2021/2249(INI) | [ParlTrack]

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)

— having regard to the Sofia declaration of the EU-Western Balkans summit of 17 May 2018 and the Sofia Declaration;

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 20 a (new)

— having regard to Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) Second Interim Compliance Report of 4th Evaluation Round on Serbia adopted in March 2022;

Amendment 100 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

Amendment 101 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Welcomes the support of Serbia in the United Nations General Assembly to condemn the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine;

Amendment 102 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Notes Serbia's support to Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty demonstrated through Serbia's support to the UN General Assembly resolutions on Ukraine and the support for exclusion of Russia from the UN Human Rights Council on 7 April 2022; notes that at the same time representatives of Serbia avoided the vote on the exclusion of Russia from the Council of Europe;

Amendment 103 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Reiterates the importance of alignment with the EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which must progressively become an integral part of Serbia’s foreign policy as a condition for the accession process; expresses concern about Serbia’s alignment rate, which is the lowest in the region; notes that some high-level politicians and government officials, including the Minister of Interior, continue to make statements that call into question Serbia’s EU orientation;

Amendment 104 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Reiterates the importance of alignment with the EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which must progressively become an integral part of Serbia’s foreign policy as a condition for the accession process; expresses concern about Serbia’s alignment rate, which is the lowest in the region; notes that some government officials and some politicians continue to make occasional statements that call into question Serbia’s foreign policy orientation;

Amendment 105 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Reiterates the importance of alignment with the EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which must progressively become an integral part of Serbia’s foreign policy as a condition for the accession process; expresses concern about Serbia’s low alignment rate; regrets occasional statements by political leaders that call into question Serbia’s foreign policy orientation;

Amendment 106 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Advocates that further negotiating chapters should only be opened when Serbia makes the necessary commitments in this regard; expects Serbia to align with the EU sanctions against Russia as soon as possible in order to continue the accession negotiations; acknowledges that, in case Serbia adopts sanctions against Russia, the accession negotiations should continue in a bona fide manner and should not be derailed or overturned based on other motives;

Amendment 107 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Calls on the EU to reconsider the extent of financial assistance provided by the EU to Serbia in case of continued support for anti-democratic ideologies and non-alignment of EU sanctions against Russia following the Russian aggression in Ukraine;

Amendment 108 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5c. Regrets that some government officials and some politicians, including from ruling parties continue to make occasional statements that call into question Serbia’s foreign policy orientation;

Amendment 109 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5d. Calls on the political forces in Serbia to suspend their cooperative relations with authoritarian political parties in Russia;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 28

~~— having regard to the conclusions of the Inter-Party Dialogue on Improving the Conditions for Holding Parliamentary Elections, facilitated by the European Parliament,~~deleted

Amendment 110 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Calls on Serbia, in the name of European solidarity, to reassess its economic cooperation with Russia;

Amendment 111 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5c. Deplores continued flights between Belgrade and Moscow at a time when the EU airspace is closed for flights to and from Russia;

Amendment 112 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Asim ADEMOV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – indent 1 (new)

- Is concerned and worried about the close military cooperation with the Russian Federation and urges Serbia to review its defence policy relations with Russia;

Amendment 113 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Regrets the existence of the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center; calls on the Serbian authorities to provide more transparency on the role and activities of the so called humanitarian center;

Amendment 114 #

Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Klemen GROŠELJ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5c. Calls on Serbia to immediately end all military cooperation with Russia, frequently camouflaged as civilian activities, such as the “regional humanitarian centre” in Niš;

Amendment 115 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. notes Serbia's growing cooperation with China, especially in the military sector, which includes the purchase of Chinese-made military weapons and equipment and joint exercises with Chinese security forces on Serbian territory;

Amendment 116 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 e (new)

5e. Expresses its concern over Serbia’s increasing dependence on defence equipment and technologies from China, including a mass surveillance system in Belgrade provided by Huawei and the recent delivery of a surface-to-air missile system from China;

Amendment 117 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Notes that between 2015 and 2021, Serbia’s military spending grew by 70 %, mainly owing to purchases from Belarus, Russia and China; notes that Serbia’s military spending exceeds that of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia combined, as well as that of NATO member Croatia; is of the view that Serbia's armament programme violates both, the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to which Serbia is party, and the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), in particular with regard to Article 5 of the SAA and Annex III of the Council conclusions of 29 and 30 April 1997; calls on the EU/HRVP to address these concerns with the re-elected Serbian President and discuss actions and necessary consequences and conclusion to be drawn at the Foreign Affairs Council;

Amendment 118 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. expresses concerns on Serbia's recent procurement of weapons systems from China which comes in a very delicate moment for the stability of the Western Balkans; believes that Serbia, as a candidate country, should seek to harmonise its military procurement the EU; calls on the Commission to engage with Serbian authorities on the issue of weapons import from Russia and China;

Amendment 119 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5d. Expresses concern following the reports about the wiretapping of Russian opposition figures in Belgrade by the Serbian authorities and the subsequent transfer of the material to Russian security services; expresses further concern over the establishment of the Working group for the fight against "coloured revolutions" between the Serbian and Russian government, whose purpose and goals remain unclear; stresses that any cooperation that contribute to authoritarian and anti- democratic practices in both Russia and Serbia are detrimental to the future EU- Serbia relations;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 29 a (new)

— having regard to the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR international election observation mission of the early parliamentary and presidential elections of Serbia of 3 April 2022,

Amendment 120 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Expresses concern over allegations of the wiretapping of Russian opposition figures in Belgrade by the authorities and the alleged subsequent transfer of the material to Russian security services; expresses further concern over the establishment of the Working group for the fight against "coloured revolutions" between Serbian and Russian government, whose purpose and goals remain unclear; stresses that any cooperation that would contribute to authoritarian and anti-democratic practices in both Russia and Serbia would be detrimental to the future EU-Serbia relations;

Amendment 121 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. ~~Welcom~~Notes the adoption of the measures improving the electoral conditions and media space ~~ahead of the April 2022 elections as a result of the Inter-Party Dialogue facilitated by the European Parliament; notes progress in their implementation~~;

Amendment 122 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes the adoption of the measures improving the electoral conditions and media space ahead of the April 2022 elections as a result of the Inter- Party Dialogue facilitated by the European Parliament; ~~notes progress in their implementation~~regrets the limited progress in their implementation; regrets that many measures have been implemented with a delay and that some relevant actors chose not to participant in the process; calls to pay special attention to the effective implementation of the measures, instead of focusing on the legislative framework; calls on the stakeholders to continue the work on improvement of the electoral conditions and rules in accordance with the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations;

Amendment 123 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Amendment 124 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes the adoption of the measures improving the electoral conditions and media space ahead of the April 2022 elections as a result of the Inter- Party Dialogue facilitated by the European Parliament; ~~notes progress in their~~regrets that many measures have been implemented with a delay and without the participation of all relevant actors; regrets that more ambitious measures that could have led to a more substantial implrovement~~ation~~ on the electoral conditions were not adopted;

Amendment 125 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes the adoption of the measures improving the electoral conditions and media space ahead of the April 2022 elections as a result of the Inter- Party Dialogue facilitated by the European Parliament; notes progress in their implementation and calls for further strengthening of media pluralism and equal access to the media space, including for persons belonging to national minorities;

Amendment 126 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

Amendment 127 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Not~~Warmly welcomes the decision of the non- parliamentary opposition to participate in the April 2022 elections; reiterates that the only way to guarantee political representation is to engage in political and electoral processes; invites all political actors to remain engaged and to work together in order to further improve electoral conditions and implementation of electoral regulations; invites the new government to use the momentum and turn to a new page in its relation with the parliament fully respecting one of the major democratic principles of clear division of power; invites the new parliament to use the momentum and start implementing fully-fledged legislative oversight over the work of the government; invites all political actors to act in line with principles of transparency, accountability and inclusiveness, and to utilise still untapped capacities of the civil society in Serbia;

Amendment 128 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Not~~Welcomes the decision of the non- parliamentary opposition to participate in the April 2022 elections; reiterates that the only way to guarantee political representation is to engage in political and electoral processes;

Amendment 129 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 31 a (new)

— - Having regard to the fact that the hostilities in the Western Balkan are not over and that there is no stabile peace established, merely a standstill in hostilities;

Amendment 130 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

Amendment 131 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Reiterates its support for the work of European political foundations in strengthening Serbia's democratic processes and fostering a new generation of political leaders;

Amendment 132 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

~~8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement;~~deleted

Amendment 133 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. ~~Reiterates its c~~Deplores that according to the latest polls a majority of the Serbian citizens is against joining the European Union; Calls on Serbia ~~and~~, the Commission, EU Member States and the EU Delegation to Serbia to pursue more a active and effective communication ~~about the benefits of EU enlargement;~~ strategy, to step up their efforts in promoting the role and benefits of enlargement and the close partnership between EU and Serbia, including by the promotion of EU funded projects and reforms; Calls on the Serbian political leaders to use clear and unambiguous communication on Serbia's European path;

Amendment 134 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Expresses concern over a very limited visibility of European Integration processes in Serbia; Reiterates its call on Serbia, the Commission, the EEAS and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement; expresses concern that publicly financed media outlets disseminate anti-EU misinformation to the public in Serbia; calls on the Government to stop supporting anti-EU disinformation campaign;

Amendment 135 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. RExpresses concern over the very limited visibility of the European Integration processes in Serbia; reiterates its call on Serbia, the European Commission and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement; expresses concern that public support for EU membership in Serbia has consistently been significantly lower than the rest of the region in recent years;

Amendment 136 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement; repeats its previously expressed concerns that publicly financed media outlets, often quoting office- holders, continue to contribute to the dissemination of anti-EU rhetoric in Serbia; invites the new parliament to take its share of the responsibility, to develop its own communication strategy and start a nationwide dialogue with citizens on Serbia’s European future; reiterates European Parliament’s readiness to take part in communication activities together with Serbian MPs to bring the EU and its policies closer to the citizens of Serbia;

Amendment 137 #

8. RIs concerned that for the first time since trends regarding EU integration are monitored, a majority of Serbian citizens are against Serbia joining the EU; calls on the Commission to better analyse the reasons of this dissatisfaction and reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement;

Amendment 138 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement; notes that there is an urgent need to engage with Serbian citizens beyond the major cities especially with regards to importance of the reform process and of the tangible benefits of EU accession;

Amendment 139 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement, to present the positive example of Serbia’s neighbouring countries that are members of the EU and to stress the progress that they have achieved since receiving full membership of the Union;

Amendment 14 #

— - having regard to that the number of unregistered firearms in civilian illegal possession in the Western Balkans is thought to be around 3.8 million and large quantities of ammunition and military explosive devices such as but not limited to hand- grenades, anti-personnel as well as an anti-tank -mines.

Amendment 140 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement; emphasises that diminishing the European Union’s contribution to Serbia’s development undermines mutual trust and significantly affects the prospect of membership;

Amendment 141 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement; regrets the fact that the Serbian government has put stronger emphasis on its ties with China and Russia, than with the EU;

Amendment 142 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates its call on Serbia and EU Member States to pursue more active and effective communication about the benefits of EU enlargement and as well as about the support granted through EU funding;

Amendment 143 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Regrets the fact that while 46% of Serbian citizens would support EU accession in a referendum, only 21% have a positive opinion on the European Union; therefore, regrets declining public support for EU accession1a _________________ 1a https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/ short_news/only-20-per-cent-of-serbs- view-eu-positively-says-polling-expert/

Amendment 144 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Expresses concern that the public support for EU membership in Serbia has consistently been significantly lower than the rest of the region in recent years and in a recent poll first time since the trends related to European integration are monitored, a bigger number of Serbian citizens would not vote for accession to the European Union in a potential referendum, compared to those who support integration;

Amendment 145 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 e (new)

8e. Encourages the Serbian authorities to more actively and unambiguously communicate their commitment to EU values in the public debate and expects a clear and unambiguous commitment by Serbia, in both words and deeds, to fulfil its obligations under the EU accession process in a visible and verifiable way;

Amendment 146 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Reiterates is expectation that the opening of negotiations on cluster 4 on the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, (chapters 14, 15, 21 and 27) will be accomplished by a renewed drive to fully implement EU standards; Notes that the adoption of the new accession methodology has not led to a substantial acceleration of the EU accession process of Serbia and calls for full implementation of all its aspects;

Amendment 147 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Urges the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement to be more proactive when it comes to the EU accession process of Serbia, especially regarding the fundamental areas, democracy and rule of law, fight against corruption and organized crime;

Amendment 148 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8b. Notes that the adoption of the new accession methodology has not led to a substantial progress in the EU accession process of Serbia and calls for full implementation of all its aspects;

Amendment 149 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Notes that the adoption of the new accession methodology has not led to a substantial acceleration of the EU accession process of Serbia and calls for the full implementation of EU legislation in Serbia's national legislation;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 31 c (new)

— - having regard to: 24.7.2020COM(2020)608 final communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of theregions2020- 2025 EU action plan on firearms trafficking, and the Europol reports: Threat Assessment Report on Illicit Trafficking in Firearms(EDOC#673806v7A of June2013), Intelligence Notification (19/2014); “Firearms in the hands of Terrorist in Europe”(EDOC:#759937v3; May 2015). - observing that Europol confirmed that Western Balkans remain among the main supplying regions of trafficking to the EU.

