillaume Mercier said, a European Commission Spokesman said, it was reported by N1.
Uglješa Mrdić, explaining the laws, said that the adoption of a set of judicial laws is “the first step towards returning the kidnapped judiciary to the state and people of Serbia” so that it would no longer be run by “alienated centers under the control of foreign centers of power”.
On the other hand, the opposition and legal experts in Serbia believe that such amendments would undermine the independence of the prosecutor’s office and judiciary in Serbia, as well as would lead to the abolition of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime.
