In the context of the global crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, free, impartial and professional media reporting has become ever more important. This represents an issue in Serbia, considering its ongoing decline in media freedom as confirmed by independent international reports.

Serbia’s multi-stakeholder consultation process has improved considerably through better public outreach, including on the local level. However, the action plan largely continues initiatives from the previous plan mainly with measures of limited ambition.

For the preparation of this document, the experts combined both qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed-method research).

The Serbian Action Plan addressed many core open government issues, including access to information and civic space. The Government completely implemented 7 of 14 commitments by the end of the assessment period.

Governments in the Western Balkans have been implementing public administration reforms (PAR) for over a decade now, with varying degrees of success. Since 2014, PAR is acknowledged as one of the fundamental areas of reform on any country’s path to EU membership and a set of principles was prepared for the accession countries to follow and comply with in this area in order to become successful EU member states.

Public administration reforms (PAR) have been implemented in the Western Balkans for over a decade now, with varying degrees of success. Since 2014, PAR is acknowledged as one of the fundamental areas of reform on any country’s path to EU membership and a set of principles was prepared for the accession countries to follow and comply with in this area in order to become successful EU member states.

European Policy Centre – CEP, as the National Researcher of the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) under the Open Government Partnership (OGP), has made Serbia Progress Report for 2016-17 period.

*This paper was submitted to the call for papers on “What if the Balkans Never becomes Part of the EU?” and presented at the Belgrade Security Forum 2017.

Serbia received the European Commission’s annual report as a country negotiating the EU accession (since 2014), with four chapters of the acquis communautaire already open, and two more under preparation for opening at the time. In general terms, the Commission’s tone was “between positive and neutral,” and, despite the anticipation resulting from the changes in reporting methodology, it brought no major surprises.

Even though the EU is the largest single donor in Serbia since 2000, the majority of Serbian citizens are not aware of that fact, and more than two thirds have never heard of any EU-financed project. Instead, they perceive Russia, Japan, China and others as greater donors than the EU. Moreover, around 50% of the citizens are […]