Amendment 150 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 g (new)

8g. Urges the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, to be more proactive when it comes to the EU accession process of Serbia, in particular regarding the fundamental freedoms, democracy and rule of law; expresses deep concern regarding revelations based on institutional sources and internal documents, concluding that the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement downplays human rights and rule of law related concerns in accession countries, most notably in Serbia;

Amendment 151 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Regrets that the European Integration process in Serbia is insufficiently transparent, as some important documents, such as the reports on the implementation of the National Programme for the Adoption of Acquis, have not been published for years;

Amendment 152 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Regrets that the European integration process in Serbia is insufficiently transparent, as important documents, such as the reports on the implementation of the National Programme for the Adoption of Acquis, have not been published for years;

Amendment 153 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 f (new)

8f. Regrets that the European Integration process in Serbia is insufficiently transparent, as some important documents, such as the reports on the implementation of the National Programme for the Adoption of Acquis, have not been published for years;

Amendment 154 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)

8d. Welcomes the fact that EU membership continues to be Serbia’s strategic goal and that it was among the priorities of the outgoing government; regrets, however, that there has been a lack of progress in many areas of Serbia’s reform agenda and the fact that there has even been backsliding on issues that are fundamental for EU accession;

Amendment 155 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Welcomes the initiative of the French Presidency of the EU Council to organise an EU-Western Balkans Conference and hopes that it will be used to invigorate the enlargement process and to give the Western Balkan countries a clear perspective of accession; looks forward to Czech Republic's Presidency of the EU Council and further support to EU's enlargement policy;

Amendment 156 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. welcomes Serbia's contribution to the Conference of the Future of Europe in the form of 52 recommendations which show Serbia's commitment in the EU accession path;

Amendment 157 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Welcomes that Serbia continued to significantly help manage the migration flows towards the EU by playing an active and constructive role and cooperating effectively with its neighbours and EU Member States;

Amendment 158 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)

8c. Underlines that the EU is Serbia’s biggest trading partner;

Amendment 159 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2 a (new)

Does not accept the lack of willingness and ability by the Government and its institutions to control the possession of illegal fire arms and military-grade explosive devices and stop the illegal movement of these weapons into the Member States as this undermines and deny the full utilization of human rights for citizens in the Member States, urges the Government to show credible action to control these weapons and stop their entry into the Member States;

Amendment 16 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 31 d (new)

— - Observing the reports: Strengthening Resilience in the Western Balkans: Mapping Assistance for SALW Control, Small Arms Survey, September 2018; and UNODC (2020), Global Study on Firearms Trafficking, Vienna and their observations that provides the information: that the ongoing threat in the Western Balkans region was confirmed by several studies. It is stresses that weapons used in terrorist attacks in the EU “were acquired through local illicit firearm markets and were found to originate from the Western Balkans and the Western Balkans is the main supplier of illicit firearms in Europe. In addition it is described of the links between the Western Balkans and small arms used in EU member states in various types of criminal activity. The latest report from the UN on the subject, UNODC Global Firearms Study confirms that the Western Balkans remain a source of illicit firearms, notably assault rifles for Western Europe.

Amendment 160 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Urges the newly elected majority to respect the Constitution and the division of power and to focus on addressing structural shortcomings in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, the fight against corruption and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration; is concerned that the lack of oversight over the executive, and the lack of deliberation and meaningful public consultation, led to hampering the quality of the laws, distortions in division of power on several occasions, threatening to endanger the overall stability and trust in the legislative and institutional framework;

Amendment 161 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. ~~Urges~~Proposes that the newly elected majority to focus on addressing structural shortcomings in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, the fight against corruption and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration;

Amendment 162 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Urges the newly elected majority to focus on addressing structural shortcomings in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, the fight against corruption and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration; reiterates that an independent media and information space is the cornerstone of healthy democratic debate;

Amendment 163 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Urges the newly elected majority to focus on addressing structural shortcomings and delivering concrete and tangible results in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, the fight against corruption and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration;

Amendment 164 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Urges the newly elected majority to focus on addressing structural shortcomings in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, media freedom and independence, the fight against corruption and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration;

Amendment 165 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Urges the newly elected majority to focus on addressing structural shortcomings in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, the fight against corruption and disinformation, and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration;

Amendment 166 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Urges the newly elected majority to focus on addressing structural shortcomings in the rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, media freedom, the fight against corruption and the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration;

Amendment 167 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Calls on Serbia to fully implement the separation of powers in line with its Constitution and democratic standards; emphasises that establishing a system of checks and balances is a prerequisite for preventing an excessive concentration of political power;

Amendment 168 #

10. Welcomes the recent changes to the Constitution following the referendum in January 2022, which aim to enhance the independence of the justice system; re~~grets the continuous pressure on the judiciary and public denials of international verdicts for war crimes~~iterates the need to adopt the remaining set of legislative acts, which are of crucial importance for the proper implementation of constitutional amendments, in a transparent and inclusive manner; calls on authorities to take into account the Venice Commission’s opinion related to these laws and already set benchmarks for the independence of judiciary; condemns the continuous pressure on the judiciary and calls on the newly elected majority to strengthen the safeguards for the independence and efficiency of the judiciary as a matter of priority;

Amendment 169 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Welcomes the recent changes to the Constitution following the referendum in January 2022, which aim to enhance the independence of the justice system; reiterates the need to adopt remaining set of judicial legislative acts, which are of crucial importance for proper implementation of Constitutional changes and for enabling effective independence of the judiciary; expects that the process of drafting and adopting the related set of laws to be transparent and inclusive, and to fully guarantee the independence of the judiciary; Invites to take into consideration the Venice Commission’s opinion related to these laws; regrets the continuous pressure on the judiciary and public denials of international verdicts for war crimes and calls on the newly elected majority to strengthen the safeguards for the independence and efficiency of the judiciary as a matter of priority;

Amendment 17 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 31 e (new)

— Having regard to European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2020 on improving development effectiveness and the efficiency of aid (2019/2184(INI)); in particular point 62: Believes that European development aid and public investments should promote joint priorities and policy objectives including eradicating poverty, climate and environmental action, economic and trade policies and migration management, and should also be fully aligned with the principles of fundamental human rights, democracy and good governance;

Amendment 170 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Welcomes the recent changes to the Constitution following the referendum in January 2022, which aim to enhance the independence of the justice system; ~~regret~~condemns the continuous pressure on the judiciary and public denials of international verdicts for war crimes and calls on the newly elected majority to strengthen the safeguards for the independence and efficiency of the judiciary as a matter of priority; emphasises the need for the new set of laws, that are expected to be adopted in line with the constitutional changes, to fully guarantee the independence of the judiciary;

Amendment 171 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Welcomes the recent changes to the Constitution following the referendum in January 2022, which aim to enhance the independence of the justice system; stresses that the reform process to strengthen the independence of the judiciary should continue, in particular by amending laws for the effective implementation of the constitutional amendments, in line with best European practices and standards and the Venice Commission recommendations; regrets the continuous pressure on the judiciary and public denials of international verdicts for war crimes and calls on the newly elected majority to strengthen the safeguards for the independence and efficiency of the judiciary as a matter of priority;

Amendment 172 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Calls on Serbia to respects its obligations and fully cooperate with the ICTY / IRMCT and implement of all its decisions, as warned by the IRMCT President and Prosecutor in its reports to the Security Council;

Amendment 173 #

10a. Highlights the benefits of decentralisation process and encourages the strengthening of the competencies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina;

Amendment 174 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)

10b. Reminds that under the terms of the Constitution, the law on the financing of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina should have been adopted by the end of 2008; therefore encourages the future government to submit the matter to the parliament without any further delay;

Amendment 175 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Welcom~~Recognises some improvements in the work of the National Assembly; is deeply concerned, however, ~~that inflammatory language is still used during parliamentary discussions and calls on the new parliament not to tolerate this practice;~~ about the persistent presence of the inflammatory and discriminatory language against political opponents, civil society, media and judiciary is still used during parliamentary discussions by the ruling majority and regrets that the Rules of Procedures have not been used to sanction such a language used by MPs during debates, while the Code of Conduct remained ineffective and neglected mechanism; calls on the new parliament not to tolerate this practice and to implement the Code of Conduct for MPs in a timely, impartial, consistent and adequate manner; expresses hope that the negative practices that characterised the previous parliaments, including the overuse of urgent legislative procedure, filibustering and irregular presence of the government representatives in the sessions, will not be repeated; Expresses deep concern about the persistent practice that the legislative agenda is exclusively dictated by the executive power, while the lack of Parliament’s annual working plan remains one of the burdening problems; calls on the new parliamentary leadership and parliamentary groups to contribute to focus on constructive debates in the National Assembly for the benefit of the citizens;

Amendment 176 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Welcomes some improvements in~~Regrets that the work of the National Assembly~~; is concerned, however, that inflammatory language~~ was limited, due to the lack of genuine political debate between majority and opposition parties; is concerned that the Parliament is not exercising its oversight role and that legislation is mainly handled by government; is concerned that inflammatory language against political opponents, civil society, media and judiciary is still used during parliamentary discussions, including by government officials, and calls on the new parliament not to tolerate this practice; and to adequately implement the Code of Conduct for MPs;

Amendment 177 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Welcomes some improvements in~~Regrets that the work of the National Assembly was limited, due to the lack of genuine political debate between majority and opposition parties; is concerned~~, however,~~ that inflammatory language is still used during parliamentary discussions, including by government officials and calls on the new parliament not to tolerate this practice; hopes that the negative practices that have characterised previous parliaments, including the overuse of urgent legislative procedure, filibustering and irregular presence of government representatives in the sessions will not resurface;

Amendment 178 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Welcomes some improvements in the work of the National Assembly, in particular the reduced use of urgent procedures and the adoption of a new Code of Conduct for members of parliament; is concerned, however, that inflammatory language against political opponents and representatives of other institutions expressing differing political views is still used during parliamentary discussions ~~and~~; calls on the new parliament not to tolerate ~~this practice~~such practices and to enforce effectively its Code of Conduct; underlines the importance of a cross-party consensus on EU-related reforms for ensuring the country’s progress on its EU path;

Amendment 179 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Welcomes some improvements in the work of the National Assembly; welcomes, in this regard, the adoption of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament, drawn up in cooperation with GRECO; is concerned, however, that inflammatory language is still used during parliamentary discussions and calls on the new parliament not to tolerate this practice;

Amendment 18 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas each enlargement country is judged on its own merits and whereas it is the fulfilment of the enlargement criteria, implementation of the necessary reforms and legislative alignment that determines the timetable and progress of accession;

Amendment 180 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Regrets that there was no substantial progress in adoption of the new Strategy for a supportive environment for development of civil society; reiterates importance of active and unhindered civil society for well- functioning of democracy in Serbia; invites Commission and EEAS to continue close cooperation with civil society and media in Serbia and to support their activities;

Amendment 181 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Welcomes the fact that in Serbia’s newly constituted parliament, minority parties and coalitions will have a total of 13 members representing the Bosniac, Hungarian and Croat national communities; expresses concern that Albanians and Roma will not have their own representatives in parliament;

Amendment 182 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Welcomes the significant reduction in the use of urgent procedures to adopt laws;

Amendment 183 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11b. Calls on the Serbian Parliament to ensure that independent regulatory bodies are empowered to exercise their oversight roles effectively by supporting and monitoring the implementation of independent regulatory bodies' findings and recommendations;

Amendment 184 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Reiterates its concern about ~~limited~~the lack of progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and ~~calls on~~suggests Serbia to intensify its efforts to effectively address these issues;

Amendment 185 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Reiterates its concern about limited progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and calls on Serbia to intensify its efforts to effectively address these issues; urges Serbia to deliver convincing results, including a sustainable track record with effective investigations in the area of fight against corruption, especially in cases with a high level of public interest, and to improve its track record in investigations, the pressing of charges and convictions in high-level corruption cases, including the seizure and confiscation of criminal assets; notes with concern that none of the cases mentioned in the previous report(s) – Krušik, Jovanjica, Telekom Srbija – have neither been fully processed by the judiciary nor fully investigated; notes with concern the emergence of new cases of high-level corruption in investigative media; calls on Serbian authorities to launch thorough investigations into any wrongdoing exposed by the Pandora Papers; urges the implementation of the laws on the prevention of corruption in line with the EU acquis and the recommendations of GRECO;

Amendment 186 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Reiterates its concern about limited progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and calls on Serbia to intensify its efforts to effectively address these issues; calls upon the authorities to refrain from commenting ongoing investigations and trials, exercising pressure on the judiciary; encourages further progress to be made, in particular on improving the track record of investigations, indictments and final convictions in high-level corruption cases, and implementing the laws on the prevention of corruption in line with the EU acquis and the recommendations of GRECO;

Amendment 187 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Reiterates its concern about very limited progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and calls on Serbia to intensify its efforts to effectively address these issues; calls upon the authorities to refrain from commenting ongoing investigations and trials, exercising pressure on the judiciary; notes with concern the emergence of new cases of high-level corruption in the investigative media and so called “Pandora papers”;

Amendment 188 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Reiterates its concern about limited progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and ~~calls on Serbia to intensify its efforts to effectively address these issues~~about several high- profile corruption scandals pointing to probable links between state officials and organized crime; calls on Serbia to intensify its efforts to effectively address these issues, in particular through a more systematic and consistent implementation of the relevant laws such as the hate crime legislation;

Amendment 189 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

Amendment 19 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas each enlargement country is judged on its own merits and whereas it is the implementation of the necessary reforms ~~that~~, notably in the area of “fundamentals”, that should determines the timetable and progress of accession;

Amendment 190 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Welcomes the GRECO Second Interim Compliance Report noting that most of the recommendations have been implemented satisfactorily, which demonstrates significant progress compared to the previous reporting period; transparency on the law drafting process has been further improved and a more effective process of public participation in the legislative process at a preliminary stage has been established; adopting of constitutional amendments allowed the implementation of several GRECO recommendations with the High Judiciary Council now recognized as an independent body guaranteeing the independence of courts and judges; the new Law on Corruption Prevention, recently amended according to GRECO’s recommendations, as well as relevant manuals and guidelines aimed at public officials, improved the rules on conflicts of interest that apply to parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors;

Amendment 191 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)

12b. Welcomes GRECO's Second Interim Compliance Report of 4th Evaluation Round on Serbia dealing with corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors, which concludes that Serbia has implemented satisfactorily or dealt with in a satisfactory manner eight of the thirteen recommendations contained in the Fourth Round Evaluation Report; calls for further implementation of the outstanding recommendations;

Amendment 192 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 d (new)

12d. Urges Serbia to deliver convincing results, including a sustainable track record of effective investigations in the area of fight against corruption, especially in cases with a high level of public interest, and to improve its track record in pressing charges and delivering final convictions and results in high-level corruption cases, including the seizure and confiscation of criminal assets;

Amendment 193 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)

12c. Urges Serbia to deliver convincing results, including a sustainable track record with effective investigations in the area of fight against corruption, especially in cases with a high level of public interest, and to improve its track record in investigations, the pressing of charges and convictions in high-level corruption cases, including the seizure and confiscation of criminal assets; notes with concern that none of the cases mentioned in the previous report(s) – Krušik, Jovanjica, Telekom Srbija – have either been fully processed by the judiciary or have been fully investigated; notes with concern the emergence of new cases of high-level corruption in investigative media and so called “Pandora papers”;

