Serbia opens chapters 5 and 25 in accession negotiations with EU – Continuation of European integration in first half of 2017

At the Intergovernmental Conference on the accession of Serbia to the European Union, two chapters were opened – Chapter 5, on public procurement, and Chapter 25, on science and research, whereas Chapter 26 remains closed due to Croatia's blocking.

At the same time, Chapter 25 was closed immediately, because the EU doesn't prescribe criteria for science and research, instead leaving these areas primarily in charge of individual states.

The Council of the European Union reported that, after the opening of chapters 5 and 25, new accession conferences would be planned in order for the progress to continue in the first half of 2017.

Regarding Chapter 5, dealing with public procurement procedures, the Council says that Serbia has to continue to make progress in the alignment with and implementation of the acquis.

The EU cites full alignment of Serbia's national legal framework with the EU acquis with regard to all areas of public procurement, including its legislation on concessions and international agreements exempting certain works from public procurement rules as benchmarks that need to be met for provisional closure of this chapter.

– Serbia should put in place adequate administrative and institutional capacity at all levels and take appropriate measures to ensure the proper implementation and enforcement of national legislation in this area in good time before accession – states the document of the European Council, published after the Intergovernmental Conference with Serbia.

The document points out that Serbia is expected to provide proof of prevention of and fight against corruption and conflicts of interests in the area of public procurement at both central and local level.

Regarding negotiations on Chapter 25, the EU considered that, exceptionally, benchmarks for the provisional closure of this chapter were not required, given the general good level of Serbia’s state of preparedness in the area of Science and research, and the limited scope and particular nature of acquis obligations in this chapter.

The European Council concludes that, for both chapters on the agenda, monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the acquis will continue throughout the negotiations and that the EU will, if necessary, return to these chapters at an appropriate moment – Tanjug reports.

Intergovernmental Conference on the accession of Serbia to the European Union

chapter 5

chapter 25

chapter 26

EU accession negotiations chapter on public procurement

EU accession negotiations chapter on science and research

EU accession of Serbia

EU accession negotiations of Serbia

Public Procurement Law

public procurement

European Council