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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Strategies for judiciary reform, fight against corruption to be submitted to parliament in March

Belgrade, 23 February 2013

Minister of Justice and Public Administration Nikola Selakovic met last night with Director-General for Enlargement at the European Commission Stefano Sannino and Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert.

A statement by the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration states that the main topic of the meeting was creating strategies for judicial reform and the fight against corruption which will be submitted to the parliament in March, but will also directly influence the new report of the European Commission on Serbia’s progress in the field of judiciary.

Selakovic informed Sannino and Degert with the main guidelines of both national strategies, noting that the Strategy for the fight against corruption is a horizontal strategy that includes a large number of sectors and interest groups, while on the other hand the Strategy for judicial reform is focused on one area, and that is justice system of Serbia.

Sannino said that the recent meeting of Selakovic with European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding is a strong message by European officials that they appreciate every effort Serbia is making to solve its problems, and that such meetings serve for informing representatives of the EU in detail about the measures and steps that are made in order to get a date for the start of EU accession talks.

During the meeting, Selakovic explained that the working group for the development of the Strategy for the reform of the judiciary simultaneously started work on the Action plan, which controls the enforceability and the reality of the objectives and measures contained in the strategy and directly corrects it in those areas that are not well defined.

The Minister added that preparation of the Action plan for the Strategy for the fight against corruption is expected in March.

Sannino and Degert said they were satisfied with the work of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration to date, particularly supporting systematic approach in carrying out the necessary measures to correct the negative effects of the reform of the judiciary.

They emphasised the importance of the fight against corruption and crime, noting that it requires strong cooperation among government agencies, as well as clear institutional division of responsibilities.

Also, they added that the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration can always count on all the necessary expert support from the EU in the development of relevant documents, which Serbia adopts in order to improve the lives of its citizens, as well as to make a progress towards the EU, it is added in the statement.