Eurocommissaris Füle bespreekt integratie van Servische justitie en bestuur met EU-regelgeving (en)

The Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, and newly appointed Serbian Minister of Justice and Public Administration, Nikola Selaković, met in Brussels today to discuss Serbia's progress towards EU integration in the Justice and Public Administration sectors.

"As a candidate country, Serbia is expected to align its Justice and Public Administration sectors with the EU acquis. I am encouraged to see this objective at the heart of the action of the new Serbian Minister of Justice and Public Administration", said Commissioner Füle. The European Commission is ready to advise and support Serbia in these efforts which is why Commissioner Füle attaches such great importance to a confident and close cooperation with the Serbian Minister of Justice and Public Administration.

The forthcoming progress report will review how Serbia complies with the membership criteria. A crucial area on which Serbia is expected to maintain a strong focus is the rule of law: how to bring forward the judicial reform and how to make the fight against corruption and organised crime more effective will be essential questions which Serbia will have to answer to make further progress towards the EU. In this respect, following recent rulings of the Constitutional Court, the Commission expects the Serbian government to devise a new strategy and action plan on the way it will reform its judiciary, based on a functional review.

Commissioner Füle also welcomed the signature by the Serbian government of the IBM protocol and expressed his hope for a rapid implementation on the ground. This signature is a concrete sign of the political will of the new Serbian government to re-engage fully in the dialogue with Pristina in view of the normalisation of relations between them.

Commissioner Füle also assured the new Minister that the Commission stands ready to support Serbia's efforts and make a strategic use of the funds under the Instrument for Pre-Accession in order to achieve its objectives.