EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group concludes a visit to Serbia

EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group concludes a visit to Serbia

On 27-28 November 2024, the Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law (FRRL) Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) concluded a two-day visit to Belgrade.

This visit gave the opportunity to the group of five EESC Members to hear civil society representatives about key trends in Serbia concerning fundamental rights of social partners, freedoms of association and assembly, freedom of expression (including media freedom), the right to non-discrimination, and the rule of law.

Participants in the discussions emphasised:

• Social partners' concerns about anti-union discrimination, no level playing field for economic operators, unequal application of the law, and ineffective social dialogue.
• Civil society organizations’ concerns about being targeted, and arrests and violence among others after the Novi Sad demonstrations, and activists on blacklist were detained at the border.
• Media professionals’ warnings about government-controlled media, lack of safety of journalist with previous murders still unresolved, and the excessive use of SLAPPs to silence journalist.
• Some pride parades had been banned for safety reasons, and there was a lack of actions against discrimination, lack of legal remedies, and the ombudsman office was not responsive and active.
• Concerns of endemic corruption with the government in control of all branches of government, and with the prosecution and judiciary under political influence.

The EESC delegation also discussed with the representation of the European Commission and the authorities of Serbia.

A report will be issued in the coming months.

The visit was the first one of the FRRL Group to Serbia.

Background

The EESC established in 2018 a Group on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law (FRRL Group), which is tasked to provide a forum for European civil society organisations to meet and discuss fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. The FRRL Group promotes respect for the European values listed in Article 2 TEU by raising awareness of and assessing the state of play of these values in the Member States and allowing for the exchange of good practices. To this end, the FRRL Group hosts hearings, conferences, and carries out country visits with the aim of identifying trends in Europe concerning fundamental rights and the rule of law, inasmuch as they develop in national contexts.

Country visit reports are issued along with the observations of the authorities, a few months after the visits (they can be accessed here). The visit to Serbia was the fifth one of the second cycle of visits of the FRRL Group to all EU Member States and candidate countries. The Report synthesising the first cycle of country visits (2018-2024) led in 2018-2019,  2020-2021, 2022, and 2023-2024 are available.

For more information about the EESC FRRL Group methodology, see this document.

The delegation of the FRRL Group to France was composed of:

• MARTINOVIĆ DŽAMONJA, Dragica (HR-I)
• MORENO DÍAZ, José Antonio (ES-II)
• MORKIS, Gintaras (LT-I)
• TOPOLÁNSZKY, Ákos (HU-III)
• YILDIRIM, Ozlem (FR-II) Vice-President of the FRRL Group