Rule of law in Serbia and requalification of cases under Article 234

21.7.2015

Question for written answer E-011800-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Eduard Kukan (PPE)

The Commission’s screening report on Serbia for Chapter 23 of the accession negotiations recommends a review of the economic crime section of the Serbian criminal code with a view to providing credible alternatives to the offence of abuse of office, with particular reference to the code’s Article 234.

The Serbian Ministry of Justice has been in the process of proposing draft amendments to the code. These include a new Article 229 which is almost identical in wording to the existing Article 234, including confirmation of its catch-all nature.

Given the history of problematic re-qualifications at the time of the shift from Article 359 to Article 234, it would be of concern if a similar process were to occur with the recently proposed replacement of articles of the criminal code.

1. What action does the Commission propose to prevent possible ambiguity with a new requalification of cases from the existing Article 234 to its replacement?

2. Is the Commission monitoring the review of ongoing cases of requalification from Article 359 to Article 234, to ensure that long-standing unjust prosecutions are dropped immediately?