Today, Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović received the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Henk van den Dool with whom she discussed the fulfilment of obligations stemming from the Chapter 23 Action Plan, including the upcoming Report on Serbia’s EU Accession Progress. The Minister and the Ambassador concurred that the Netherlands was an important partner to Serbia in terms of Serbia meeting its Chapter 23 and Chapter 24 obligations, as well as that the Netherlands had been supporting Serbia’s Ministry of Justice in meeting its objectives for a long time.
Minister Kuburović said that Serbia had achieved a lot since the previous Progress Report was issued, noting that the National Assembly had recently passed a set of laws involving the justice sector, inter alia the Free Legal Aid Act, the Personal Information Protection Act and the Lobbying Act. She explained that those three were entirely new pieces of legislation which introduced important novelties into Serbia’ legal system. The Minister admitted that the Free Legal Aid Act – which aimed at promoting the rule of law – had been awaited by the Serbian citizens for over a decade, but stressed that the new Personal Information Protection Act was in full compliance with the EU standards and that it had received positive comments from the European Commission and Eurojust. The new Lobbying Act represented the fulfilment of an obligation from the Anti-Corruption Action Plan and a GRECO recommendation.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands expressed satisfaction with Serbia finally having a Free Legal Aid Act, as well as with the fact that a new Personal Information Protection Act had been passed, noting, however, the importance of having both applied consistently. He concluded by saying that the Netherlands was always willing to support Serbia on its efforts to joining the EU.
Regarding the amendments to the justice sector provisions of the Constitution, Kuburović said that the Ministry of Justice had finalised the draft text of the Amendments following an extensive and an inclusive public debate and a consolidation with the Venice Commission recommendations. She highlighted that the Ministry had accepted 70% of the justice sector professionals’ opinions and that the final text of the Amendments had fully reflected the recommendations of the Venice Commission – a fact the Commission itself had confirmed officially. The Justice Minister added that working groups for amending statutes regulating justice sector matters would be formed simultaneously with the process of amending the Constitution. She explained that members of those working groups would be representatives of the professional (law) associations and the judicial institutions.