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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Italy supports all efforts of Serbia on its path to EU

Belgrade, 27 May 2014

Minister of Justice Nikola Selakovic spoke today with Special Advisor of the Serbian government in the process of European integration and former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini about the results of work of the Ministry of Justice to date and about the opening of negotiations on Chapter 23 - judiciary and fundamental rights.

Franco Frattini, left, and Nikola Selakovic

Selakovic informed Frattini that the Serbian Parliament adopted eight judicial laws last week, four of which are entirely new and another four are amended. In this way, measures and tasks defined by the Action plan for implementation of the National Judicial Reform Strategy from 2013 to 2018 have been fulfilled.

The Minister of Justice underlined that finally, after more than four years, the judiciary got permanent president of courts, whom the Serbian Parliament elected last week.

Pointing to the importance of the implementation of action plans, the Judicial Reform Strategy and Anti-Corruption Strategy for a quality reform of the judiciary, Selakovic said that bills on the High Judicial Council and State Prosecutorial Council, drafted in cooperation with experts from the European Commission, will be discussed in the parliament.

Selakovic added that the Bill on protection of whistleblowers will be completed soon, which will be one of the key mechanisms in the fight against corruption.

Speaking about the further course of negotiations with the EU, the Justice Minister said that Serbia is awaiting a report on the bilateral screening for Chapter 23, which will be delivered in June, after which the preparations of the Action plan for negotiations on Chapter 23 will start.

Frattini commended the work to date of the Ministry of Justice and underlined that Italy supports all efforts of Serbia on its path to the EU.

Pointing to the importance of opening negotiations on Chapter 23, Frattini underlined that Serbia must dedicate thoroughly to the elaboration of the Action plan on negotiations, whose text should be completed by the end of this autumn, reads a statement by the Ministry of Justice.