Applying for membership in the European Union represents a milestone for every state on its path towards the European Union. The status of candidate is confirmed by the European Council, one of the most important institutions of the EU, which gathers heads of states or governments.
Before the European Council adopts that decision, it is necessary to complete the process of nomination for membership, which begins at the moment of application. The application for membership (nomination) is submitted to the state that chairs the EU Council (Serbia submitted its application to the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt).
The application for membership usually includes several documents that confirm the commitment of countries to accede to the EU.
Together with an official letter to the Chairman of the Council, Serbia also submits a Government Memorandum, which includes an overview of the reforms implemented primarily in the domain of respect of principles that form the basis of the EU itself. The novelty of the Lisbon Treaty is that national assemblies of member states must be informed of applications for membership.
If the Council of the European Union in the formation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs reaches a consensus on acceptance with regard to the candidacy, it is forwarded to the European Commission, which is formally requested the opinion by the Council.
In order to obtain an opinion, the European Commission should first seek to gain insight into the level of achieved reforms and harmonization of national legislation with the EU in 35 areas of the acquis communautaire. For this purpose it prepares the questionnaire and delivers it to the state that has applied for membership.
1.What is the European Commission Questionnaire?
The European Commission Questionnaire (EC) is a formal instrument used by the European Union to evaluate the readiness of a country to initiate the process of accession. Based on the replies the Commission drafts an Opinion (Avis) on whether the country is ready for candidate status, and whether it is ready for the next phase - defining the framework date for accession talks, which is decided by consensus by the EU member states. Simultaneously, the EC may make recommendations to set Serbia a date for the start of membership negotiations.
2.How was the procedure of submitting and answering the Questionnaire conducted?
After Serbia submitted its application for membership in the European Union on 22 December 2009, and the European Commission on 25 October 2010 adopted the decision on forwarding it to the EU, on 24 November 2010 the Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuledelivered to Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković the Questionnaire of the European Commission sent in order to prepare an opinion on the request of Serbia for membership in the EU. Work on preparing answers to this document, which contains 2,483 questions and sub-questions, divided into six annexes and 33 chapters, started the same day with a meeting which the Office for European Integration organized with corresponding ministries that lasted 45 working days.
At the session held on 27 January 2011the Serbian Government adopted the answers to the Questionnaire, which Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković handed over to Commissioner Stefan Fule on 31 January. The answers were adopted after they were previously discussed also by the Committee for European Integration of the National Assembly and the Council for European Integration.
It is expected that the EC starts preparing the Opinion at the beginning of summer, and that Serbia may gain the candidate status the earliest in December 2011.
In order to answer the Questionnaire, Serbia formed, way back in 2007, an inter-administrative structure with 35 working groups corresponding to the structure of the Questionnaire, whose work is coordinated by the Office of European Integration.
With the aim of preparing for this job, the Serbian administration responded to 85 percent of the questions in the questionnaires that were sent to Montenegro and Albania even before the Questionnaire was sent to them.
In comparison, it took Montenegro more than 4 months (from 22 July to 9 December 2009) to answer 2178 questions from the Questionnaire, Albania 4 months (16 December 2009 until 14 April 2010) for 2280 questions, Croatia 3 months (from 10 July to 9 October 2003) for 4560 questions, Macedonia 4 months (1 October 2004 until 14 February 2005) for almost 4000 questions.
3.What information do answers to the Questionnaire provide?
The responses provide precise information about the country, from the respect of political and economic criteria, to the extent of compliance with EU legislation, as well as information on institutional and administrative capacities necessary for the acceptance and implementation of European standards in each of the 35 negotiating chapters.
4.How many translators were engaged in translating the answers?
Approximately 70 translators, who were engaged through two agencies chosen through a public procurement tender procedure, translated for 40 days. Answers to the questionnaire are contained in about 8,000 translated pages, or about 5.5 thousand ordinary A4 pages, while the total cost of translation services amounts to about 10.5 million Serbian dinars.
5.Which institutions participated in the preparation of answers?
Besides the Serbian Government, the National Assembly, the National Bank of Serbia, judicial authorities, independent bodies and social partners were also actively involved in the preparation of answers. Significant contributions to the development of responses to the questionnaire were given by civil society organizations, whose participation ensured transparency and public involvement.
For example, in the field of economic and social issues the largest volume of work in preparing the answers was undertaken by the following institutions: Ministry of Finance, National Bank of Serbia, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Statistical Office, Ministry of Science and Technological Development (subsequently received twice the number of modified questions from the Commission, but answered them all in the set timeframe).
In the field of justice, freedom and security, answers to 507 questions were prepared by the following institutions: Ministry of Justice (167 questions), Ministry of Internal Affairs (180 questions), the High Judicial Council (81 questions), Anti-corruption Agency (23 questions), Ombudsman (22 questions), the Commissioner for Information of Public Interest and the Protection of Personal Data (18 questions), Judicial Academy (16 questions).Other institutions that also submitted data in this area are as follows: Gender Equality Administration, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Statistical Office, and the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Republic Prosecution for War Crimes, the Office for Cooperation with the ICTY, the State Auditor.
Also, as an example we point out that in the field of internal market answers to a total of 420 questions were given by: the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade and Services, Customs Administration, the Institute for Standardization, Statistical Office, as well as the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and National Bank of Serbia.
In the field of transport, answers to 91 questions and an annex were given by the following institutions: Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Statistical Office, the Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Serbia, the Public Roads of Serbia, Ministry of Trade and Services, Agency for Transport Safety. Other institutions that have also submitted data are: the Directorate for Railways, Railways of Serbia, the Directorate of Waterways, the Competition Commission, and the Privatization Agency.
Answers to 19 questions in the field of trans-European networks were prepared by: the Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Mining and Energy, Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Ministry of Science and Technological Development, as well as the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade and Services, the Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Serbia, Public Roads of Serbia, Directorate of Waterways, Directorate for Railways, Railways of Serbia.
In the sector of information society and media, 168 questions were answered by: Ministry of Culture, RRA 17, the Film Centre, Ministry of Telecommunications, Ministry of Justice, RATEL, the Commissioner, Ministry of Tourism and Services, Ministry of Internal Affairs, National Institute for Information Technology.
To 88 questions in the field of energy, responses were given by the following institutions: the Ministry of Mining and Energy, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Ministry of Science and Technology Development, Agency of Energy, Energy Efficiency Agency, the Institute for Standardization, the Agency for Transport Safety, Statistical Office, the Agency for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and Nuclear Safety.
6.How does the procedure of nomination for membership continue after the submission of answers?
Further procedure of nomination for membership after the submission of responses to the questionnaire includes the following steps:
• The European Commission delivers additional questions and requests for clarification
• Additional explanations and answers are prepared and submitted to the European Commission
• The European Commission prepares and submits to the Council of Ministers an unqualified opinion on the basis of which the Council adopts a positive "Avis" (opinion on the candidacy)
• The European Council grants the Republic of Serbia the candidate status. The most positive scenario would be that the European Council sets a date for starting membership negotiations.
• Start of membership negotiations, conducted over 35 chapters of EU acquis (about 150 000 pages of regulations, or about 17 000 legal acts of the EU)
• Negotiations are deemed complete with the signing of the Treaty of Accession
• The following phase is the ratification process of the Treaty of Accession and an invitation to Serbia to integrate
• Admission to the EU
