Activities of László TŐKÉS related to 2016/2311(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
2016 Report on Serbia (debate) HU
Amendments (23)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
- having regards to the address of ICTY President Carmel Agius to the United Nations Security Council in June 2016,
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 b (new)
Citation 16 b (new)
- having regards to the Agreement on Normalization of Relations between the then-Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, and the Republic of Croatia, signed in 1996,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 c (new)
Citation 16 c (new)
- having regard to the European Parliament's resolution on Serbia: the case of accused war criminal Šešelj of 27 November 2014,
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas the implementation of the legal framework on the protection of minorities needs to be fully ensured, notably in the areas of education, use of language, access to media and religious services in minority language, and adequate political representation of national minorities at local, regional and national levels;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
C d. whereas since January 2016 Serbia refuses to extradite three wanted Serbian Radical Party members to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for trial on witness intimidation charges;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
C e. whereas the ICTY President Carmel Agius stressed that Serbia is violating cooperation agreements and undermining justice efforts by not arresting three Serbian Radical Party members accused of interfering with witnesses and expressed the view that this development is a grave step backwards in matters of cooperation with the Tribunal and an unacceptable disregard of the primacy of Tribunal law over the domestic law;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the opening of negotiations on Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) as the key chapters in the EU approach to enlargement based on the rule of law; welcomes the opening of Chapters 32 (Financial Control) and 35 (Other Issues), the opening of negotiations on Chapter 5 (Public Procurement) and the opening and provisional closure of Chapter 25 (Science and Research); calls on the Council to open Chapter 26 (Education and Culture) and all other negotiating chapters which have been technically prepared;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the continued engagement of Serbia on the path of integration into the EU and its constructive and well-prepared approach to the negotiations, which is a clear sign of determination and political will; calls on Serbia to actively promote this strategic decision among the Serbian population; calls on the European Commission and the Serbian government to take coordinated steps in order to intensify visibility of investments and funding from the EU budget so that increase the awareness of citizens of the EU funds directed to Serbia;
Amendment 68 #
3. Underlines that the thorough implementation of reforms and policies remains a key indicator of a successful integration process; commends the adoption of Revised National Programme for the Adoption of Aquis (NPAA); calls on Serbia to improve the planning, coordination and monitoring of the implementation of new legislation and policies;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the progress made by Serbia in developing a functioning market economy and the improvement of the overall economic situation in the country; stresses that Serbia has made good progress in addressing some of its policy weaknesses, in particular with regard to the budget deficit; highlights that growth prospects have improved and domestic and external imbalances have been reduced; underlinin view of harmonization with aquis communautaire welcomes that the restructuring of publicly owned enterprises has advanced; notes the paramount importance of smal, particularly in the field of energy and railway transportation and underlines the importance of their professional mand medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to Serbia'sagement in order to make them more effective, competitive and economyic;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Underlines the paramount role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for Serbia's economy; calls the Serbian government and the EU institutions to expand their funding opportunities for SMEs, especially in the field of IT and digital economy; commends its efforts concerning dual and vocational education in order to address youth unemployment and encourages it to promote entrepreneurship, particularly among young people;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on Serbia to progressively align its foreign and security policy with that of the EU, including its policy on Russia; welcomes Serbia’s important contribution to and continued participation in international peacekeeping operations;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes Serbia's active role in police and judicial cooperation on international and regional level and the progress made in the fight against organised crime and the adoption of Serbia’s first national serious and organise crime threat assessment (SOCTA); calls on Serbia to step up efforts to investigate wider criminal networks, improve financial investigations and intelligence-led policing and develop a solid track record of final convictions; has taken note of the controversial events in Belgrade’s Savamala district and calls for their swift resolution;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Notes that the application of the Law on Organization and Competences of State Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings violates the generally accepted principles of criminal and international law - the principle of legal certainty and the principle of non- intervention in the internal affairs of other states, and hinders the process of reconciliation in South Eastern Europe; calls on the Serbian authorities to immediately repeal the relevant articles and abandon a concept of quasi-universal jurisdiction for war crimes in neighbouring countries; in this regards, calls on the European Commission and Member States to invest additional efforts in addressing this issue in the process of EU-Serbia negotiations, particularly within the