Amendment 194 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12a. Notes with concern that none of high-level public interest cases mentioned in the previous report – Krušik, Jovanjica, Telekom Srbija – are still remaining unresolved and have either not been fully processed by the judiciary or have not been fully investigated;

Amendment 195 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12a. Reiterates its call for justice in regards to the unlawful demolition of private property in the Savamala neighbourhood in Belgrade; notes the allegations of the sentenced policeman Goran Stamenković, that he was forced to take the sole responsibility for the entire case; reiterates its concern about the possibility of this process becoming obsolete in the next few years;

Amendment 196 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)

12b. Reiterates its call for justice with regard to the unlawful demolition of private property in the Savamala neighbourhood in Belgrade; notes the allegations of the sentenced policeman Goran Stamenković that he was forced to take the sole responsibility for the entire case; reiterates its concern about the possibility of this process becoming obsolete in the next few years; urges the authorities to fully investigate the case and prosecute all persons responsible;

Amendment 197 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

12b. Reiterates its call for justice on regard to the unlawful demolition of private property in the Savamala neighbourhood in Belgrade; urges the authorities to fully investigate the case and prosecute all persons responsible;

Amendment 198 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)

12c. Urges the authorities to investigate all alleged ties between the Belivuk criminal group and parts of the government and to prosecute all responsible for maintaining those ties;

Amendment 199 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Urges the authorities to investigate all alleged ties between the captured Belivuk criminal group and some government officials and politicians from ruling parties, and to prosecute all responsible for any wrongdoing;

Amendment 2 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)

— having regard to the Zagreb Declaration of the EU-Western Balkans summit of 6 May 2020;

Amendment 20 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas each enlargement country is judged on its own merits and speed and whereas it is the implementation of the necessary reforms that determines the timetable and progress of accession;

Amendment 200 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Expresses concern about the new charges that Darko Saric was running an international criminal organisation while being in prison in Serbia; calls for urgent investigation of this case and of his links with state officials;

Amendment 201 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 e (new)

12e. Stresses that the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) foresees that funding must be modulated or even suspended in the case of significant regression or persistent lack of progress in the area of the so-called “fundamentals”, notably in the field of the rule of law and fundamental rights, including fight against corruption and organised crime, as well as media freedom; stresses that it is in the EU’s own security interests and its responsibility to guarantee that EU funds do not become counterproductive by strengthening clientelistic networks of corrupt politicians and privileged businesses; calls in this context upon the EU and the Western Balkan countries to establish a framework for a fruitful cooperation between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and the Western Balkan countries, in order to ensure that the EPPO can effectively exert its competences in the area of EU funds, in particular in the area of IPAIII funds in the Western Balkan countries;

Amendment 202 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12a. Welcomes the adoption of changes to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, responding to the calls for improved transparency of public policy making and enabling the citizens to get information of public interest without unnecessary obstacles;

Amendment 203 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12a. Reminds the Serbian authorities that a strong and independent civil society is an essential component of any democracy; calls upon the Serbian authorities to substantially include civil society in policy and decision-making and to refrain from brushing off any criticism by civil society as foreign interference;

Amendment 204 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Regrets that the CSOs and NGOs are operating in an environment in which criticism is poorly received; calls on the Serbian authorities to ensure that these organisations can work without fear of restrictions, such as intimidation or even criminalisation; urges the authorities to foster an atmosphere that is conducive to the work of all CSOs as soon as possible;

Amendment 205 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)

22b. Calls on the Serbian Government not to reduce, but to extend cooperation between public authorities and civil society;

Amendment 206 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Urges the Commission to ~~implement the findings of~~draw the pertinent conclusions from the European Court of Auditors Special Report 01/2022, ~~ensuring an effective rule-of-law impact of EU financial assistance in the Western Balkans~~and cease all EC administrated aid from the Member States in regard to the Western Balkans and allow the elected governments to stand on their own and implement solutions best fit for their people(s);

Amendment 207 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Urges the Commission to implement the ~~finding~~recommendations of the European Court of Auditors Special Report 01/2022, in order to ensur~~ing~~e an effective ~~rule-of-law~~ impact of EU financial assistance in ~~the Western Balkans~~support to the rule of law in the Western Balkans, in particular by developing guidelines on the application of IPA III provisions on modulation/ conditionality;

Amendment 208 #

13. Urges the Commission to implement the findings of the European Court of Auditors Special Report 01/2022, ensuring an effective rule-of-law impact of EU financial assistance in the Western Balkans; calls on the European Commission to link funding more closely to progress on the rule of law, to increase support to civil-society organisations and independent media sources, and to improve project reporting and monitoring, as repeatedly advocated by the European Parliament; calls in this respect to ensure better coordination of various rule of law programmes supported by international donors;

Amendment 209 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Urges the Commission to consider initiating an independent senior experts’ report on the rule of law issues in Serbia modelled after similar reports carried out in North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Priebe Report);

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas Serbia has agreed to gradually adopt the European Union’s objectives and policies during the negotiation process;

Amendment 210 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Urges the Commission to consider initiating an independent senior experts’ report on the rule of law issues in Serbia modelled after similar reports carried out in North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Priebe Report);

Amendment 211 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Expresses its serious concern regarding the revelations based on institutional sources and internal documents, concluding that the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement downplays the importance human rights and rule of law related concerns in accession countries, in particular as regards Serbia, thus undermining EU standards, values and principles, as well as weakening the credibility of the European Union; regrets the lack of a serious response by the European Commission in this regards, which had been called for by the European Parliament and urges the Commission to take the allegations serious and launch an internal investigation, reporting the results of which to the Parliament and the Council;

Amendment 212 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Reiterates its call on the authorities to continue their efforts to eliminate the legacy of the former Communist secret services by making its files open to the public, as a step towards the democratisation of Serbia; calls on Serbia to intensify the process of succession and implementation of obligations relating to the division of the common archive of the former Yugoslavia; reiterates, in this connection, that full access to all archival materials, especially those of the former Yugoslav Secret Services (UDBA) and the Yugoslav People’s Army Secret Service (KOS) is of vital significance; reiterates its call to the authorities to facilitate access to those archives that concern the former republics of Yugoslavia and to return them to their respective governments if they so request;

Amendment 213 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)

25a. Deplores the fact that certain parts of the former Yugoslav historical archives are still inaccessible; calls on the Serbian authorities to ensure transparency and access to these archives to facilitate the reconciliation process with some of its neighbouring countries;

Amendment 214 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Reiterates its call for the archives that concern the former republics of Yugoslavia to be opened and, in particular, for access to be granted to the files of the former Yugoslav Secret Service (UDBA) and the Yugoslav People’s Army Secret Service (KOS) in order to thoroughly research and address communist-era crimes;

Amendment 215 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Regrets theat Serbia like most of Western Europe has to labour under limitations on the freedom and independence of the media a~~nd the~~s well as misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation;

Amendment 216 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. ~~Regret~~Condemns the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media by the ruling party to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; notes that the abuse of public money to acquire ownership in media outlets is considered to be one of the main mechanisms of media capture in Serbia;

Amendment 217 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. ~~Regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to ga~~Calls on the authorities to create an environment that favours freedom of expression, media pluralism and journalistic professionalism and allows for independent and investigative media to access funding an ~~unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation~~d operate safely; calls for increased transparency of media public financing and its distribution based on merit;

Amendment 218 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage for the ruling majority, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; Deeply regrets the practices which point that the authorities are intentionally delaying the implementation of the Media Strategy, by using induced conflicts, diluted with unnecessary institutional arrangements, which further strengthen public distrust in state officials, while at the same time leaving the impression of investing significant effort to improve the conditions in the media sector as a whole;

Amendment 219 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. RWelcomes the efforts the Government has made regarding the realization of the media strategy; notes that additional steps should be made in order to further increase media freedom; regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation;

Amendment 22 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas democracy and the rule of law are the fundamental values on which the EU is founded; whereas reforms are needed ~~to tackle the challenges that remain in these areas~~in Serbia in order to endeavour to solve the deep problems that remain in these areas, despite more than 20 years of targeted support for institution building by the Member States via the EU administration;

Amendment 220 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; calls on the Serbian authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee freedom of expression and media independence;

Amendment 221 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; reiterates that media ownership should be available to the public; calls for strengthening of independent media and media pluralism;

Amendment 222 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; emphasises the negative impact these limitations have on democracy and democratic processes in the country;

Amendment 223 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Regrets the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; notes the disproportionate visibility given to third countries on behalf of Serbia;

Amendment 224 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)

13c. Calls on the authorities to create an environment conducive to freedom of expression, media pluralism and journalistic professionalism and that allows for independent and investigative media to access funding and operate safely; calls for increased transparency of media public financing and its distribution based on merit;

Amendment 225 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Condemns the limitations on the freedom and independence of the media and the misuse of the media by the ruling party to gain an unfair political advantage, attack political opponents and spread disinformation; notes that the alleged abuse of public money to acquire ownership in media outlets is considered to be one of the main mechanisms of media capture in Serbia; urges the European Commission to consider initiating an independent senior experts’ report on media landscape in Serbia;

Amendment 226 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Notes that competition in the media sector benefits media plurality; calls on greater transparency of media ownership;

Amendment 227 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Notes that some of the media outlets close to the ruling parties are the main source of the anti-EU and pro- Russian narratives in Serbia; notes that the public broadcaster has been using Kremlin talking points, such as “limited military operation”, since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine;

Amendment 228 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)

14b. Notes that several recent elections of the members of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), as well as the election of the members of the governing board of the Radio Television of Serbia in June 2021 were considered controversial; notes with concern the persisting assessments that REM's decision making is politically biased; notes the new open call for the allocation of national television frequencies, and urges REM members to carry out this process in a fair and professional manner;

Amendment 229 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)

14b. Notes that several recent elections of the members of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), as well as the election of the members of the governing board of the Radio Television of Serbia in June 2021 were regarded as controversial; notes with concern the persisting assessments that REM's decision-making is politically biased; notes the new open call for the allocation of national television frequencies and urges REM members to carry out this process in a fair and professional manner;

Amendment 23 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas democracy and the rule of law are the fundamental values on which the EU is founded~~; whereas~~ and a precondition for the EU accession process; whereas deep and comprehensive reforms are ~~needed~~essential to tackle the challenges that remain in these areas;

Amendment 230 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Notes that several recent elections of the members of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), as well as the election of the members of the governing board of the Radio Television of Serbia in June 2021 were regarded as controversial; notes with concern the persisting assessments that REM's decision making is politically biased; welcomes the open call for the allocation of national television frequencies, and urges REM members to carry out this process in a fair and professional manner;

Amendment 231 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)

15b. Underlines the importance of improving the functioning and independence of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) as per Inter- Party Dialogue recommendations in order to strengthen media pluralism and implement the Media Strategy; notes the recent competition for national TV licences and underlines the importance of a fair and transparent process;

Amendment 232 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

~~15.~~ Deplores th~~e continuing physical 15. attacks~~at in Serbia like in many Member States these is attacks against person and property, intimidation~~, hate speech~~ and political slurs against ~~journalists and civil society; calls on the~~politicians and journalists; proposes that the Serbian authorities endeavour to investigate all cases of such attacks and to improve the safety of ~~journalists~~politicians and alternative media;

Amendment 233 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Deplores the continuing physical attacks, intimidation, hate speech and political slurs against journalists and civil society; calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of such attacks and to improve the safety of journalists and human rights defenders; expresses concern about continuous labelling and targeting of human rights defenders, investigative journalists, media outlets and civil society organizations which are critical of Government’s policies; notes that the alleged abuse of public money to acquire ownership in media outlets is considered to be one of the main mechanisms of media capture in Serbia;

Amendment 234 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Deplores the continuing physical attacks, intimidation, hate speech and political slurs against journalists and civil society; calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of such attacks, to punish the perpetrators adequately and to improve the safety of journalists; calls for further progress in the implementation of the action plan based on the media strategy, without delays and in a transparent and inclusive manner;

Amendment 235 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Deplores the continuing physical attacks, intimidation, hate speech and political slurs against journalists and civil society; calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of such attacks and to improve the safety of journalists, and calls on high rank officials and politicians to swiftly and decisively publicly condemn such instances;

Amendment 236 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Deplores the continuing physical attacks, intimidation, hate speech and political slurs against journalists and civil society, including by MPs and government officials; calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of such attacks, to bring the perpetrators to justice and to improve the safety of journalists and human rights defenders;

Amendment 237 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Deplores the continuing physical attacks, intimidation, hate speech and political slurs against journalists and civil society, including by MPs and government officials; ; calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of such attacks and to improve the safety of journalists;

Amendment 238 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Deplores the continuing physical attacks, intimidation, hate speech and political slurs against journalists and civil society; welcomes the efforts the Government has made regarding the protection of journalists and calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of such attacks and to improve the safety of journalists;

Amendment 239 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Calls on the Serbian authorities to ensure the full financial and operational independence of the regulators for electronic communications and postal services (RATEL) and for electronic media (REM), in compliance with the EU acquis;

Amendment 24 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas democracy and the rule of law are the fundamental values on which the EU is founded; whereas ~~reforms are~~ profound reforms and their implementation are needed to tackle the challenges that remain in these areas;

Amendment 240 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)

15b. Calls on Serbia to strengthen human rights institutions, guarantee their independence, allocate them the necessary financial and human resources and ensure timely follow-up on their recommendations;

Amendment 241 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)

14c. Calls on Serbia to strengthen human rights institutions, guarantee their independence, allocate them the necessary financial and human resources and ensure timely follow-up on their recommendations;

Amendment 242 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. ~~Cal~~Appeals for general respect for the basic right to peaceful gatherings~~; condemns~~ and manifestations, freedom of speech, is troubled that Serbia like some Member States is experiencing violence by groups of extremists and hooligans during peaceful ~~protest~~manifestations;

