Brankica Jankovic

The mayor of the Serbian capital Belgrade has been criticised by the country's equality commissioner for saying Roma need to "make a decision about whether they want to live in a way today that follows the standards of the civilized world" - and adding that the city's Roma get by on stealing and harassing citizens.

After two attacks in late February in Serbia's capital Belgrade on LGBT members, LGBT and human rights organizations have called a protest, also demanding a meeting with Police Minister Bratislav Gasic.

Although refugees arriving here from the Middle East "above all" want to go to Western Europe - "in the next phase, they should be offered to stay in Serbia."

This is what Serbia's Equality Commissioner Brankica Jankovic suggested during an interview with B92 TV on Tuesday afternoon.

Equality Commissioner Brankica Jankovic visited Serbia's reception centre for migrants in the southern town of Presevo on Monday and said that refugees there had assured her that they were being not discriminated against in any way.

A new report by the NGO coalition PrEUgovor says Serbia has made little progress in addressing the issues in Chapters 23 and 24, which are the most important chapters in Serbia's accession negotiations with the EU.

The only real progress was observed in terms of normalization of relations between Serbia and the former province of Kosovo.