Reforms in the area of Rule of Law will foster EU integrations in the Western Balkans

Serbia has made some progress in some of the areas related to Chapters 23 and 24 in negotiations with the European Union, but concerning the implementation of policies most of the problems are still present, it was the conclusion of the sixth independent report of the prEUgovor coalition, held on 20th May 2016, in Media Center in Belgrade.

Representatives of the Dutch embassies in the Western Balkans presented the view of the Netherlands on the state of play of Rule of Law in the region during the community expert meeting CHATvrtak on 26th of May at Belgrade Centre for Security Policy's premises. 

The panellists were:

Onny Jalink , Head of the Regional Balkans Rule of Law Unit

Zyhrada Kongoli , Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Albania

Lara Obrenović , Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Venera Ramaj, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kosovo

Gjakush Kabashi, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Macedonia

Aleksandar Momirov, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and in Montenegro

During eight CHATvrtak the policy advisors from the region underlined the value of regional cooperation and a constructive dialogue between civil society and governments in the process of strengthening Rule of Law in the region.

Since 2014, the embassies in Belgrade, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tirana were enlarged to include dedicated rule of law policy advisors to develop a broader and more in-depth view on the rule of law situation in the region.

The coalition prEUgovor gathers:

ASTRA - Anti trafficking Action, Autonomous Women’s Centre (AWC), Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), Centre for Investigative Journalism in Serbia (CINS), Centre for Applied European Studies (CPES), Group484 and Transparency Serbia(TS).

The coalition “prEUgovor” is formed on the initiative of Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) with the mission to propose measures to improve the condition in the fields relevant for the negotiation process. In doing so, the coalition aims to use the process of EU integration to help accomplish substantial progress in further democratization of Serbian society.  

This activity is being implemented with the financial support of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade (www.norveska.org.rs) and OSCE Mission to Serbia (www.osce.org/serbia).