Amendment 243 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Calls for general respect for the basic right to peaceful gatherings~~; condemns~~ and calls upon law-enforcement officials to refrain from the use of excessive force; regrets that a number of citizens faced misdemeanour proceedings and calls for refraining from these disproportionate limitations of the right to peaceful assembly; condemns increasing violence by groups of extremists and hooligans, in particular during the peaceful ~~protests~~environmental protests, but also in general; denounces their close links to high-level political figures, including close to the government; calls on authorities to ensure that these cases of violence are duly investigated and that the perpetrators are held responsible, including any public officials involved; calls for a full investigation into any links between hooligans and the police;

Amendment 244 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Calls for general respect for the basic right to peaceful gatherings; condemns violence by groups of extremists and hooligans during peaceful protests, such as November 2021 protests against the mural of a convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in Belgrade and December 2021 environmental protests in Šabac and Belgrade; remains concerned about the reports of withdrawal of the police from environmental protests; regrets that a number of citizens faced misdemeanour proceedings and calls for refraining from these disproportionate limitations of the right to peaceful assembly; deplores the statements by the highest government officials containing hate speech addressed at protesters, that incited further escalation of violence;

Amendment 245 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Calls for general respect for the basic right to peaceful gatherings~~; condemns violence by groups of extremists and hooligans during peaceful protest~~ and calls upon law-enforcement officials to refrain from the use of excessive force; condemns violence by groups of extremists and hooligans during peaceful protests, such as the November 2021 protests against the Ratko Mladić mural in Belgrade and the December 2021 environmental protests in Šabac and Belgrade; calls for an effective investigation of attacks against protesters;

Amendment 246 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. ~~Welcom~~Notes the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality and the amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination;

Amendment 247 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Welcomes the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality and the amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination; calls on government to ensure that the laws are promptly implemented; is concerned that the socio- economic status of women is still significantly worse than that of men, as well as by the high prevalence of patriarchal attitudes and gender stereotypes in society and public discourse, and the lack of knowledge of the judiciary, prosecutors and lawyers in this regard; calls on Serbia to increase efforts aimed at gender equality and women’s rights, including by prioritising gender mainstreaming and increased cooperation with civil society, in particular women’s organisations;

Amendment 248 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Welcomes the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality and the amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, and calls on government to ensure that these laws are promptly implemented; regrets that in the previous legislative term the Serbian parliament failed to adopt the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships which was drafted by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, and calls on the new and more democratic parliament to do so;

Amendment 249 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Welcomes the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality and the amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination; regrets that the outgoing parliament failed to adopt the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships, which was drafted by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue; calls the Parliament to adopt the law as soon as possible;

Amendment 25 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas democracy, the respect for human rights and the rule of law are the fundamental values on which the EU is founded; whereas reforms are needed to tackle the challenges that remain in these areas;

Amendment 250 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Welcomes the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality and the amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination; reiterates that coordination, an efficient institutional set- up and cooperation with civil society are necessary in order to improve human rights and political freedoms of women and vulnerable groups;

Amendment 251 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)

17a. Welcomes the adoption of a new strategy on violence against women and against domestic violence; stresses, however, that implementation and improvements are needed, and calls for a coherent policy approach towards the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, efficiently addressing the need for preventive measures, gaps in service provision for victims, low levels of awareness, sensitisation and capacity- building, as well as particular obstacles for a wide range of women due to intersecting factors such as ethnicity, poverty, social origin and disability;

Amendment 252 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)

22b. Calls on Serbia to fully carry out the work of complying with the Istanbul Convention by prioritising and setting aside sufficient resources to prevent gender-based violence, protect victims of crime and prosecute offenders;

Amendment 253 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)

17b. Regrets that in the previous term, the parliament failed to adopt the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships which was drafted by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue; calls on the new and more pluralistic parliament to do so;

Amendment 254 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)

15b. calls on Serbian national authorities to promptly adopt of the Same- Sex Partnership Law, having included recommendations made by civil society and the Council of Europe;

Amendment 255 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. ~~Calls on~~Proposes the Serbian authorities to ~~step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crim~~find new innovative methods to enable different ethnics group to live side by side as harmonious as possible and not try to emulate the failed solutions attempted in many of the Member States;

Amendment 256 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on the Serbian authorities to step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of ~~nation~~ethnic, religious and sexual minorities and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes;

Amendment 257 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

Amendment 258 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on the Serbian authorities to step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes; expresses its concern at the unwillingness of the Serbian authorities to consistently and fully implement the Framework Convention on National Minorities; urges the Serbian authorities, as a mark of respect for national minorities in Serbia, to commemorate with dignity the sacrifice of the Srem Croats expelled from their homes during conflicts;

Amendment 259 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on the Serbian authorities to step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes; calls on Serbia to ensure that minority groups have equal opportunities, adequate representation in political and cultural life, public media, the administration, and the judiciary; calls on Serbia to protect and promote cultural heritage, languages and traditions of its national minorities;

Amendment 26 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas democracy ~~and~~, the rule of law a~~re th~~nd human rights are fundamental values on which the EU is founded; whereas reforms are needed to tackle the challenges that remain in these areas;

Amendment 260 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on the Serbian authorities to step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities and ~~to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crim~~other vulnerable groups, including women and children, victims of crimes, LGBTI community, refuges and migrants, and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes, domestic violence and violence against women; condemns the ethnic hatred spread by some government officials and politicians, including from ruling parties;

Amendment 261 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on the Serbian ~~auth~~government to respect the rights of national minorities present within the borders of Serbia and to continue with the implementation of a positive agenda on this issue, in full conformit~~ies~~y with EU principles and legislation; urges the authorities of the Serbian state to step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes;

Amendment 262 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on the Serbian authorities to step up efforts to ensure the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes; moreover, regrets the fact that national minorities are protected only on paper; more has to be done to actively implement the anti-discrimination legislation;

Amendment 263 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls on ~~the~~ Serbian authorities to step up efforts toin ensureing the non- discriminatory treatment of national minorities throughout Serbia, especially in the areas of education, use of minority languages, access to media and religious services in minority languages, and to actively pursue investigations and convictions for hate- motivated crimes;

Amendment 264 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Welcomes Serbia's commitment in drafting a revised action plan on national minorities in the framework of Action plan for Chapter 23 in the negotiations, which will provide further improvement of implementation and development of the existing practices and legal framework on national minorities in particular in education, in, culture, in access to the media, in adequate representation in judiciary, police, public administration and public companies and in right to official use minority language;

Amendment 265 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Welcomes the commitment of the Serbian authorities to support the organisation of EuroPride in Belgrade as a key moment for the LGBTI+ community in Serbia and in the region; calls on the government and on police forces to ensure the smooth planning and execution of the programme, as well as the safety and wellbeing of participants;

Amendment 266 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 c (new)

17c. Welcomes the commitment of Serbian authorities to support the organisation of EuroPride in Belgrade as a key moment for the LGBTI+ community in Serbia and in the region; calls on the government and on police forces to ensure a smooth planning and execution of the programme, as well as the safety and well-being of participants;

Amendment 267 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Calls on Serbia to step up its work on human rights and anti-discrimination for LGBTQ+ people; calls for increased measures to combat harassment, hate propaganda and hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people;

Amendment 268 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. expresses condemnation and concern at the increased occurrences of discriminatory and hate speech and attacks, threats, and smear campaigns against LGBTI persons and activists; calls for a better implementation of the Anti- discrimination Law to tackle hate crime and hate speech and calls on the national authorities to strongly condemn and investigate all such cases;

Amendment 269 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Regrets the decision by the Assembly of the City of Subotica to introduce the Bunjevac language as one of the dialects of the Croatian language that is already in official use; takes the view that such a political decision is a precedent that seriously violates European and international standards for protecting the rights of national minorities;

Amendment 27 #

B. whereas democracy and the rule of law are the fundamental values on which the EU is founded; whereas sustainable reforms are needed to tackle the challenges that remain in these areas;

Amendment 270 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)

18b. Calls on Serbia to take all necessary measures to ensure that the composition of state authorities, local self- government bodies and other public authorities reflects the national composition of population in their territories by increasing the number of employees who are members of national minorities and by their education and vocational training for carrying out their tasks and by taking measures to manage national diversity;

Amendment 271 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)

18b. Condemns the manipulation by fragmentation of minority groups, which calls into question Serbia’s conduct in fulfilling its obligations with regard to the rights of national minorities;

Amendment 272 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Reiterates its con~~cern over the alleged~~demnation of the use of forced labour and violation of basic human rights at the Chinese Linglong factory construction site; calls upon the relevant authorities to thoroughly follow- up on these cases and to ensure that labour rights and basic human rights of citizens and residents are respected;

Amendment 273 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Reiterates its con~~cern over~~demnation of the alleged use of forced labour and violation of basic human rights at the Chinese Linglong factory construction site; calls upon the relevant authorities to ensure that labour rights of citizens and residents are respected;

Amendment 274 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Reiterates its concern over the alleged use of forced labour and violation of human rights at the Chinese Linglong factory construction site; calls for tighter control of working conditions in factories, strengthen inspections and institutions to monitor the labour rights of workers, including foreign ones; calls on Serbia to improve alignment with EU labour law, adopt a new law on the right to strike, tackle undeclared work and amend the law on inspection oversight to comply with the relevant International Labour Organization conventions, which it has ratified;

Amendment 275 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Reiterates its concern over the alleged use of forced labour and violation of human rights at the Chinese Linglong factory construction site; calls on Serbia to strengthen its legal compliance standards for Chinese business activities; emphasises that Serbian labour and environmental laws should also apply to Chinese companies operating in the country;

Amendment 276 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Reiterates its concern over the alleged ~~use of~~ forced labour and violation of human rights a~~t the Chinese Linglong factory construction site~~nd trafficking in the case of around 500 Vietnamese citizens in the Chinese Linglong factory construction site in Serbia; welcomes the initial steps and inspections by the Serbian authorities in tackling the issue; calls on Serbia’s authorities to investigate the case and ensure the respect of labour rights;

Amendment 277 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Reiterates its concern over the alleged use of forced labour and violation of human rights at the Chinese Linglong factory construction site; Urges the Serbian authorities to investigate the case carefully and ensure respect for fundamental human rights in the factory;

Amendment 278 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

~~20. Deplores the deportation of a Bahraini national despite the European Court of Human Rights interim ruling that his extradition should be postponed;~~deleted

Amendment 279 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. ~~Deplores the deportation of a Bahraini national despite the European Court of Human Rights interim ruling that his extradition should be postponed~~Is concerned by Serbia’s poor level of implementation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgements and non-compliance with court interim measures; Deplores the deportation of a Bahraini national despite the European Court of Human Rights interim ruling that his extradition should be postponed; requests the effective investigation by the authorities in the case of attacks by unknown perpetrators as was indicated by the ECHR interim measure in the case of Bojović and others v. Serbia;

Amendment 28 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas since the opening of negotiations with Serbia, 1822 chapters have been opened, two of which have been provisionally closed; whereas Serbia opened cluster ~~four~~4 on the Green Agenda and sustainable connectivity in December 2021;

Amendment 280 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Deplores the deportation of a Bahraini national despite the European Court of Human Rights interim ruling that his extradition should be postponed; calls on the Serbian authorities to respect its international obligations and fully enforce all rulings of the European Court of Human Rights;

Amendment 281 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Deplores the deportation of a Bahraini national despite the European Court of Human Rights interim ruling that his extradition should be postponed; urges Serbian authorities to respect its international obligations and fully enforce all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights;

Amendment 282 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Deplores the deportation of a Bahraini national ~~despite~~to his home country despite an interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights ~~interim rul~~saying that ~~his~~the extradition should be postponed; recalls that Serbia must uphold fundamental rights of all people on its territory;

Amendment 283 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)

20a. Notes the importance of cooperation with the EU in the fight against trafficking in human beings and illegal migration from the ‘Balkan route’;

Amendment 284 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

Amendment 285 #

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation about ~~Russian aggression against Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats~~unprovoked Russian military aggression against Ukraine; is particularly concerned about the disinformation narratives emanating from the Kremlin and distributed through Sputnik Serbia and other domestic actors; calls on the Serbian authorities to revisit the arrangements allowing these operations in order to reduce disinformation both inside and outside the country and to step up its efforts in the fight against disinformation campaigns, which have grown since the beginning of unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats; is appalled that the main sources of disinformation and of the anti-EU and pro-Russian narratives in Serbia are the government-funded tabloid newspapers and media outlets close to the ruling parties, including television channels with national coverage; deplores that the public broadcaster has been using Russian propaganda language, such as “limited military operation”, since the start of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine;

Amendment 286 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation about Russian aggression against Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities to take decisive steps to tackle disinformation; calls on Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats and to support evidence-based responses to both short- term and long-term disinformation threats in the Western Balk; underlines the importance of dialogue with Serbian civil society and the private sector to coordinate anti-disinformation efforts in both Serbia and the region; notes, in this regard, that Serbia would benefit from further association to expert groups of the European Union agency for cybersecurity (ENISA);

Amendment 287 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation ~~about~~in regard to Russian’s aggression against Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to ~~bolster~~develop infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats, as a tolerant attitude towards this toxic and dangerous environment, promoted and sustained by malign external influences, may have seriously negative consequences on Serbia’s prospect of EU integration;

Amendment 288 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation about Russian aggression against Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats; is deeply concerned that among the main sources of disinformation are government-funded or supported tabloid newspapers and some television channels with national coverage;

Amendment 289 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation about Russian aggression against Ukraine, in particular by media outlets close to the government and the ruling party; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats;

Amendment 29 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas since the opening of negotiations with Serbia, 18 chapters have been opened, two of which have been provisionally closed; whereas the progress on various negotiating chapters has been rather slow in recent years; whereas Serbia opened cluster four on the Green Agenda and sustainable connectivity in December 2021;

Amendment 290 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation about Russian aggression against Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats; stresses that all political leaders have the responsibility to stop the spread of malicious disinformation about Russian aggression against Ukraine;

Amendment 291 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Is deeply concerned about the spread of disinformation about Russian aggression against Ukraine; calls on the Serbian authorities to take an active stand against the disinformation and to fight back the most circulated fake news; calls on the Serbian authorities and the Commission to bolster infrastructure to fight disinformation and other hybrid threats;

Amendment 292 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

Amendment 293 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)

