EC non-paper: Serbia has continued to implement action plans for Chapters 23, 24

BRUSSELS - In a non-paper, the European Commission calls on Serbia to demonstrate additional engagement and political commitment to deepen reforms and tackle shortcomings to make progress on key rule-of-law chapters in its EU accession talks - Chapters 23 and 24 - to advance in the negotiating process.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels have told Tanjug that, in the reporting period since November 2023, Serbia had continued to implement revised action plans for the two chapters and other strategic documents on rule of law.

Provisional benchmarks from these chapters are the priority for further overall progress in the accession talks, the non-paper says.

Under the revised methodology, additional chapters may be closed once Serbia achieves that objective, it also says.

The sources dismissed allegations by some media outlets that the non-paper is the annual progress report on Serbia and said the report was being prepared for October.

The document says its purpose is for the EC to provide to the Council of the EU an overview of Serbia's progress on Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) following a November 2023 report on Serbia and that the focus was on recommendations from the report.