Vujic: Amendments to penal code in line with Serbia's commitment to join EU

BELGRADE - Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic said on Tuesday amendments to the Penal Code, as well as harsher punishments for the criminal offence of rape, were in line with Serbia's commitment to join the EU, and noted that amendments to legislation must always "keep up with life".

"You have new types of criminal offences, new ways of committing existing criminal offences. All that must be regulated by law. In the same way, we must harmonise our legislation in the EU accession process, including our criminal legislation, with what we have in our Chapters 23 and 24 (in the EU accession talks)," Vujic told K1 TV.

Commenting on objections by some opposition parties and a petition against the amendments, Vujic said the objections had been reviewed by his ministry but did not reflect the actual state of affairs, and noted that regulations on corruption and misuses in public procurements had been harmonised with the Council of Europe's anti-corruption watchdog GRECO.