20a. Is highly alerted that the EU accession countries in the Western Balkans are being hit particularly hard by attacks in the form of foreign interference and disinformation campaigns stemming from Russia and China; is alarmed that Hungary and Serbia are helping China and Russia with their geopolitical objectives; recommends convening dialogues with Western Balkan civil society and the private sector to coordinate anti-disinformation efforts in the region, with an emphasis on research and analysis and the inclusion of regional expertise; calls on the Commission to build up the infrastructure required to produce evidence-based responses to both short-term and long-term disinformation threats in the Western Balkans; calls on the EEAS to pivot to a more proactive stance, focusing on building the EU’s credibility in the region, rather than defending it, in expanding StratCom monitoring to focus on cross-border disinformation threats emanating from Western Balkan countries and their neighbours;

Amendment 294 #

Thierry MARIANI, Harald VILIMSKY, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)

21a. Calls on the Serbian authorities to align with the EU sanctions concerning the suspension of Russian propaganda channels and to take the appropriate measures to prevent Russia Today and Sputnik Serbia from disseminating fake new and disinformation;

Amendment 295 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. ~~Appreciates the work of the European External Action Service Strategic Communications Task Force for~~Points out theat Western Balkans ~~and calls for its reinforcement~~policy should be based primarily on inter- state relations;

Amendment 296 #

22. ~~Appreciates the work of~~Demands that the Commission immediately abolishes the European External Action Service Strategic Communications Task Force for the Western Balkans ~~and calls for its reinforcement~~;

Amendment 297 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Appreciates the work of the European External Action Service Strategic Communications Task Force for the Western Balkans ~~and calls for its reinforcement~~tasked with ensuring coordinated and consistent EU communication, building resilience and dealing with disinformation and information manipulation against the EU; calls for reinforcement of strategic communication actions and staff increase, including the possibility of setting up a regional strategic communication post located in the Western Balkan region;

Amendment 298 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. ~~Welcom~~Notes Serbia’s participation in regional cooperation mechanisms and ~~commitment to~~efforts to improve bilateral relations and ~~enco~~urages itSerbia to step up its efforts to promote reconciliation; commends its decision to donate vaccines to the region;

Amendment 299 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Welcomes Serbia’s participation in some regional cooperation mechanisms and ~~commitment to~~its efforts to improve bilateral relations and encourages it to promote reconciliation; commends its decision to donate vaccines to the region;

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 b (new)

— having regard to the Zagreb Declaration adopted at the EU-Western Balkans Summit on 6 May 2020,

Amendment 30 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas Freedom House lists Serbia unchanged as a “partly free” country and notes it has one of the major downturns in democracy scores in the last 10 years globally;

Amendment 300 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Welcomes Serbia’s participation in regional cooperation mechanisms and commitment to bilateral relations and encourages it to promote reconciliation; commends its decision to donate vaccines to the region; emphasises Serbia’s obligation, on its journey to the EU, to cooperate in good faith with neighbouring countries to help search for and identify missing persons from the time of the aggression by Milosević’s Greater Serbian regime, including more than 1 800 people missing from Croatia;

Amendment 301 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Welcomes Serbia’s participation in regional cooperation mechanisms and its commitment to bilateral relations ~~and encourages it to promote reconciliation; commends its decision to donate vaccines to the region~~with other enlargement countries and neighbouring EU Member States; commends its decision to donate around 600 000 COVID-19 vaccines to the region, including to North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina; encourages it to work on all levels to promote reconciliation and strengthening good neighbourly relations;

Amendment 302 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Welcomes Serbia’s participation in regional cooperation mechanisms and commitment to bilateral relations and encourages it to promote reconciliation; commends its decision to donate vaccines to the region; stresses the importance for Serbia to develop good neighbourly relations, implement bilateral agreements and resolve outstanding bilateral issues with its neighbours;

Amendment 303 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Welcomes Serbia’s participation in regional cooperation mechanisms and commitment to bilateral relations and encourages it to promote reconciliation; commends its decision to donate vaccines to the region; recalls that refraining from war-time rhetoric and an aggressive foreign policy approach to neighbouring countries is a precondition for the normalisation of regional relations;

Amendment 304 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23a. Expresses concern about the enactment of the Cultural Heritage Act, which, among other things, openly and unacceptably encroaches on Croatian cultural heritage; calls for full respect for intangible cultural heritage and the advancement of cultural cooperation;

Amendment 305 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23a. Notes the calls of the Serbian authorities for the return of Bosnian Serbs to the work of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Amendment 306 #

Thierry MARIANI, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)

29a. Notes that, according to the Serbian authorities, Serbia fully respected the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina; calls on Serbia to work to ease tensions between the authorities of Republika Srpska and the federal authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

Amendment 307 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority MunicipalitiesUnderlines that there should be no obligation on Serbia to recognise Kosovo given that five EU Member States have yet to recognise it as an independent state;

Amendment 308 #

Francisco José MILLÁN MON, Leopoldo LÓPEZ GIL, Gabriel MATO, Javier ZARZALEJOS, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. ~~Reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pris~~Notes that no transitiona dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalitiesl justice process was implemented between Serbia and Kosovo despite more than 22 years since the cease fire begun;

Amendment 309 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement ~~on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding~~in order to achieve normalisation ~~agreement,~~ which is crucial ~~for both countries~~ to advance on the~~ir respective~~ European p~~aths~~erspective; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities;

Amendment 31 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)

Cb. whereas, according to the Fourth Evaluation Round, published on 30 March 2022, Serbia has implemented satisfactorily or dealt with in a satisfactory manner eight of the thirteen GRECO recommendations;

Amendment 310 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Regrets the lack of progress but reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement leading to mutual recognition, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; expects from the EU a more effective action of mediation between the parties aimed at overcoming the current stalemate; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities;

Amendment 311 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities; calls on the EEAS to set up a mechanism to monitor and verify the implementation of all the agreements so far reached and to report periodically to the European Parliament about the state of play; reiterates, in this regard, its full support for the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák;

Amendment 312 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities; reiterates, in this regard, its full support for the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade- Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák;

Amendment 313 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Reconfirms its support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities; calls on Serbia and Kosovo to renew the negotiation mandate on the issue of the licence plates in order to find a permanent solution benefitting the normalisation of economic and political relations;

Amendment 314 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

Amendment 315 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Reconfirms its unequivocal support for the EU- facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and reiterates the importance of constructive engagement on the part of the authorities of both Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve a comprehensive legally binding normalisation agreement, which is crucial for both countries to advance on their respective European paths; calls for all past agreements to be respected and fully implemented, including the Association/Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities;

Amendment 316 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

Amendment 317 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)

25b. Calls on the EEAS to set up a mechanism to monitor and verify the implementation of all the agreements so far reached and to report periodically to the European Parliament about the state of play;

Amendment 318 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)

24a. Stresses that the normalisation of relations based on mutual recognition between Serbia and Kosovo is a priority and a precondition for EU accession of both countries; acknowledges the increased engagement from both sides in the EU-facilitated dialogue; calls for further active and constructive engagement in the EU- facilitated dialogue led by the EU Special Representative seeking a comprehensive and legally binding agreement, in accordance with international law; urges the Serbian and Kosovo Governments to refrain from any action that could undermine trust between the parties and put the constructive continuation of the dialogue at risk;

Amendment 319 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)

24a. Calls in this context on the EU actors to support the local authorities, providing concrete security guarantees and opportunities for socio-economic integration when working towards the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities as part of a mutual agreement;

Amendment 32 #

Ca. whereas the system of checks and balances is seen as the foundation of a functioning democracy, in which each branch of government respects constitutional restraints;

Amendment 320 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)

24b. Regrets that Serbia continues its attempts to isolate its neighbouring country Kosovo from the international scene by campaigning against its recognition or by excluding the country from international organisations;

Amendment 321 #

Tonino PICULA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Calls ~~for the stepping up of efforts and the delivery of solutions on the issues of missing persons and~~on Serbia to fully implement bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries and to make every effort to resolve outstanding issues with its neighbours, in particular border demarcation, succession, return of cultural goods and disclosure of military archives; calls on the authorities to step up efforts and deliver solutions on the issues of missing persons during the wars of the 1990s; encourages Serbia, in the spirit of good neighbourly relations, to be constructively committed to the stability and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to actively support and constructively contribute to its progress towards EU accession; calls for the stepping up of efforts to find a solution to the electricity arrangements in the north of Kosovo;

Amendment 322 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Calls ~~for the~~on Serbia to step~~ping~~ up ofits efforts, enhance regional cooperation and theo deliver~~y of~~ tangible solutions on the issues of missing persons from the Yugoslav wars in 1990s and the electricity arrangements in the north of Kosovo;

Amendment 323 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Calls on both Serbia and Kosovo for the stepping up of efforts and the delivery of solutions on the issues of missing persons and the electricity arrangements in the north of Kosovo;

Amendment 324 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Calls for the stepping up of efforts and the delivery of solutions on the issues of missing persons and justice for war crimes in the north of Kosovo; calls on the government to address these topics also as part of the Serbia/Kosovo dialogue agenda and to establish cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo on these matters; calls for finding sustainable solutions to the electricity arrangements in the north of Kosovo;

Amendment 325 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Calls for the stepping up of efforts and the delivery of solutions on the issues of missing persons and the electricity arrangements in the north of Kosovo; calls on the EEAS to set up a mechanism to monitor and verify the implementation of all the agreements so far reached and to report periodically to the European Parliament about the state of play;

Amendment 326 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Calls for the stepping up of efforts and the delivery of solutions on the issues of missing persons in Kosovo and the electricity arrangements in the north of Kosovo;

Amendment 327 #

Tonino PICULA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 – point 1 (new)

(1) Expresses concern at the adoption of the Cultural Heritage Act in December 2021 and condemns tits provisions laying claim to the cultural heritage of neighbouring countries; stresses once again the importance of safeguarding the languages and scripts of national minorities in Serbia, in accordance with the law and bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries, and urges the authorities to refrain from making any politically motivated decisions that would undermine their significance; stresses the importance of respecting historically established cultural heritage in line with European values;

Amendment 328 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)

25a. Welcomes the election of the representative of Croatian minority to the Serbian Parliament in the recent elections; calls on Serbia to show sincere commitment in resolving outstanding issues in regard to the status of the Croatian minority in Serbia, especially in terms of non-discriminatory use of Croatian language in education, public administration and dedicated media space as well as respect for Croatian cultural heritage and tradition in Serbia;

Amendment 329 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)

25b. Regrets Serbia's actions that are appropriating Croatian cultural heritage and the origin of its literary tradition and putting in question the status of Croatian language in its educational curricula; calls on Serbia to create a positive atmosphere for education in minority languages and to intensify the printing of textbooks in minority languages; deplores the violation of minority rights in this area;

Amendment 33 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)

Cb. whereas Serbia’s progress and commitment in the negotiations on outstanding issues with Kosovo remains an important benchmark for future progress in European Union accession negotiations;

Amendment 330 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)

25a. Reiterates its call to improve the quality of the dialogue process through the participation of women, increased transparency towards the public and meaningful involvement of civil society;

Amendment 331 #

Thierry MARIANI, Harald VILIMSKY, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 c (new)

25c. Calls on the Serbian and Kosovar authorities to promote people-to-people contacts between local communities in order to strengthen dialogue and reconciliation, including at a non- governmental level;

Amendment 332 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. ~~Regrets the decision of~~Warns the Government of Kosovo ~~to reject a proposal enabling the collection of the ballots of eligible voters to allow them to vote in the territory of Kosovo in the 3 April 2022 Serbian elections, as had been the case previously~~about the provocations and threats against the Serbian enclaves in Kosovo;

Amendment 333 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Regrets the decision of the Government of Kosovo to reject a proposal enabling the collection of the ballots of eligible voters to allow them to vote in the territory of Kosovo in the 3 April 2022 Serbian elections, as had been the case previously; positively notes, however, increased efforts by the Kosovar authorities to enable smooth border crossings, so that Kosovo Serbs could cast their vote;

Amendment 334 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Regrets the decision of the Government of Kosovo to reject a proposal enabling the collection of the ballots of eligible voters to allow them to vote in the territory of Kosovo in the 16 January 2022 constitutional referendum and in the 3 April 2022 Serbian elections, as it had been the ~~cas~~practice previously;

Amendment 335 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Regrets the decision of the Government of Kosovo to reject a proposal by international mediators enabling the collection of the ballots of eligible voters to allow them to vote in the territory of Kosovo in the 3 April 2022 Serbian elections, as had been the case previously;

Amendment 336 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)

26a. Is seriously concerned about the complaints of ethnic Albanians from the Presevo valley who were denied to vote and apparently deleted from the civil registry at the place of their residence, thus being deprived of their fundamental and political rights by the Serbian authorities; strongly condemns Serbian authorities abusing the law on the residence of citizens and the ‘passivisation’ of residential addresses of citizens of Albanian ethnicity living in southern Serbia in a systematic and discriminatory manner; calls for independent and thorough investigations into these allegations and on the Serbian authorities to cease all discriminatory practices and targeting;

Amendment 337 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)

26a. Regrets the destabilisation activities on the border in the North of Kosovo in September 2021 and calls on Belgrade and Pristina to address all issues through dialogue; regrets the fact that there was no agreement reached in the Working Group tasked to find a solution on the use of vehicle license plate; calls on both parties to find a solution within the framework of the EU-facilitated dialogue as soon as possible;

Amendment 338 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)

26b. Deplores several instances of officials not being allowed to enter the territories of Kosovo or Serbia; calls on both parties to treat all visits in a way that is beneficial to the normalisation process and to the overall work in the context of EU-facilitated dialogue;

Amendment 339 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. ~~Urges the~~Proposes Serbian authorities to act against the glorification of convicted war criminals and to cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliationcriminals and support stability and reconciliation efforts in the Western Balkans;

Amendment 34 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)

Cc. whereas Serbia must respect the full integrity and sovereignty of all neighbouring countries and must refrain from influencing their internal political developments;

Amendment 340 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. UReiterates that there is no place in Europe to deny genocide, to celebrate war crimes and war criminals or to publicly support those who support genocide and celebrate war crimes or who undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and who threaten regional stability and reconciliation; urges the Serbian authorities to act decisively against the glorification of convicted war criminals and to immediately cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliation; strongly condemns widespread public denials of international verdicts for war crimes; also condemns in this context the role of state- supported hooligan groups in the protection of the mural of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in Belgrade, and corresponding incidents which have exposed close links between hooligans and the police; expresses concern over the authorities’ apparent unwillingness to ensure a permanent removal of the mural in opposition to both the wishes of the tenants and the formal municipal decisions; regrets that persons sentenced for war crimes, such as Veselin Šljivančanin, Dragoljub Ojdanić and Nikola Šainović, are close to the ruling parties in Serbia;

Amendment 341 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. Urges the Serbian authorities to act against the glorification of convicted war criminals and to cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliationStresses the importance of regional cooperation on war crimes and investigating cases of missing persons, including stepping up efforts in recognition and implementation of court verdicts on war crimes, investigating grave sites, rejecting hate speech and supporting domestic prosecutors in bringing perpetrators to justice; Urges the Serbian authorities to act against the glorification of convicted war criminals and to cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliation; calls on the Serbian authorities to continue their efforts at combatting these issues and to condemn all forms of hate speech, intimidation campaigns and public approval and denial of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; regrets that some Serbian authorities and some Serbian politicians continue to deny the Srebrenica genocide;

Amendment 342 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. UWelcomes the adoption of the National Strategy for War Crimes Prosecution for the period 2021-2026 and the recent start of the work of various bodies and reporting mechanisms linked to its work; underlines the importance of implementation of the Strategy; urges the Serbian authorities to act against the glorification of convicted war criminals and to cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliation, and to show a genuine commitment for investigating and adjudicating war crimes cases;

Amendment 343 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. Urges the Serbian authorities to act against the glorification of convicted war criminals and the practice of genocide denial, and to cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliation; expresses concern at the growing presence of convicted war criminals in the media space, which is used to spread hatred and to play down crimes and intolerance towards national minorities in Serbia;

Amendment 344 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. Urges the Serbian authorities to act against the glorification of convicted war criminals, and to cease ~~all~~ divisive rhetoric ~~and~~that includes, among other things, genocide denial, advocating the ‘Serbian world’ nationalist concept, and all other actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliation;

Amendment 345 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. Urges the Serbian authorities to act decisively against the glorification of convicted war criminals and to cease all divisive rhetoric and actions that undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood and threaten regional stability and reconciliation;

Amendment 346 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27a. Stresses the importance of regional cooperation on war crimes and missing persons, and calls on Serbian authorities to achieve justice for victims by recognising and respecting court verdicts on war crimes, fighting against impunity for wartime crimes, investigating cases of missing persons, investigating grave sites, and supporting domestic prosecutors in bringing perpetrators to justice;

Amendment 347 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27a. Calls on the authorities to ensure the continuation of war crimes trials, including at local level where there has been long-standing inaction; calls for decisive actions by the competent authorities in order to ensure the accountability of those responsible;

Amendment 348 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27a. Calls on Serbia to provide a credible track record in prosecuting perpetrators of war crimes, recovering stolen cultural treasures and identifying missing persons and mass graves;

Amendment 349 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)

27b. Calls on Government to ensure the removal the murals glorifying war criminals such as Ratko Mladić; regrets that persons sentenced for war crimes, such as Veselin Šljivančanin, Dragoljub Ojdanić and Nikola Šainović, are close to the ruling parties in Serbia;

Amendment 35 #

Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas Serbia has not imposed sanctions against Russia following the Russian aggression in Ukraine and its position on international relations is an obstacle to its accession;

Amendment 350 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27a. Calls on Government to ensure the removal the murals glorifying the convicted war criminals, such as Ratko Mladić; condemns also, in this context, the role of hooligan groups in the protection of these mural, and corresponding incidents which have exposed close links between hooligans and the police; expresses concern over the authorities’ apparent unwillingness to ensure the permanent removal of the murals in opposition to both the wishes of tenants and formal municipal decisions; regrets that persons sentenced for war crimes, such as Veselin Šljivančanin, Dragoljub Ojdanić and Nikola Šainović, are connected with the ruling parties in Serbia;

Amendment 351 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)

27b. Welcomes the adoption of the new National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes and calls for its proper implementation, transparency and inclusiveness in reporting on implementation;

Amendment 352 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)

27b. Welcomes the adoption of the new National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes; calls for its proper implementation and for transparency and inclusiveness in reporting on the implementation;

Amendment 353 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 c (new)

27c. Reiterates its support for the initiative to establish the Regional Commission for the establishment of facts about war crimes and other gross human rights violations on the territory of the former Yugoslavia (RECOM);

Amendment 354 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

~~28. Calls for the EU and its allies to further strengthen the work on reconciliation; welcomes the renewed engagement of the EU allies;~~deleted

Amendment 355 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Calls for the EU and its allies to further strengthen the work on reconciliation; welcomes the renewed engagement of the EU allies, in particular the appointment of US and UK special envoys for the Western Balkans, as well as the one from Germany; calls for their close cooperation and coordination with the EU envoy, with a view to strengthening leverage and providing coherent advice and support;

Amendment 356 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

Amendment 357 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Calls for the EU and its allies to further strengthen the work on reconciliation; welcomes the renewed engagement of the EU allies; Reiterates its support for the initiative to establish the Regional Commission for the establishment of facts about war crimes and other gross human rights violations on the territory of the former Yugoslavia (RECOM);

Amendment 358 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)

28a. Commends cultural and youth initiatives such the annual cross-border arts festival Mirëdita, Dobar Dan, which promote collaboration between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs;

Amendment 359 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the introduction of a roaming-free zone in the entire Western Balkans as of 1 July 2021, improving connectivity and bringing tangible and concrete benefits to citizens and businesses in the region;

Amendment 36 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas Serbia has not complied with the repeated calls to harmonize its foreign and security policy with that of EU and has not imposed sanctions against Russia following the ~~Russian~~unprovoked Russian military aggression inof Ukraine;

Amendment 360 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the introduction of a roaming-free zone in the entire Western Balkans as of 1 July 2021; urges the Council and the Commission to work with the Serbian authorities and the other five Western Balkan states for the introduction of roaming-free zone between the Western Balkans and the European Union;

Amendment 361 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the introduction of a roaming-free zone in the entire Western Balkans as of 1 July 2021; welcomes the adoption of the Brdo Declaration signed by officials of the European Union and leaders of Western Balkan countries that also recognizes the importance of this achievement;

Amendment 362 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)

29a. Urges the Serbian authorities to unambiguously support setting up of a common regional market within the Berlin process framework, establishing and guaranteeing free movement of persons, goods, services and capital in the region as a stepping stone in the EU accession path;

Amendment 363 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 b (new)

29b. Emphasizes that all regional economic cooperation schemes in the Western Balkans should be inclusive and acceptable to all six countries, establishing cooperation on an equal footing among all six countries, while strengthening further alignment with EU standards and acquis; expresses, in this context, its scepticism towards the Open Balkan Initiative, while pointing to the danger that a regional economic cooperation initiative not encompassing all six countries and not being based on EU rules could have a negative impact on the EU integration processes;

Amendment 364 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Welcomes the progress made in developing a functioning market economy, although the state retains a strong footprint in the economy, and the fact that the impact of the COVID- 19 crisis was successfully mitigated;

Amendment 365 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Welcomes the progress made in developing a functioning market economy and the fact that the impact of the COVID- 19 crisis was successfully mitigated; notes with concern that none of the allegations mentioned in the previous report made by investigative journalists of government manipulation of COVID-19 statistics for political purposes have been investigated; stresses that trust and transparency are of particular importance in the government’s efforts against COVID-19 and therefore urges the Serbian Government to provide citizens with all relevant statistics;

Amendment 366 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Welcomes the progress made in developing a functioning market economy and the fact that the impact of the COVID- 19 crisis on the economy was successfully mitigated by, inter alia, timely fiscal and monetary support measures; notes that the EU has continued to provide essential support to Serbia for its socio-economic recovery and for immediate medical needs;

Amendment 367 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Welcomes the progress made in developing a functioning market economy and the fact that the impact of the COVID- 19 crisis was successfully mitigated; calls nonetheless on Serbian authorities to pay particular attention and foresee targeted pandemic-related support toward vulnerable households and businesses;

Amendment 368 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)

30a. Notes with concern that none of the allegations mentioned in the previous report made by investigative journalists of government manipulation of COVID-19 statistics for political purposes have been investigated; stresses that trust and transparency are of particular importance in the government’s efforts against COVID-19 and therefore urges the Serbian Government to provide citizens with all relevant statistics;

Amendment 369 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 b (new)

30b. Notes with concern that none of the allegations mentioned in the previous report made by investigative journalists of government manipulation of COVID-19 statistics for political purposes have been investigated; reiterates that trust and transparency are of particular importance in the government’s efforts against COVID-19 and therefore urges the Serbian Government to provide citizens with all relevant statistics;

Amendment 37 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas Serbia has not imposed sanctions against Russia following the Russian ~~aggres~~invasion inof Ukraine;

Amendment 370 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Notes that despite improvements, the labour market still suffers from structural problems, demographic and migration challenges; calls on Serbia to further tailor education and training to labour market needs, in particular in the area of vocational education and training and linked to the green and digital transition;

Amendment 371 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Notes that despite improvements, the labour market still suffers from structural problems; calls on Serbia to further tailor education and training to labour market needs; encourages Serbia to ensure that its social and employment policies have adequate financial and institutional resources;

Amendment 372 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Notes that despite improvements, the labour market still suffers from structural problems; calls on Serbia to further tailor education and training to labour market needs and improve women's position in the labour market;

Amendment 373 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 b (new)

31b. Is deeply concerned by the socio- economic situation in several districts of southern Serbia, especially in the city of Vranje; calls on the Serbian government to investigate all allegations about the use of social assistance instruments to put pressure on voters, especially among vulnerable groups and members of the Roma minority; calls on the Serbian government to respond to the challenges of poverty and unemployment in these parts of the country and to devote the necessary attention to regional and local socio-economic development, especially in rural areas;

Amendment 374 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)

31a. Is deeply concerned by the socio- economic situation in several districts of southern Serbia, especially in the city of Vranje; calls on the Serbian government to investigate all allegations about the use of social assistance instruments to put pressure on voters, especially among vulnerable groups and members of the Roma minority; calls on the Serbian government to respond to the challenges of poverty and unemployment in these and other parts of the country;

Amendment 375 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)

31a. Is deeply concerned by the socio- economic situation in several districts of southern Serbia; calls on the Serbian government to investigate all allegations about the use of social assistance instruments to put pressure on voters, especially among vulnerable groups and members of the Roma minority; calls on the Serbian government to respond to the challenges of poverty and unemployment in these parts of the country;

Amendment 376 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)

30a. Calls on Serbia to improve its capacities to provide statistics and to carry out the population census, adhering to the UN and the European Union’s statistical legislation and with the inclusion of independent observers and which should lead to an improved evidence-based decision-making;

Amendment 377 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)

31a. Calls on Serbia to improve its capacities to provide statistics and to carry out the census, adhering to the highest international standards and with the inclusion of independent observers;

Amendment 378 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)

30a. Calls on the Commission to revise its enlargement policy to give greater priority to collective bargaining, social rights and social protection, and to their implementation; calls for the annual reports to dedicate a special chapter to these aspects;

Amendment 379 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Is deeply concerned by the depopulation and brain drain of Serbia’s human capital~~; welcomes the Serbian Government’s initiatives to counter these trends by working with int~~ and notes that it is one of the main reasons why it is impernati~~onal organisations~~ve for Serbia to stay outside of the EU;

Amendment 38 #

Arnaud DANJEAN

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas Serbia, while having expressed support to the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine, including through support to UN resolutions, has not imposed sanctions against Russia following the Russian aggression in Ukraine;

Amendment 380 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Is deeply concerned by the depopulation and the continuing brain drain of Serbia’s human capital; welcomes ~~the~~ Serbia~~n G~~'s government’s initiatives ~~to counter these trends by working with international organisations;~~ and innovative approaches to counter these trends, including demographic change, while working with international organisations through a series of targeted policies across sectors to address demographic threats, as the steady population decline remains a key challenge for economic development;

Amendment 381 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Is deeply concerned by the depopulation and brain drain of Serbia’s human capital; welcomes the Serbian Government’s initiatives to counter these trends by working with international organisations; notes with concern that additional efforts need to be invested in the socio-economic development of the border regions in order to prevent them from depopulation; reminds that to use IPA III Cross-border Co-operation Programmes could be utilised for this purpose;

Amendment 382 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

Amendment 383 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)

32a. Calls on Serbia to improve alignment with EU labour law, adopt a new law on the right to strike, tackle undeclared work and amend the law on inspection oversight to comply with the relevant International Labour Organization conventions, which it has ratified;

Amendment 384 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Welcomes the implementation of programmes to support small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular the reduction of the cost of borrowing for SMEs; calls on Serbia to address the remaining shortcomings, including a volatile business environment and unfair competition;

Amendment 385 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)

33a. Welcomes the engagement of Serbia in the process of regional market integration in Western Balkan as a stepping stone toward the EU Single Market; enhanced regional cooperation followed by further economic integration with EU Single Market will attract the needed investments and generate new opportunities for citizens and the business community.;

Amendment 386 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. ~~Reiterates its concern about~~Notes Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and ~~urges~~is worried theat Serbia~~n authorities to improve the transparency and environmental impact assessment of Chinese investment~~ will do many of the mistakes done by the EU and most of the Member States in relying too much on China and other rough states; proposes policies to more protect Serbia as a nation and less of reliance on other nations;

Amendment 387 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its concern about Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and ~~urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and~~loans, and the lack of transparency and the impact on the rule of law; calls on Serbia to strengthen its legal compliance with environmental impact assessment ofrequirements for Chinese investments in high polluting industries;

Amendment 388 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its concern about Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and environmental impact assessment of ~~Chinese~~foreign investments;

Amendment 389 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its serious concern about Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and ensure comprehensive environmental impact assessment of Chinese investments;

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas Serbia has not imposed sanctions against Russia following the Russian aggression in Ukraine; whereas in the General Assembly of the United Nations Serbia has voted for the resolutions condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine while strongly advocating for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine to be respected in accordance with the international law;

Amendment 390 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its concern about Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and credits; urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and environmental impact assessment of Chinese investments and also of investments stemming from other bilateral agreements on strategic cooperation; calls on to improve the respect for the Aarhus Convention in all projects related to environmental protection;

