14 Amendments of Andrey KOVATCHEV related to 2016/2311(INI)
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas Serbia and Russia held joint military exercises on Serbian territory close to the Croatian border in August 2016;
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 48 #
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 and the reached agreement to open Cchapter 26 (Education and Culture);
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is concerned by the lack of progress in the fight against corruption and urges Serbia to show clear commitment in tackling this issue; calls on Serbia to step up the implementation of the national anti- corruption strategy and action plan, and calls for the establishment of an initial track record on investigations, prosecutions and convictions for high-level corruption; calls on Serbia to swiftly adopt a new law on the Anti-Corruption Agency in order to improve the planning, coordination and monitoring of the implementation of new legislation and policieswelcomes the progress on the finalization of the Draft Law on the Anti-Corruption Agency and the activities on prevention and fight against corruption that have been envisaged through newly established EU Twinning project; urges Serbia to amend and implement the economic and corruption crimes section of the criminal code with a view to providing a credible and predictable criminal law framework;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes that the constitution needs to be revised so as to fully reflect the recommendations of the Venice Commission, notably with regard to the parliament’s role in judicial appointments, the control of political parties over the mandate of Members of Parliament, the independence of key institutions and the protection of fundamental rights;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Welcomes the finalization of the long delayed process of school textbooks translation into Bulgarian to make possible the education for the Bulgarian national minority in mother tongue; encourages the Serbian authorities to ensure the sustainability of this process by providing sufficient number of textbooks to adequately address the needs of pupils from the minority;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17 b. Is concerned by the lack of progress on the translation of internal school documentation (school diaries, student grade books, school registers, etc.) for the Bulgarian minority which is enshrined in law, but not followed in practice; calls Serbian authorities to approve the opening of the requested number of Bulgarian-taught classes by the respective schools of the minority;
Amendment 270 #
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; welcomes the energy and transport infrastructure cooperation meeting of the Bulgarian, Romanian and Serbian Prime Ministers and supports the idea of a permanent format of the 'Craiova Group' meetings; calls on Serbia to implement the connectivity reform measures associated with the connectivity agenda; 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 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20 b. Calls on Serbia to intensify efforts to sign co-operation and good neighbourliness agreements with neighbouring countries and to step up on implementing the already existing ones; encourages the Serbian government to participate in joint government meetings with Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria which will contribute to tackling any outstanding bilateral issues with neighbouring EU states;
Amendment 290 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20 c. Reiterates its call on the Serbian authorities to initiate further measures for crossborder cooperation with the neighbouring EU Member States, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Romania, including through the Cross- border and Transnational Cooperation Programmes 2014-2020 and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, in order to facilitate inter alia the economic development of border regions and areas populated by minorities; underlines, in this respect, the importance of opening a terminal for commercial trucks and goods at the border crossing at Ribarci- Oltomantsi and completion of the missing highway section of Corridor X between Nis and Sofia;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20 d. Commends the opening of three new border-crossing points between Serbia and Romania as a positive development and recommends the opening of the three delayed border points with Bulgaria at Salash-Novo korito, Bankya-Petachinci and Treklyano- Bosilegrad;
Amendment 324 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Welcomes the preparatory work on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria and recommends acceleration of the project in order to diversify Serbia's gas supply and energy independence;