“Serbia is expecting the Screening Report on Chapter 23 to be published soon, which shall contain measures and basis for the drafting of Chapter 23 Negotiations Action Plan”, said today the President of Chapter 23 Negotiating Group and Assistant Minister of Justice Čedomir Backović at the opening of a bilateral workshop between EU Negotiations Team members from Serbia and Montenegro that was organised in Bečići.
Backović pointed out that the essence of the expected report is the knowledge about the level Serbia had reached in areas covered by Chapter 23 – Judiciary, Anti-Corruption and Fundamental Rights, including what else was required of Serbia for it to join the EU. He also added that one part of the Report will contain a diagnosis of the current state of the judiciary that would show what is in need of curing and fixing, while the second part of the Report will contain recommendations in terms of the direction this treatment ought to be taken in, i.e. “treatment action plan”.
“On the basis of the screening, the Republic of Serbia will make the first Draft Chapter 23 Negotiations Action Plan that will go into public hearing“, stated Backović. He explained that the public hearing will include the participation of the widest circle of interested factors, from the Assembly and the civil society to international friends, in order to have the best quality Action Plan as possible, one that will not be a list of wishful thinking, but speak to the reader about something feasible.
Reflecting on the experiences of Montenegro in its accession talks with the EU, Backović said that those experiences would be of great importance for the future course of Serbia’s negotiations. “From our Montenegrin colleagues, we can observe the experiences in the technology and methodology of documentation drafting and communication with the Commission, as well as the essence of resolving certain issues which we share with them, such as the composition of the High Judicial Council“, stated Backović. He finally said he was certain that negotiations for Chapter 23 would most likely be opened in the spring of 2015, after the European Council confirms the Action Plan for this Chapter.
The bilateral workshop in Bečići was organised by the Serbian and Montenegrin ministries of justice, with the support of the German Organisation for International Cooperation – GIZ. In addition to the two representatives of these respective ministries, the workshop was also attended by the Head of the Serbian Negotiation Teams Tanja Miščević and that of Montenegro Andrija Pejović.