scope of Chapter 23;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Reiterates the importance of all independent regulatory bodies, including the Ombudsman, in ensuring oversight and accountability of the executive; calls on the authorities to provide the Ombudsmanindependent regulatory bodies with full political and administrative support for histheir work;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. WUnderlines the importance of consistent legal framework on the rights of national minorities and the clarification of legal status and jurisdiction of national minority councils, hence commends the progress made in the drafting of the Law on rights and freedoms of national minorities and that a working group was appointed to draft the amendments of the Law on national councils of national minorities; welcomes the adoption of an action plan for the realisation of the rights of national minorities, and the adoption of a decree establishing a fund for national minorities; calls for the full and timely implementation of the action plan; reiterates its call on Serbia to ensure consistent and effective implementation of legislation on protection of minorities, including in relation to education, use of languages, adequate representation in judiciary and public administration and access to media and religious services in minority languages; calls for the swift implementation of the new Law on police which enables a recruitment of citizens with dual- citizenship as a police officers, thus contributing to adequate representation of national minorities as well;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Welcomes the adoption of new educational standards for the subject Serbian as non-mother tongue and calls the authorities to swiftly adopt a new curriculum accordingly, thus enabling national minorities to acquire the language of majority on the appropriate level helping their inclusion and participation in the Serbian society and public life;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Stresses that the progress in the field of ensuring rights of national minorities is not satisfactory and reiterates that the promotion and protection of human rights, including rights of national minorities is the basic precondition for joining the EU;
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the fact that Serbia remains constructively committed to bilateral relations with other enlargement countries and neighbouring EU Member States; has taken positive note of the fact that Serbia has shown an increasingly constructive engagement in regional cooperation initiatives such as the South- East Europe Cooperation Process, the Regional Cooperation Council, the Central European Free Trade Agreement, the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, the Brdo process, the Western Balkan Six initiative and its connectivity agenda and the Berlin process; calls on Serbia to implement the connectivity reform measures associated with the connectivity agenda; commends the role of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia in promoting regional cooperation by taking a lead in setting up and developing the Western Balkan Chamber Investment Forum which plays important role in the framework of the Berlin Process and calls upon the Commission and other regional organizations to support the efforts of the Forum and facilitate its capacity building; underlines that outstanding bilateral disputes should not have a detrimental effect on the accession process; welcomes the adoption of a national strategy for the investigation and prosecution of war crimes; notes that the mandate of the former War Crimes Prosecutor expired in December 2015; stresses that the appointment of his successor is a matter of serious concern; calls for the implementation of this strategy and the adoption of an operational prosecutorial strategy; calls for full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY); urges the authorities to continue working on the issue of the fate of missing persons;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Reiterates its call on the authorities to continue their efforts to eliminate the legacy of the former Communist secret services by making its files open to the public, as a step towards the democratisation of Serbia; calls on Serbia to intensify the process of succession and implementation of obligations relating to the division of the common archive of the former Yugoslavia; reiterates, in this connection, that full access to all archival materials, especially those of the former Yugoslav Secret Services (UDBA) and the Yugoslav People's Army Security Service (KOS) is of vital significance; reiterates its call to the authorities to facilitate access to those archives that concern the former republics of Yugoslavia and to return them to their respective governments if they so request;
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Welcomes Serbia’s continued engagement in the normalisation process with Kosovo, and its commitment to the implementation of the agreements reached in the EU- facilitated dialogue; reiterates its call to move forward with the full implementation, in good faith and in a timely manner, of all the agreements already reached and to determinedly continue the normalisation process; urges the establishment of the Community of Serbian Municipalities; encourages Serbia and Kosovo to identify new areas of discussion for the dialogue, with the aim of improving the lives of people and comprehensively normalising relations; reiterates its call on the EEAS to carry out an evaluation of the performance of the sides in fulfilling their obligations;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. calls on Serbia to intensify efforts in implementing all bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries, including the Agreement on Normalization of Relations between the then-Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, and the Republic of Croatia, signed in 1996;
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls on Serbia to fully implement the connectivity reform measures in the energy sector; encourages Serbia to develop competition in the gas market and to take measures to improve alignment with the acquis in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and calls on Serbia to focus more strongly on green energy and to decrease the country's dependency on energy imports;