Miscevic: Serbia Will Carry Out ODIHR Recommendations from Reform Agenda by End of Year

BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC

Serbian Minister of European Union Integration Tanja Miscevic said on Oct. 21 that, in order to demonstrate its readiness to carry out its Reform Agenda, Serbia would implement ODIHR recommendations and repeat the Electronic Media Regulatory Agency Council elections by the end of the year.

At a presentation of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and Serbia's Reform Agenda, Miscevic said the focus would be on improving rule of law, which would not entail neglecting socioeconomic growth.

"We need to meet seven requirements by the end of the year, and the top priority, set in the Reform Agenda too, will be to carry out the ODIHR recommendations. Then there is the repeat Electronic Media Regulatory Agency Council election, an obligation from amendments to laws adopted late last year," she said.

EU Delegation to Serbia chief Emanuele Giaufret said the European Commission would adopt the reform agendas of Western Balkan countries next week and that the payment of seven percent of the EUR1.58 billion envisaged in the Growth Plan for Serbia was in the works. He explained that, for the funds to be paid out, the parliament of Serbia would need to adopt two necessary pieces of legislation allowing reforms to happen in the indicated time frame.

National Convention on the EU coordinator Bojana Selakovic said civil society was not completely satisfied with the way in which the Reform Agenda was drafted, believing that it could have been more ambitious.