GRECO confirmed that recommendations have not been fulfilled

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It is alarming that Serbia has fulfilled only three of the 24 GRECO recommendations for combating corruption in the executive branch and the police, even though the deadline expired almost three years ago (30 September 2023). Not only have laws that would contribute to fulfilling the recommendations not been adopted, but the authorities have also failed to implement measures that did not require legislative amendments, but only genuine political will to combat corruption.

To a significant extent, fulfilment of the recommendations issued to Serbia by GRECO in 2022 depends on amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the Law on Internal Affairs, and the Law on Lobbying. Work on these amendments began long ago, but has not been completed, nor have the drafts been designed to address all the problems identified.

Measures that required no legislative amendments have also not been implemented - for example, publishing the names of all advisers to the Prime Minister and ministers; ensuring that the Government considers the reports of the Anti-Corruption Council; and ensuring that the Agency for Prevention of Corruption regularly monitors the assets and income of the President of the Republic and members of the Government.

It is particularly important to highlight that the authorities have not even attempted to fulfil some of the most important and relevant GRECO recommendations - for example, granting citizens and journalists the right to appeal when the Government or the President of the Republic fails to provide access to information of public importance; limiting the immunity of Government members when they are suspected of having committed corruption-related criminal offences; and extending the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime to cover all senior executive officials.

Transparency Serbia warned of the possibility of such an outcome and put forward concrete proposals for fulfilling the GRECO recommendations, but most of these proposals were ignored or rejected during the preparation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the drafting of individual laws.

All three recommendations that GRECO found to have been fully implemented concern the police, while none of the measures concerning the executive branch received such an assessment. Transparency Serbia points out that it is not possible to fully assess the effects of the measures that resulted in positive assessments, as they concern internal regulations and training within the Ministry of Interior. At the same time, corruption risks within the police arising from the political appointment of senior officials, selective cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, links with individuals from the criminal underworld, and the failure to implement existing internal control mechanisms have increased.