CoE Official: Good Tendencies in Serbian Government’s Policy, Regression in Some Fields

Tobias Flessenkemper( BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/DS)

The outgoing chief of the Council of Europe’s mission in Serbia, Tobias Flessenkemper, stated on Aug. 10 that he had “seen good tendencies” in the Serbian government’s policy during his five-year mandate, but also situations in which “several steps back were made” in some fields, which he did not elaborate on.

During a meeting with the Serbian minister for human and minority rights and social dialogue, Tomislav Zigmanov, Flessenkemper welcomed the fact that a ministry in charge of these issues exists and “always attempts to find ways to move forward,” the Ministry announced in a statement.

Minister Zigmanov thanked Flessenkemper for everything he has done during his mandate and underscored “the significance of the Council of Europe in the Serbian authorities’ perception, in the sense of the normative and value framework that modern democracies should strive for.” According to Zigmanov, perseverance in implementing the value framework and standards of the Council of Europe “is the response to challenges in the field of human and minority rights for this ministry.”