7.2.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 47/115 Wednesday 6 July 2022
90.
Is deeply concerned by the socio-economic situation in several districts of southern Serbia; calls on the Serbian Government to investigate all allegations about the use of social assistance instruments to put pressure on voters, especially vulnerable groups and members of the Roma minority; calls on the Serbian Government to respond to the challenges of poverty and unemployment in these and other parts of the country and to ensure that social and employment policies have sufficient financial and institutional resources; 91.
Calls on Serbia to improve its capacities to provide statistics and to carry out the population census, in compliance with the highest international standards and with the involvement of independent observers; 92.
Is deeply concerned by the depopulation and continuing emigration of Serbia’s human capital; welcomes Serbian governments initiatives and innovative approaches to counter these trends, including demographic change, by working with international organisations through a series of targeted policies across sectors to address demographic threats, as the steady population decline remains a key challenge for economic development; calls on the new government to pay more attention to youth policies; notes that additional efforts need to be invested in the socio-economic development of the border regions in order to prevent them from depopulation; recalls that IPA III cross-border cooperation programmes could be utilised for this purpose; 93.
Welcomes the implementation of programmes to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular the reduction of the cost of borrowing for SMEs; calls on Serbia to address the remaining shortcomings, including a volatile business environment and unfair competition; welcomes the engagement of Serbia in the process of regional market integration in the Western Balkans, which followed by further economic integration with EU single market will attract the investments needed and generate new opportunities for citizens and the business community; 94.
Reiterates its concern about Serbia’s growing dependence on Chinese investments and the scale of loans that Serbia will have to pay back to China; urges the Serbian authorities to improve the transparency of and strengthen the legal compliance with environmental impact assessment requirements in highly polluting industries for Chinese, Russian and other non-democratic foreign investments stemming from bilateral agreements on strategic cooperation; regrets the recent delivery Chinese missile systems to Serbia; 95.
Stresses that the countries of the Western Balkans must be put at the heart of the EU’s Global Gateway initiative and provide a transparent and sustainable investment alternative to the investments and loans from China and other authoritarian regimes; 96.
Notes the withdrawal of the amendments to the Law on Expropriation and calls for a broader public debate on this issue; 97.
Welcomes the improvements in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing but calls for an improved track record in investigations in cases of money laundering; notes that infrastructure and construction are significant sources of illicit money and encourages Serbia to minimise the risk of illicit financial flows in the construction industry and to reduce tax evasion and corruption in the infrastructure sector; calls on Serbia to ensure that Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations are used in good faith; 98.
Expresses concerns about the lack of progress on the ‘List’ case, which constitutes an abuse of the legal framework by state authorities in order to target particular CSOs and media critical of government policies; recalls the call on the Serbian Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering of the Serbian Ministry of Finance to fully investigate these issues; 99.
Recalls the conditionality of funding under IPA III and the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans (EIP); recognises the importance of IPA III and the EIP for supporting the reform process, green transition, sustainable connectivity, human capital, competitiveness and inclusive growth, as well in reinforcing regional and cross-border cooperation;
The environment, energy and transport 100.
Welcomes the concrete steps taken in order to phase out coal power plants; expresses serious concern that despite current climate and environmental challenges, Serbia is still investing in a new coal power plant; urges the authorities to adopt a national integrated energy and climate plan consistent with the European Green Deal’s zero emissions target for 2050 and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans;