Copenhagen Criteria in Action

FUEN attended the meeting in the European Parliament organised by the Intergroup for Traditional Minorities on 27 October 2016 on the situation of the national minorities in Serbia. The meeting showed that the obligation to fulfil the conditions for EU-candidate countries during the accession process is encouraging states to improve their framework for the protection of national minorities.

Ana Brnabić, the Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and Čedomir Backović, Assistant Minister of Justice presented their Action Plan for the realisation of the rights of national minorities. The Action Plan forms part of chapter 23 of the accession negotiations between the EU and Serbia that have to be concluded before Serbia can become a EU member state.

The Action Plan consists of a roadmap that seeks to empower the national minorities to take their destiny in their own hand, through bodies of non-territorial self-government. The approach is depending on the different needs of the minorities, their size, their location, whether they are settled compact or dispersed across a wide area and whether there is a kin-state that can provide support. Mr Backović stressed however that plans are just plans, and that the three main principles are: “implementation, implementation and implementation”. This is especially the case since a former framework of minority councils and commissioners was idle for six years, and only was started up again in 2015.

Mr Jenö Hajnal, the President of the National Council of the Hungarians in Serbia, and Mr Mihály Nyilas, the Provincial Secretary for Education in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina explained the functioning of the Council as a link between the state and the minority. He stressed that the Hungarian community is committed to help Serbia on its way to Europe and to the European system of values. He suggested that, with the new minority framework, Serbia could become a positive example for other countries.

The Members of Parliament in the Intergroup were generally very positive of the framework, which they considered a good example also for other European countries. However, the implementation is still in an early stage and will be closely monitored in the years to come. There was also some criticism about a lack of involvement of some national minorities in the drafting process.

Serbia was accepted as a candidate member of the European Union in 2012 and since then, it has entered the accession negotiations. During these negotiations Serbia has to adapt its own legislation to that of the European Union. An essential condition for admission as a EU member state is the fulfilment of the Copenhagen Criteria, according to which “membership requires that candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, respect for and protection of minorities, the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union.” 

FUEN currently has 3 member organisations in Serbia, representing the Hungarian, German and Croat minority. FUEN President Loránt Vincze was in Serbia this summer to visit these minorities. FUEN is also active in Serbia and other countries of the region with the project “Minorities in the Western Balkans: access to municipal services”, which is implemented together with the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), the Land of Schleswig-Holstein and GIZ.

More information:
FUEN President visits Vojvodina, Serbia
FUEN Project for the Minorities from the Western Balkans 

(Photo 1, 2 @European Parliament; Photo 3 ethnic structure of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina)