Miscevic, Kovac hold separate meetings with Picula

BELGRADE  - Serbian Minister for European Integration Tanja Miscevic and the European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula met in Belgrade on Monday to discuss Serbia's EU accession process, touching upon reforms the country is conducting with a view to making progress in the process.

Miscevic noted that EU integration was a key foreign policy priority for Serbia and that the country was ready to seize the new momentum of EU enlargement by delivering on its accession commitments.

She said Serbia was working actively on fully aligning with EU laws and practices by end-2026 and noted the significance of an EU Growth Plan and a reform agenda outlining the priority measures for accelerating the process, the Ministry of European Integration said in a statement.

Picula said Serbia should demonstrate in a serious manner that it was strategically oriented towards the EU, and rejected claims the EU and its member states were involved in organising ongoing student protests in Serbia.

The parties also discussed the draft progress report on Serbia, which is in the process of being adopted by the EP as a non-binding resolution.

Serbian Deputy Parliament Speaker Elvira Kovac, who also heads the parliamentary committee on EU integration, held a separate meeting with Picula to discuss the first version of his report and inform him of the parliament's upcoming activities, with its regular session to begin in March.

She informed Picula in detail of the establishment and the work of a working group tasked with improving the electoral process with the aim of implementing ODIHR recommendations following the April 2022 and December 2023 parliamentary elections, as well as of the process of electing the members of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, and pointed out problems in their work and in implementation of new procedures, the National Assembly said in a statement.