The 12th EU-Serbia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security was held on 24 and 25 February 2026 in Belgrade. The meeting was co-chaired for Serbia by Mr. Branislav Stojanović, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Justice and Mr. Veljko Odalović, State Secretary, Ministry of the Interior, and for the EU by Mr. Julien Crampes, Deputy Head of Unit at the Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood in the European Commission.
This Subcommittee is held annually to take stock of developments in the area of the rule of law and fundamental rights in the context of accession negotiations, including the follow-up to the recommendations identified in the European Commission’s Annual Report. The Subcommittee discussions will also be used as input for the 2026 Rule of Law Report on Serbia.
Serbia informed about its plans to speed up the work on the adoption and implementation of EU-accession related reforms, with a particular focus on meeting the rule of law interim benchmarks.
The European Commission reiterated its strong concerns in relation to the recent judicial amendments, notably calling to prevent the impact of the new provision on an automatic end of temporary secondments of prosecutors on the work of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime.
Serbia referred to the launch of the consultation of the Venice Commission and committed to implement without delay all their recommendations in a transparent and inclusive consultation process with all relevant stakeholders.
Prior to the meeting, the European Commission consulted civil society organisations in areas of justice, fight against corruption, fundamental rights and media freedom.