Amendment 391 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its concern about ~~Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments~~growing influence from Russia and China on Serbia and urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and environmental impact assessment of Chinese and Russian investments;

Amendment 392 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its concern about Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and the scale of loans that Serbia will have to pay back to China and urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency and environmental impact assessment of Chinese investments;

Amendment 393 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

Amendment 394 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

Amendment 395 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)

34a. Stresses that the countries of the Western Balkans must be put at the heart of the EU's Global Gateway initiative and provide a transparent and sustainable investment alternative to the corrosive investments and loans from China and other authoritarian regimes;

Amendment 396 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Notes the withdrawal of the Law on Expropriation ~~and calls for a broader public debate on this issue~~;

Amendment 397 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Notes the withdrawal of the amendments to the Law on Expropriation and calls for a broader public debate on this issue;

Amendment 398 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. ~~Welcomes the improvements in fighting~~Notes Serbia´s need to enhance their ability, but mostly their willingness to prevent and stop money laundering and terrorist financing; einc~~ourages Serbia to minimise the risk of~~luding but not limited to illicit financial flows in the construction industry;

Amendment 399 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Welcomes the improvements in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing; notes that infrastructure and construction are significant sources of illicit money and encourages Serbia to minimisze the risk of illicit financial flows in the construction industry as well as the to reduce tax evasion and corruption in the infrastructure sector; calls on Serbia to ensure that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations are used in good faith;

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

— having regard to the Sofia Summit of 10 November 2020, including the Declaration on the Common Regional Market and the Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans,

Amendment 40 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas Serbia has not imposed sanctions against Russia following the Russian aggression in Ukraine; whereas Serbia is only for 61% aligned with the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy;

Amendment 400 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Welcomes the improvements in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing; encourages Serbia to minimise the risk of illicit financial flows in the construction industry; Expresses concerns about lack of progress regarding the “List” case, which represents an abuse of legal framework by state authorities to target particular civil society organizations, individuals and media critical of the Government policies;

Amendment 401 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Welcomes the improvements in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing but calls for an improved track record in the investigation, prosecution, and convictions in cases of money laundering; encourages Serbia to minimise the risk of illicit financial flows in the construction industry;

Amendment 402 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)

36a. Expresses concerns about the lack of progress regarding the “List” case, which represents an abuse of the legal framework by state authorities in order to target particular civil society organisations and media critical of government policies, as confirmed by UN special rapporteurs, Moneyval and FATF; reiterates its call on the Serbian Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering of Serbia’s Ministry of Finance to fully clarify these investigations and solve the situation for the concerned CSOs and media outlets;

Amendment 403 #

36b. Recalls the call for Serbian Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering of Serbia’s Ministry of Finance to fully clarify the situation concerning investigations into CSOs and journalists over allegations of money laundering and urges the authorities to conduct effective investigation concerning the filed criminal complaints against tabloids and banks holding financial data of several listed CSOs;

Amendment 404 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)

36a. Recalls the conditionality of funding under IPA III and the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans; recognises the importance of IPA III and EIP for supporting reform process, sustainable connectivity, human capital, competitiveness and inclusive growth as well in reinforcing regional and cross-border cooperation;

Amendment 405 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)

36a. Notes the EU’s additional support to Serbia of 10 million euros for economic recovery from the consequences of the pandemic;

Amendment 406 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. ~~Expresses concern~~Notes that Serbia continues to prioritise investments in new coal power plants; ~~urges the authorities to adopt a strategy consistent with the European Green Deal’s zero emissions target for 2050 and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans;~~

Amendment 407 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. ~~Expresses concern that Serbia continues to prioritise investments in new coal power plants; u~~Urges the authorities to adopt a strategy consistent with the European Green Deal’s zero emissions target for 2050 and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans;

Amendment 408 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. EWelcomes the beginning of the drafting of a national plan for energy and climate in Serbia and its foreseen targets but expresses concern that Serbia in practice continues to prioritise investments in new coal power plants; urges the authorities to adopt a strategy consistent with the European Green Deal’s zero emissions target for 2050 and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans; calls on national authorities not to amend and to swiftly implement the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources;

Amendment 409 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. ~~Expresses concern that Serbia continues to prioritise investments in~~Welcomes the concrete steps taken in order to phasing out coal power plants; expresses concern that despite existing climate and environmental challenges, Serbia continues to invest in one new coal power plants; urges the authorities to adopt a ~~strategy~~national integrated energy and climate plan consistent with the European Green Deal’s zero emissions target for 2050 and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans;

Amendment 41 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas Serbia voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution of 2 March 2022 on Aggression against Ukraine;

Amendment 410 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. Expresses serious concern that Serbia continues to prioritise investments in new coal power plants; urges the authorities to adopt a strategy consistent with the European Green Deal’s zero emissions target for 2050 and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans;

Amendment 411 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)

36a. Calls for broader public debate on energy transition and on the ongoing construction of dozens of small hydropower plants;

Amendment 412 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. ~~Calls on~~Proposes that Serbia tdo step up its efforts to diversify its energy supply and overall energy mix, and in particular to reduce its dependency on Russia; urges the Commission to ensure that the IPA funds contribute to the building of a climate neutral economy in Serbianot make the same fundamental mistakes as many Member States and in order to secure their energy supply they endeavour to invest in nuclear power;

Amendment 413 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls on Serbia to step up ~~its~~ efforts to diversify its energy supply and overall energy mix, ~~and~~ in particular to reduce its dependency on Russia, as well as to increase investments and modernise energy infrastructure in order to implement the necessary transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy; in this respect, underlines the importance of the construction of the inter-connector with Bulgaria; urges the Commission to ensure that the IPA funds contribute to ~~the~~ building of a climate neutral economy in Serbia; underlines that lack of efficiency in the energy sector critically impacts the country’s overall economic competitiveness;

Amendment 414 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls on Serbia to step up its efforts to diversify its energy supply and overall energy mix, and in particular to reduce its dependency on Russia, through the deployment of green and renewable energy solutions; urges the Commission to ensure that the IPA funds contribute to the building of a climate neutral economy in Serbia and to give all necessary technical support, including best EU practices and lessons learned, to achieve this goal;

Amendment 415 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls on Serbia to step up its efforts to diversify its energy supply and overall energy mix, and in particular to reduce its dependency on Russia; ~~urges the Commission to ensure that the IPA funds~~is content that the Economic and Investment Plan, through its investment flagships in the areas of transport, green energy and digital transition contribute to the building of a climate neutral economy in Serbia;

Amendment 416 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls on Serbia to step up its efforts to diversify its energy supply and overall energy mix, and in particular to reduce its dependency on Russia; urges the Commission to ensure that the IPA funds contribute to the building of a climate neutral economy in Serbia, fully in line with the Paris Agreements and the EU decarbonisation targets;

Amendment 417 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)

38a. Welcomes the progress made on the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria; notes with concern the consistent lack of compliance with and the consequent breach of Serbia of the Energy Community Treaty and calls on Serbia to bring its activities in the energy sphere, in particular regarding gas transportation infrastructure, in line the Third Energy Package and in solidarity with the EU energy policy;

Amendment 418 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)

38a. Serbia is in a process of analysing new potentials for an energy diversification and importing or producing energy from alternative sources; the EU should step up its efforts in supporting Serbia´s endeavour; diversification has been an ongoing process, including the construction of the inter-connector with Bulgaria;

Amendment 419 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)

38a. Welcomes the progress made on the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria, thus decreasing dependence on Russian energy supply; notes with concern the consistent lack of compliance with and the consequent breach of the Energy Community Treaty;

Amendment 42 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas the ~~EU is~~Member States are the largest E. providers of financial assistance to Serbia (~~IPA)~~under the so called IPA programmes), via the administrators at the Commission;

Amendment 420 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)

38a. Welcomes the progress made on the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria; notes with concern the consistent lack of compliance with and the consequent breach of the Energy Community Treaty;

Amendment 421 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Reiterates its concern at the high levels of air pollution and urges the authorities to speed up the implementation of air quality plans; regrets the fact that several cities in Serbia are often on the list of the most polluted cities in the world in terms of air quality; urges the authorities to swiftly take measures to improve air quality, especially in large cities and industrial areas such as Belgrade, Smederevo, Bor and Kolubara and Tamnava valleys; stresses the importance of finding sustainable solutions and limiting the use of lignite and other low-calorie coal in energy production, as well as for heating;

Amendment 422 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Reiterates its concern at the high levels of air pollution and urges the authorities to speed up the implementation of air quality plans; regrets the fact that several cities in Serbia are often on the list of the most polluted cities in the world in terms of air quality; urges the authorities to swiftly take measures to improve air quality, especially in large cities and industrial areas such as Belgrade, Smederevo, Bor and, Kolubara and Tamnava valleys; stresses the importance of finding sustainable solutions and limiting the use of lignite and other coal in energy production, as well as for heating;

Amendment 423 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Reiterates its concern at the high levels of air pollution and urges the authorities to speed up the implementation of air quality plans; is concerned that several cities in Serbia are often among the most polluted cities in the world in terms of air quality; urges the authorities to swiftly take measures to improve air quality, especially in large cities and industrial areas such as Belgrade, Smederevo, Bor and, Kolubara and Tamnava valleys; stresses the importance of finding sustainable solutions and limiting the use of lignite and other low- calorie coal in energy production, as well as for heating;

Amendment 424 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)

39a. The Program on Air Protection with the Action Plan is currently in the process of adoption; also, small scale grants for municipalities, for air quality and waste management improvements, started in 2021 will continue in 2022 for funding the implementation of projects aimed at reducing air pollution in Serbia;

Amendment 425 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)

39a. Reiterates its regret over the lack of action on the pollution of the River Dragovishtitsa by mines operating in the region and the detrimental effect on the health of the local people and the environment;

Amendment 426 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)

39a. is deeply concerned by Chinese- financed coal power generation projects and its impact on the environment, air quality, and the communities affected by them in Serbia as well as neighbouring countries;

Amendment 427 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Underlines the need for improvements in waste management ~~and to introduce~~legislation, implementation, enforcement and to accelerate introducing and implementing waste hierarchy and circular economy measures;

Amendment 428 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

~~41. Notes the withdrawal of the exploration licences for the lithium extraction and processing project in Western Serbia;~~deleted

Amendment 429 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes the withdrawal of the exploration licences for the lithium extraction and processing project in Western Serbia; calls for more transparency and a comprehensive impact assessment, including concerned local communities, civil society organisations, as well as independent experts in a meaningful manner, when issuing new licences;

Amendment 43 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas the EU is the largest provider of financial assistance to Serbia (IPA); whereas Serbia has benefited from the EU assistance under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) in total of €1,539 billion since 2014;

Amendment 430 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes the withdrawal of the exploration licences for the lithium extraction and processing project in Western Serbia; calls on the Serbian authorities to be fully transparent in this process;

Amendment 431 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART, Nathalie LOISEAU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes the withdrawal of the exploration licences for the lithium extraction and processing project in Western Serbia; calls on the Serbian government to be fully transparent in this process;

Amendment 432 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)

36b. Expresses deep concern about serious problems of corruption and rule of law in the environment area, the general lack of transparency and environmental and social impact assessments of infrastructure projects, including from Chinese investments and loans, as well as from multinational companies, such as Rio Tinto; notes in this context the opening of Cluster 4 “Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity” in the EU accession negotiations; calls on the EU and Serbian authorities to follow-up on the legitimate concerns expressed in the environmental protests and to urgently address these problems during the negotiations;

Amendment 433 #

41a. The Waste Management Program in the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2022 to 2031was adopted on February 1, 2022, and the Waste Management Program Action Plan for the period from 2022 to 2024 is in the process of public presentation; a public debate on the Law on Waste Management has also been launched.

Amendment 434 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)

41a. Calls for an increase of the total area of the territory of Serbia under protection, as well as areas in the first degree of protection and to ensure substantial implementation of measures and adequate financing of nature protection; calls for the consistent application of the Law on Nature Protection and the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources, with a view to stopping any harmful projects, such as hydropower facilities, in protected areas, as well as in areas, where protection is planned; calls for enhanced cooperation between protected area managers and the local community through representatives of citizens' associations;

Amendment 435 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)

41a. Welcomes Serbia’s progress in the reform of the railway system; encourages it to ensure that investments in its transport infrastructure are compliant with the EU’s sustainable and smart mobility strategy and provide maximum benefit to Serbia’s economy;

Amendment 436 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 b (new)

41b. Calls for a review of all small hydro projects (SHPPs) built so far and whether the law and procedures were duly respected in all issued permits; calls for immediate measures to return the rivers to the state they were in before the construction of SHPP, in all cases where the law has been clearly violated, like in the Rakita case; calls for the completion of the drafting process of a new SHPP cadaster, which must be made available to the public and correspond to scientific standards;

Amendment 437 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 b (new)

41b. The Ecological Information System was put into operation, allowing citizens to report environmental problems;

Amendment 438 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 c (new)

41c. Calls for the removal of facilities that endanger shores, lakes, watercourses and groundwater; underlines that illegal fencing and privatisation of access to water resources must be effectively sanctioned; highlights the need that any project endangering water resources, such as mini hydropower plants or the exploitation of gravel and other river aggregates, must be brought under control and put on the list of projects for which an environmental impact assessment study is required; calls against this background for reconsidering the privatisation of the Institute for Water Management "Jaroslav Cerni", thus preventing a further collapse of the credibility of independent institutes and laboratories of national importance for the preservation of natural resources;

Amendment 439 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)

42a. Calls on Serbia to work purposefully on the transition to a green and circular economy by phasing out fossil energy sources and greatly increasing the recycling of resources and materials;

Amendment 44 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas the EU is the largest provider of financial assistance to Serbia (IPA) as well as Serbia’s biggest trading partner with a volume of trade in goods with the EU27 of €32.3 billion in 2021;

Amendment 45 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas the EU is the largest investor, trading partner and provider of financial assistance to Serbia through IPA and has the largest peer to peer relationship with Serbia, accounting for 65 % of total exports and 59 % of total imports in 2020;

Amendment 46 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)

Eb. whereas the Commission adopted a package of EUR 70 million under IPA II to help fund the access of Western Balkan countries to COVID-19 vaccines procured by EU Member States;

Amendment 47 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)

Fa. whereas the EU has shown its commitment for the European perspective of Western Balkan countries and mobilized €3,3 billion to address the immediate health crisis and mitigate economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic;

Amendment 48 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas the assistance under IPA III ~~is based on strict conditionality and envisages modulation and suspension of assistance in cases of backtracking on~~was granted by the administrators of the Commission and the European Parliament despite the failed programmes in regard to, but not limited to: democracy,; human rights; and the rule of law during IPA I and II and the lack of a comprehensive transitional justice process for Serbia and neighbouring countries and regions;

Amendment 49 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas the assistance under IPA III is based on strict conditionality and envisages modulation and suspension of assistance in cases of backtracking on democracy, human rights and the rule of law with a total of EUR 2.79 billion between 2007 and 2020 under previous IPA programs;

Amendment 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

— having regard to the 8th Berlin Process Summit of 5 July 2021,

Amendment 50 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)

Fa. whereas the situation regarding freedom of the press in Serbia is worrying; whereas the opportunities for independent media to work freely have been curtailed in recent years; whereas in 2021, the country ranked 93rd out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index;

Amendment 51 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)

Fb. whereas the situation for female victims of violence in Serbia is serious; whereas half of women have been exposed to some form of violence and more than 300 women have been killed in recent years as a result of gender-based violence;

Amendment 52 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)

Fb. whereas Serbia so far was unable and/or unwilling to stem the trafficking and illegal movement of illegal- immigrants across its territory;

Amendment 53 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)

Fb. Whereas the attraction of working in a Member State or other more developed nation has created a detrimental loss of both highly to medium skilled individuals in Serbia, and this severely hampers the development of Serbia; currently it is estimated that 11 million immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, that is approximately ten percent of their population, currently reside in Western Europe a number that has substantially risen in the last 20 years; and according to the World Economic Forum Serbia is one of the worse affected nations in terms of the loss of skilled professionals with a score of 2.31 on a scale of: 1= all talented people leaving the country; to, 7= all talented people staying in the country, reinforced with the Gallup survey presented in 2018 showing that 25% of Serbs, excluding children, wanted to immigrate..

