Goran Ilic

European Parliament encourages Balkans' EU integration

Balkan experts predict that the EU accession process will continue unabated.

The European parliament will encourage Balkan countries to strengthen the EU integration process despite opposition by new EU-sceptic parties, experts said.

BELGRADE - Goran Ilic, president of the Prosecutors' Association of Serbia, voiced belief Tuesday that it was necessary to introduce forensic economics in the work of the Serbia’s Public Attorney’s Office so that it could handle the areas of the protection of competition and combat against monopoly.

Serbia's justice system is still influenced by the executive, while many judges and prosecutors believe it does not make decisions independently, a survey by the Nis-based NGO Center for Human Rights shows.

When asked whether they believe that they were independent of parliament, 75 per cent of the prosecutors answered that they were not, as did 17 per cent of the judges.

BELGRADE - Serbia's Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic will take part in a conference on the reform of the criminal code on the mountain of Kopaonik on Thursday.

The Greek visit, taking place within the capacity of Greece’s EU presidency, is not expected to result in a breakthrough in the "name" dispute that has been poisoning relations for decades and blocking Macedonia’s EU and NATO integration.