Reporters Without Borders urge EU to address free press violations in Serbia News
Emilija Knezevic, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Reporters Without Borders urge EU to address free press violations in Serbia

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged the European Union (EU) on Friday to consider Serbia’s freedom of press violations for its EU candidacy process.

Journalists in Serbia are systemically repressed, facing threats, assaults and arbitrary surveillance, RSF argued. Head of RSF’s European Union-Balkans Desk, Pavol Szalai, said, “Serbian outlets are on the brink of suffocation as their security and independence are continuously undermined by those in power”. RSF encouraged the EU Parliament to ensure the European Commission denounces Serbian violations of free press, a condition necessary for EU membership.

Recently, EU-Serbia meetings suggest advancements towards a possible membership of Serbia in the European Union. President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen mentioned that Serbia still needs to adopt several reforms, particularly to “take decisive steps towards media freedom, the fight against corruption and the electoral reform”. EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos also emphasized the need for independent media in Serbia to join the EU. RSF considers the EU has failed to condemn free press violations in Serbia despite these statements.

Serbia is still experiencing mass protests demanding accountability for the Novi Sad railway station roof collapse last November. Serbian authorities continue to target journalists, including by employing Pegasus spyware. RSF also exposed the current 14 cases of independent journalists being physically attacked and the blocking of independent channels like N1. Szalai argued this is a form of political pressure exerted by the Serbian ruling party.

States seeking to join the EU must meet a series of criteria. Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) specifies that any candidate country must respect the values of Article 2, specifically human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Here, freedom of press is considered crucial for EU accession. Moreover, the applicant country must satisfy the Copenhagen Criteria detailing the need for stable institutions and a functioning market economy.

Currently, some other candidate countries to the EU include Albania, Georgia, Türkiye and Ukraine.

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