The Serbian Government is excluding citizens from decision-making under the pretext of European integration
The Regional Academy for Democratic Development warns that the amendments to the regulations governing the drafting of legislation and public policy documents represent a step backwards in terms of institutional transparency, the quality of decision-making, and democratic oversight of the European integration process.
Through amendments to two regulations, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has opened the possibility for legislation and public policy documents adopted in connection with the European Union accession process to be exempted from regular procedures that include assessing their consequences and involving the interested public. In this way, European integration, instead of serving as a space for stronger standards of civic participation and inclusion, is being turned into a mechanism for bypassing public debate and fully excluding citizens.
Serbia’s European path cannot be reduced to the technical transposition of rules, nor must it become an administrative cover for the accelerated adoption of legislation without public scrutiny. On the contrary, the European Union accession process should be a space for strengthening institutions, the rule of law, government accountability, and citizens’ trust in public policies. Any reduction of public insight into this process directly weakens its reform purpose.
Regulatory impact assessment is not a bureaucratic formality, but a way to understand in advance how a proposed solution will affect citizens, the economy, local communities, vulnerable groups, and the functioning of institutions. Public consultations are not an obstacle to decision-making, but a fundamental democratic mechanism that enables laws and policies to be of higher quality, more applicable, and more legitimate.
The Regional Academy for Democratic Development particularly emphasises the danger of treating the area of European integration, which covers a large number of reforms and legislative changes, as a possible exception from the rules that apply to other public policies. This creates the risk that the most important decisions for the country’s future will be made within a narrow circle of selected actors, without the meaningful contribution of the expert public, civil society, the academic community, trade unions, the business community, and the citizens to whom these decisions will apply.
Serbia does not move closer to the European Union by narrowing the space for public participation, but by strengthening democratic procedures, institutional accountability, and citizens’ involvement in decision-making. We therefore call on the Government of the Republic of Serbia to reconsider these measures and ensure that all legislation and public policies, including those related to European integration, are subject to serious analysis, open consultations, and publicly available explanations.
European integration must not serve as a cover for closing decision-making processes. It must be a path towards more open, more accountable, and more democratic institutions, with the full participation of the interested public in the adoption of all decisions and policies.
