The EU has suspended payments from the growth plan for Serbia over controversial justice reforms. Belgrade will lose support until it fulfills the conditions for an independent judiciary.
The European Union has frozen financial resources for Serbia as part of a special aid project intended for six Balkan countries. She did so because of the country’s controversial judicial reforms, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kosová said. TASR informs about this according to the Friday report of the AFP agency.
- The EU has frozen funds for Serbia for the sake of justice.
- The EU project offers six billion euros for the Balkans.
- Serbia adopted controversial judicial reforms without consultation.
- Financial support depends on reforms and the fight against corruption.
The EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans provides funding of six billion euros between 2024 and 2027 to revive the economies of these countries and speed up the region’s integration into the EU. “For the time being, we have stopped all payments from the growth plan because of the deterioration of the justice situation,” Kosovo said Thursday evening in Switzerland. “Until the situation is resolved, they will not be able to get European financial support,” she said at an event at the University of Fribourg.
This is a reaction to the fact that the Serbian parliament approved judicial reforms in January without consulting prosecutors, judges, the EU or other professional bodies. Critics say the changes give presidents of courts more control over judges and eliminate guarantees of prosecutors’ independence, which also raises concerns in the EU and the Council of Europe. The changes also came at a time when several high-ranking government officials are being investigated for corruption in the country.
They made the payment conditional
The European Commission has not yet responded to AFP’s request for comment. However, the payment of funds from the growth plan is conditional, for example, on the adoption of reforms to ensure the independence of the judiciary and the fight against corruption.
In mid-January, Belgrade received part of the aid in the amount of 56.5 million euros, with a total of 1.58 billion euros allocated for it. Kosovo also criticized restrictions on democracy and media freedom in the country.
“Serbia is very polarized today… it has been a candidate country for more than ten years and, unfortunately, we see it going back,” she added, also criticizing Serbia’s foreign policy. Serbia remains a close ally of the Kremlin and one of the few European states that has not accepted sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine, AFP reminds. “You can’t sit on two chairs,” Kosová added.
