PREUGOVOR ALARM: REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF SERBIA IN CLUSTER 1 May 2023
PREUGOVOR ALARM: REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF SERBIA IN CLUSTER 1 May 2023

Author(s): Jelena Pejić Nikić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Keywords: prEUgovor Alarm Report; Progress of Serbia; Cluster 1; rule of law
Summary/Abstract: The prEUgovor Alarm Report on the Progress of Serbia in Cluster 1 is a regular, semi-annual shadow report jointly produced and published by the seven civil society organisations comprising the prEUgovor coalition. The Alarm reports have been the corner-stone of prEUgovor monitoring efforts ever since its inception, focusing on tracking the progress and performance of the Serbian Government on delivering rule of law related reforms. The prEUgovor Alarm reports focus primarily on the selected policy areas from the Political Criteria, Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 24 (Justice, Liberty, Security) of the accession process of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union, i.e. from Cluster 1 in the new enlargement methodology. Alarm Reports monitor the extent to which the responsible authorities fulfil their obligations envisaged by the Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24, as well as other complementary initiatives relevant for the rule of law (e.g. reporting to the UN and Council of Europe on specific conventions). In Alarms, prEUgovor members assess the extent of fulfilment of relevant recommendations, activities, and adherence to the timeframe, provide qualitative analysis of the legislative and policy initiatives and assess to what extent these provisions are aligned with the EU regulatory framework. The Alarm Reports neither cover all policy areas from the Political Criteria and Chapters 23 and 24 nor intend to serve as a comprehensive assessment of the Government’s reform agenda. The Alarm Reports rather focus on key policies from the above-mentioned areas, those that correspond to the field of expertise of each member organisation and in which they possess relevant knowledge and experience. Moreover, the Alarm Reports tend to focus on the most salient policy issues at any given time, which is why their content and length may vary based on the reform priorities. When writing Alarm Reports, prEUgovor coalition relies exclusively on publically available data relevant to the ongoing reform processes. This includes relevant legislation, bylaws, strategic documents, analyses and reports produced by state authorities and international organisations, media reports, official statements, etc. In addition, prEUgovor relies on findings of other civil society organisations, investigative journalists, testimonies and interviews of relevant stakeholders. Finally, prEUgovor members draw a significant amount of data from their everyday work and research they conduct, which is incorporated into the Alarm Reports and serves the purpose of enriching the findings and informing the debate. Each Alarm Report is drafted by several authors from each of the seven prEUgovor member organisations in a collaborative effort. Depending on the topicality and importance of other topics within cluster 1, the coalition seeks to engage external authors from other civil society organizations that have expertise in these topics. Best practices are put in place regarding quality control, fact-checking, revising and editing the findings. However, if there are errors and omissions to be found, these are not due to the malintent of the authors but rather due to challenges in undertaking the work of this scope.

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