Amendment 54 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)

Fb. whereas Serbia has ratified all the fundamental Conventions of the International Labour Organisation;

Amendment 55 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 a (new)

Stresses that any development support funded by the Member States and administrated by the EU, for Serbia, will be made fully conditional on Serbia´s ability to stop entry as well as all illegal movement of illegal-immigrants across Serbian territory and align with needs of the Member States for migration management and ending illegal migration to the Member States;

Amendment 56 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Expresses no support for Serbia’s future membership of the EU ~~and recalls that a credible enlargement perspective requires sustainable efforts and irreversible reforms in all areas~~;

Amendment 57 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Expresses support for Serbia’s future membership of the EU and recalls that a credible enlargement perspective requires sustainable efforts and irreversible reforms in all areas, as well as fostering an environment in which European values and approaches can flourish and become consistent attitudes within the wider Serbian society and which can assist with the fulfilment of the nation’s European aspirations;

Amendment 58 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Expresses support for Serbia’s future membership of the EU and recalls that a credible enlargement perspective requires sustainable efforts and irreversible reforms in all areas; calls on Serbian authorities to prove their political will, thus genuinely engaging in the necessary reforms and bringing the country back on the right track towards EU integration;

Amendment 59 #

Francisco José MILLÁN MON, Leopoldo LÓPEZ GIL, Gabriel MATO, Javier ZARZALEJOS, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Expresses support for Serbia’s future membership of the EU and recalls that a credible enlargement perspective requires sustainable efforts ~~and~~, irreversible reforms in all areas and unwavering commitment to European standards and values;

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 7

— having regard to UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999, to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion of 22 July 2010 on the accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo, and to UN General Assembly Resolution 64/298 of 9 September 2010, ~~which acknowledged the content of the ICJ opinion, and welcomed the EU’s readiness to facilitate dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo,~~

Amendment 60 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

Amendment 61 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Expresses support for Serbia’s future membership of the EU and recalls that a credible enlargement perspective requires political will, sustainable efforts and irreversible and sustainable reforms in all areas;

Amendment 62 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses the historical links of friendship and fraternity between the peoples of the European Union and the Serbian people;

Amendment 63 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Welcom~~Deplores the opening of cluster four in December 2021; reiterates that there has been no measurable progress onf the rule of law and fundamental rights ~~chapters, as well as on the normalisation of Serbia’s relations with Kosovo, will determine the pace of accession~~since the Commission became involved in implementing Member State funded development projects in Serbia;

Amendment 64 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Welcomes the opening of cluster four in December 2021; and reiterates that the pace of accession will be determined not only by progress on the rule of law and fundamental rights chapters, as well as on the normalisation of Serbia’s relations with Kosovo, ~~will determine the pace of accession~~but also by Serbia’s alignment with the EU’s foreign policy decisions and positions, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 65 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Welcomes the opening of cluster four in December 2021; reiterates that the progress on the rule of law and fundamental rights chapters, closer alignment with EU's foreign, security and defence policy, as well as on the normalisation of Serbia’s relations with Kosovo, will determine the pace of accession;

Amendment 66 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. In connection to the importance of European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) for the further development of cross border cooperation between EU member states and their neighbours, calls on the Serbian Government to provide the necessary legal background that would allow Serbian participation in EGTCs;

Amendment 67 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 a (new)

Underscores that progress in the accession process is result and reform oriented and is based on further alignment on the rule of law, good governance, fundamental rights and respect for the European rights and values;

Amendment 68 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Welcomes the increased voter turnout at the elections on 3 April 2022 and the return to a more pluralistic parliament~~Notes that elections on 3 April 2022 were only partly free and not fair; regrets the highly polarised political environment of the campaign, ~~which was characterised b~~the absence of a level-playing field, very limited media pluralism and wide-spread pressure on voters; ~~condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders~~regrets that the abuse of public office by the ruling party members, especially the President of Serbia, remained a persistent problem throughout the campaign; regrets that the problems with the accuracy of the Single Electoral Roll had not been resolved in advance to this election cycle and notes that this had left room for its abuse; strongly condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders and calls upon the authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable; welcomes the increased voter turnout and the return to a more pluralistic parliament;

Amendment 69 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the increased voter turnout at the elections on 3 April 2022 and the return to a more pluralistic parliament; regrets the highly polarised political environment of the campaign, which was characterised by the absence of a level- playing field, limited media pluralism and pressure on voters; ~~condemns the violent att~~regrets that the abuse of public office by ruling party members remained a persistent problem throughout the campaign; regrets that issues concerning the accuracky o~~n Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders~~f the Single Electoral Roll were not resolved in advance of this election cycle and that this left room for its abuse;

Amendment 7 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)

— having regard to the Resolution on Aggression against Ukraine adopted by the United National General Assembly on 2 March 2022,

Amendment 70 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the increased voter turnout at the elections on 3 April 2022 and the return to a more pluralistic parliament; regrets the highly polarised political environment of the campaign, which was characterised by ~~limited media pluralism~~pro-government media bias and pressure on voters; condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders; regrets that the blurring of lines between the activities of the state officials and the ruling parties remained a persistent problem throughout the campaign; notes the need for lowering the tensions between political opponents;

Amendment 71 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the increased voter turnout at the elections on 3 April 2022 and the return to a more pluralistic parliament; regrets the highly polarised political environment of the campaign, which was characterised by limited media pluralism and pressure on voters; condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders and regrets the unclear communication by the Republic Electoral Commission (REC) on preliminary election results following the closure of polling stations;

Amendment 72 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the increased voter turnout at the elections on 3 April 2022 and the return to a more pluralistic parliament; regrets the highly polarised political environment of the campaign, which was characterised by limited media pluralism and pressure on voters; condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders, and other incidents that undermine the integrity of the electoral process;

Amendment 73 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the increased voter turnout at the elections on 3 April 2022 and the return to a more pluralistic parliament, including numerous parties of national minorities; regrets the highly polarised political environment of the campaign, which was characterised by limited media pluralism and pressure on voters; condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders;

Amendment 74 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Regrets that the problems with the accuracy of the Single Electoral Roll had not been resolved in advance to this election cycle, which left room for its abuse;

Amendment 75 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Expresses concern over the absence of a more proactive role of the Republic Electoral Commission and the City Electoral Commission of Belgrade when it came to determining and communicating the election results; notes that this might contribute to the deterioration of trust of the citizens in the independence of the election administration; expresses concern that the preliminary results of the Belgrade local election were only published more than two weeks after the election;

Amendment 76 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Expresses concern over the absence of a more proactive role of the Republic Electoral Commission and the City Electoral Commission of Belgrade when it came to determining and communicating the election results; notes that this might cause the deterioration of trust of citizens in the independence of the election administration; expresses concern that the complete preliminary results of the Belgrade local election were not published until more than two weeks after the election had taken place;

Amendment 77 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Condemns attacks on members of the opposition, journalists, members of civil society organisations, and members of the different electoral monitoring missions; condemns the violent attack on Pavle Grbović, one of the opposition leaders, and calls upon the authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable;

Amendment 78 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Takes note of the preliminary conclusions of the statement of the OSCE/ODIHR international election observation mission that the 3 April 2022 parliamentary elections presented diverse political options, but a number of shortcomings resulted in an uneven playing field, favouring the incumbents; points out, in this regard, the role of state- sponsored disinformation campaigns aiming to shift opinions vis-à-vis elections;

Amendment 79 #

Francisco José MILLÁN MON, Leopoldo LÓPEZ GIL, Gabriel MATO, Javier ZARZALEJOS, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3c. Calls on the Serbian authorities to address fully all ODIHR recommendations well ahead of the next elections; stresses that civil society organisations with expertise in election conditions should remain involved in this process;

Amendment 8 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8

— having regard to the first agreement on principles governing the normalisation of relations between ~~the governments of~~ Serbia and Kosovo of 19 April 2013, to the agreements of 25 August 2015, and to the ongoing EU- facilitated dialogue for the normalisation of relations,

Amendment 80 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 d (new)

3d. Regrets the habit by the Serbian authorities to regularly call for early elections and the holding of three different elections on the same day;

Amendment 81 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the new majority to accelerate Serbia’s alignment with European policies and values; underlines its readiness to work further in the context of the Inter-Party Dialogue, while stressing that clear decisions are needed on Serbia’s strategic direction;deleted

Amendment 82 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the new majority to ~~accelerat~~resume Serbia’s alignment with European policies and values; underlines its readiness to work further in the context of the Inter- Party Dialogue, while stressing that clear and unambiguous political decisions are needed on Serbia’s strategic direction; calls for the distribution of parliamentary positions to reflect the political pluralism in the National Assembly; notes that all but one Serbian parliament in the past ten years were dissolved early and that any further unnecessary snap elections would not contribute to political stability;

Amendment 83 #

Klemen GROŠELJ, Ilhan KYUCHYUK, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Urmas PAET, Dacian CIOLOŞ, Frédérique RIES, Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the new majority to accelerate Serbia’s alignment with European policies and values; calls for the distribution of parliamentary offices to reflect political pluralism in the National Assembly; notes that all but one Serbian parliament in the past ten years were dissolved early and that any further unnecessary snap elections would not contribute to political stability; underlines its readiness to work further in the context of the Inter-Party Dialogue, while stressing that clear decisions are needed on Serbia’s strategic direction;

Amendment 84 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the new majority to respect previously adopted political decisions on the EU accession process and accelerate Serbia’s alignment with European policies and values; underlines its readiness to work further with the National Assembly and its parliamentary groups in the context of the Inter-Party Dialogue, while stressing that clear decisions are needed on Serbia’s strategic direction;

Amendment 85 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 86 #

Thierry MARIANI, Harald VILIMSKY, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls the distribution of parliamentary offices to reflect the political pluralism in the National Assembly;

Amendment 87 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Regret~~Underlines the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russiathe right to determine of its own free will its foreign policy, its diplomatic alliances and its guidelines, in accordance with its historical traditions;

Amendment 88 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Regret~~Notes the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; ~~calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;~~

Amendment 89 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. RStrongly regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine;, which damages its EU accession process, and reiterates its expectation that EU accession candidates align not only with the EU acquis, but also with the EU’s common foreign and security policy; expresses concern about Serbia’s alignment rate, which is the lowest in the region; underlines, nevertheless, that the momentum created by the new mandate following the 3April 2022 elections in Serbia is an opportunity to make important progress towards the country’s EU perspective and thereby calls on the newly elected authorities to show real, sincere and unequivocal commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia without further delay;

Amendment 9 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 a (new)

— having regard to the Council Regulation (EU) 2022/576 of 8 April 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine;

Amendment 90 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. RStrongly regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; stresses that Serbia is one of the only European countries not aligning with EU sanctions against Russia; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia; calls on Serbia to credibly distance itself from anti-democratic ideologies;

Amendment 91 #

Andrey KOVATCHEV, Andrey NOVAKOV, Asim ADEMOV, Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, Emil RADEV, Eva MAYDELL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. RDeeply regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; calls on the newly elected authorities to show ~~real~~unambiguous commitment to EU values ~~and to~~, standards and rules and to urgently align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 92 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Reg~~Deplorets the fact that Serbia has still not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values as soon as possible and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 93 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Regrets~~Cannot comprehend the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to immediately align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 94 #

Javier NART

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

Amendment 95 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia and Belarus; welcomes Serbia's support for territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and its vote in UN General Assembly to condemn the Russian invasion; Welcomes Serbia's decision to vote in favour to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council due to significant violations of human rights during its invasion of Ukraine;

Amendment 96 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; notes that in the General Assembly of the United Nations Serbia has voted for the resolutions condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine while strongly advocating for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine to be respected in accordance with the international law; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values; and progressively to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 97 #

Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Klemen GROŠELJ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. RWelcomes the fact that Serbia voted in favour of the United Nations Resolution of 2 March on Aggression against Ukraine and in favour of suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council; regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 98 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Regrets the fact that Serbia has not aligned with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; disapproves Serbia's behaviour in blocking United Nations processes under Russia-friendly procedures; calls on the newly elected authorities to show real commitment to EU values and to align with the EU’s decisions and positions in foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia;

Amendment 99 #