N1 exclusive: Serbia’s commitments on Cluster 3

In order to address outstanding obstacles on the way to opening cluster 3, Serbia is ready to make and reiterate the following commitments:

– The strategic goal of Serbia is European Union (EU) membership. Serbia is ready to continue to express its unambiguous commitment to share the aims of the EU and the values on which it is founded. Serbia is committed to its EU path, with the ambition to fulfil the interim benchmarks for rule of law chapters 23 and 24 by the latest at the end of 2025 and to fully align with the EU acquis with the objective to close the accession negotiations by the end of 2026.

Update: Serbia has prepared and agreed with DG NEAR clear plan for full alignment with the EU Acquis until the end of 2026. It is RoL frontloaded, aiming first to reach all criteria for fulfilling interim benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR) mid 2025.

– Serbia continues to significantly and substantially contribute to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), and is a strategic partner of the EU. Serbia has continued to prevent circumvention of EU restrictive measures. In its Reform Agenda, Serbia has already made commitments that can contribute to align progressively with the CFSP. Beyond these, Serbia is ready to improve its CFSP alignment, with a view to full alignment at the time of accession to the EU.

Update: Serbia has increased the percentage of its alignment with CFSP to 58%, in comparison to 51% noted in the latest European Commission Annual Country Report. Most recently Serbia aligned with the Statement by the HR on the ceasefire agreement regarding Israel/Lebanon, Council decision concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria and Council decision in view of Turkey’s unauthorized drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. (Previously, we aligned with four Council decisions concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Guinea, Niger, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Myanmar/Burma. We have also aligned with two Council decisions retroactively.)

– From the onset of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Serbia has clearly demonstrated its position on respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, expressing this in international organizations and conferences.1 Serbia has provided the biggest aid package to Ukraine among the partners of the Western Balkan region. Serbia is ready to continue as previously provided and further strengthen its support to Ukraine, including with a substantial energy equipment package and with sharing experience on negotiating EU membership.

Update: At the end of September 2024 the Serbian Government adopted the third energy equipment package, which will be delivered when the new Serbian ambassador arrives in Kiev in December 2024. On the other hand, Ministry for European Integration has shared draft MoU with Deputy Prime Minister Stefanishina to confirm good exchange of Serbian experience in negotiation process that has been established some time ago.

– The media laws adopted in October 2023 contributed to a more transparent framework for media and better enabling of media pluralism. Reinforcing its commitments in the Reform Agenda, Serbia is ready to further increase its efforts by immediately launching the procedure for appointing the new Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) Council and to further align its legislation with the EU acquis by the first quarter of 2025.

Update: The competent committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia initiated the procedure for the appointment of the new members of the REM council on 25th of November 2024, while the call for the new members of the REM Council was issued on 27th of November 2024. In order to complete the procedure for appointing the new members of the REM, a special session of the National Assembly will be held in January 2025. All Working groups, inclusive in its membership (representatives and even chair from journalist associations and media outlets), are working on three media laws with clear recommendation to include EC comments, ODIHR recommendations and alignment with AVMSD (EU Directive). In the course of December, the Government plans to organize public consultations and consultations with EC, including sharing draft changes of the mentioned laws.

– ODIHR missions had the opportunity to observe various election processes in Serbia over more than 20 years. During several past years most parts of the ODIHR recommendations were implemented. Following the December 2023 elections, Serbia has started the implementation of the ODIHR recommendations. Reinforcing its commitments in the Reform Agenda, Serbia is ready to step up its efforts by adopting the Law on the Audit of the Voter Registry and the roadmap for the ODIHR recommendations in December 2025. Serbia will accelerate its efforts to carry out the audit of the Voter Registry in the first quarter of 2025 and will ensure the full and timely implementation of ODIHR recommendations regarding elections.

Update: At end of November ODIHR opinions on two laws (Voter register and Law on fight against corruption) were shared with the Parliamentary Working Group. Additionally, ODIHR positively reacted to the invitation to participate in further work of the WB as an advice and help in further work.

– Taking into account the geopolitical context and the need for energy self-sufficiency, energy security and the diversification of sources is of utmost importance. Serbia has invested heavily in these efforts and the issue features heavily in the Reform Agenda. Serbia is ready to create the conditions for the full operation of the Bulgaria-Serbia gas interconnector (IBS) by issuing a final and permanent usage permit and proceeding with capacity allocation for one certified Serbian TSO operates the whole gas transmission system in Serbia beginning of December 2024, and finalise the agreement with Romania for the construction of an interconnector. Serbia commits to finalise the respective proceedings to certify (unbundle) Transportgas in accordance with the EU energy acquis as soon as possible after receiving the Energy Community Secretariat opinion on this matter.

Update: The request for issuance of the Usage permit shall be submitted by December 7, 2024. It is anticipated that the Usage Permit will be issued by December 16, 2024 in accordance with legal framework of the Republic of Serbia and the prescribed procedure. With the issuance of the Usage Permit the Bulgaria-Serbia gas interconnector (IBS) will be fully operational. The Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Serbia-Romania Gas Interconnector Construction Project has been signed on August 5, 2024 by Serbian and Romanian Ministers of Energy. Within this MoU the technical details, such as the gas pipeline lengths on both sides including both sections on Romanian side, annual capacity at entry-exit point, diameter of DN, designed pressure bar etc., implementation timeframe and signing of the Interconnection Agreement by the end of construction NON-PAPER phase, have been defined. The operational meeting was held on August 20, 2024 between officials of Serbian and Romanian energy companies and the next meeting is envisaged for next week. In addition, Serbia has initiated preparation of the technical documentation while Detailed Spatial Plan has been already adopted.

As far as the certification of Serbian TSO in the Gas sector, Serbian Energy Agency issued a licence and sent documentation to the Energy Community Secretariat on 27th July 2024. On 21 November a positive opinion was provided with certain conditionalities. These are currently being addressed by Serbian competent authorities and information requested by the Energy Community Secretariat opinion will be provided in line with regulatory framework and without delay.

– Serbia has been constructively engaged in the Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and recently reaffirmed its commitment to the process of normalisation of relations and pledged to engage constructively in the process to take it quickly forward. In this context, Serbia committed to fully implement all of its respective obligations stemming from the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation and its Implementation Annex, as well as all past Dialogue agreements. Serbia will refrain from making any unilateral move which is not consulted with the EU.

– Serbia considers the EU a key strategic partner and duly considers the security effects that Serbia’s visa regime has on EU member states. In 2022 and 2023 Serbia took major steps to align with the EU visa policy by reinstating visa requirements for six countries. Serbia is ready to further align its visa policy and has already taken the decision to reintroduce the visa regime to four, instead of three countries, which was a commitment stemming from the Reform Agenda.

Update: Government of Serbia adopted decisions to introduce visas for four countries: Oman, Mongolia, Qatar and Kuwait on December 5, 2024.

– Serbia is ready to, through concrete steps, as recently demonstrated in a case where a third country asked for extradition, to align more closely with EU norms and practices in that field.