European Commission closely monitors situation of Romanian minority in Serbia

The European Commission closely monitors the general situation of the rule of law in Serbia as part of accession negotiations of the country to EU. That includes the treatment applied to people belonging to Romanian ethnic minority and all the other national  minorities living in Serbia, declared Oliver Varhelyi, the European commissioner for Neighborliness and Extension.   In particular as part of negotiation chapter 23 “Judicial system and fundamental rights,” Serbia has to put in application both its juridical frame about the rights of people who belong to minorities and the “action plan for exerting the rights of national minorities,”with all its elements , which will contribute to the effective and uniform application of recommendations of the Consulting Committee of the EC frame convention for the protection of national minorities, the commissioner mentions in his answer to a request addressed by European deputy Eugen Tomac.   Special stress is laid on education, the use of minority languages, access to the media and religious services in minority languages, as well as adequate representation in public administration.   “The Commission will continue to monitor evolutions in this field and report about them, as well as carry out dialogues about policies with Serbian authorities. The Commission also supplied EU financial assistance to Serbia to improve the way in which people belonging to national minorities are treated, including in the field of education,” says the European official in the answer published on September 13 on the website of the European Parliament.   European deputy Eugen Tomac addressed the European Commission a question about observing the rights of people belonging to national minorities in Serbia, as a result of a detailed analysis, made with the civil society and national councils of ethnic Romanians in Serbia, which found out that the Romanian minority in that country is discriminated, is refused the right to education, church and press in the Romanian language, a fact considered unacceptable in a state which wants to join the European Union.