The period covered by this Report – from November 2023 to April 2024 – was marked by the extraordinary parliamentary and local elections, which caused the Government to spend this entire time in a technical mandate. As Serbia had three parliamentary elections in the last five years, such a situation didn’t seem unusual.

The findings of this and previous prEUgovor Alarm reports indicate, however, that it is necessary to completely change the current approach to reforms in Cluster 1. Reform activities are often carried out just for the sake of form, in rushed procedures at the last minute, while obligations are interpreted in a minimalistic fashion, bypassing the solution of key problems in critical areas. According to the assessment of the European Commission, in 9 years Serbia has only slightly increased its level of readiness for EU membership and is persistently half way along the reform path.

Although the relevant ministries have announced the preparation of reports on the fulfilment of interim benchmarks in Chapters 23 and 24, these have not been published to date. Moreover, not even the regular reports on the implementation of action plans for these chapters have been published on time. The Ministry of the Interior did not publish either of the semi-annual reports in 2023. On the other hand, the Government committed to additional reporting as part of the conditionality for funds from the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, and for the annual EU Rule of Law Report, which from 2024 also includes Serbia (as well as three other candidate states from the region). The authorities’ overall discourse on relations with the European Union has not truly improved, and the EU is often used as a casual target.

You can see the prEUgovor Alarm reports HERE.