EP Foreign Affairs Committee To Vote on Report of Standing Rapporteur for Serbia on April 26

Vladimir Bilcik (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/DS)

On April 26, the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) will take a vote on a report and amendments to the Serbia Report, some of which have drawn the public attention over alleged attempts of Standing Rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilcik to remove them from the document or assuage them.

Nearly 500 amendments were made within the set timeframe to a draft report on the European Commission 2022 Report on Serbia. Since, political groups have been discussing compromise amendments which almost always find their way to adoption. BETA has learned at the European Parliament (EP) that AFET do not make compromise amendments public and that the final report cannot be revealed before it is translated and published.

The biggest attention in Serbia has been drawn by the amendments relating to Serbian state-owned telecommunications operator Telekomu Srbija, which is mentioned in the context of “very limited progress” in curbing corruption. This section also mentions other cases, including state-owned producer of defense and civil related equipment Krusik, Jovanjica farm and the Savamala incident [when buildings were suddenly demolished overnight in 2016]. 

One of the proposed amendments says that the EU regrets the delay in implementation of the media strategy and expresses concern over reports that the ruling party has been using Telekom Srbija to increase its influence on the media market in Serbia by taking over and funding various media outlets.

The draft report on the European Commission 2022 Report on Serbia expresses regrets over continued low degree of Serbia’s alignment with the EU Foreign and Security Policy, particularly in the context of the war in Ukraine. The document also stressed that Serbia as an EU candidate country must adhere to the principles and the policy of the EU and that allying with warmongering and autocratic regime is inadmissible.