In light of incorrect information which have been circulating in the media, the Ministry of Justice would like to reiterate that there have only been 13, and not 17, recommendations of the Council of Europe Group of State against Corruption (GRECO) for Serbia.
To clarify, the Republic of Serbia received a total of 13 recommendations as part of the fourth evaluation round in 2015. Since then, neither the number nor the actual recommendations have changed.
GRECO’s global assessment report presented today, which includes all member states of the Council of Europe, reaffirmed the fact which was highlighted in Serbia’s Interim Compliance Report (published in April 2019) that Serbia’s performance in the field of anti-corruption was no longer ‘globally unsatisfactory’. This confirms that Serbia has made notable progress, unlike other countries, such as Luxembourg, Turkey, Denmark, and the Czech Republic, which remain at the level of ‘globally unsatisfactory’ performance.
Serbia’s Interim Compliance Report from April 2019 stipulates that Serbia had ‘partly implemented’ 10 recommendations and had ‘not implemented’ 3 recommendations. Bearing in mind that Serbia last submitted its progress report to GRECO in December 2019 which the global assessment report did not reflect, the Ministry of Justice expects that Serbia’s next Interim Compliance Report would acknowledge the progress made in implementing GRECO’s recommendations.
An example of such progress would be the application of the Organisation and Competencies of Government Authorities in Suppressing Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption Act, which began on 1 March 2018. Based on this Act, four regional anti-corruption centres were created, i.e. there are now special anti-corruption units within the High Court and the High Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kraljevo, respectively. In the two years since then, several hundred binding court decisions on crimes of corruption have been passed. Some of these decisions even concerned high-ranking officials (e.g. municipal presidents, judges, etc.).
Another demonstration of Serbia’s commitment to suppressing corruption was the enactment of the Origin of Property Act at the end of 2019. The essence of this statute lies in the method of cross-verification of property through a special taxation procedure conducted by the Tax Administration.
The application of the new Corruption Prevention Act is expected to begin in September 2020. This statute was adopted last year and is meant to replace the existing Anti-Corruption Agency Act. The new statute follows the GRECO recommendations, and serves as an umbrella anti-corruption regulation.
Similarly, the adoption of the Lobbying Act was another one of GRECO’s recommendation. This statute has been in application since last year. As a statute which, for the first time, regulated lobbying in Serbia, it represents one of the anti-corruption mechanisms which ought to reduce the ‘grey’ area of illicit influence.
As of last year, Serbia is no longer on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) list of countries with strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering and terrorist financing (the so-called ‘grey list’).
Lastly, it is important to note that many of the GRECO’s recommendations concern the amendments to Serbia’s Constitution. Until the process of constitutional amendments has been completed, the Council of Europe will not be in a position to deem certain recommendations as implemented.