Chapter 27 in Serbia: Still under Construction

2017 marks the fourth year in the process of negotiations on the Republic of Serbia’s accession to the European Union. However, Chapter 27, the largest of the 35 negotiation Chapters in terms of legislation, is yet to be opened.

Protecting the environment and mitigating and adapting to climate change are critical challenges. The package of EU legislation included in Chapter 27 offers Serbia a comprehensive roadmap to achieve the highest levels of environmental protection and response to climate change. However, the size and the long term goals of the environmental and climate acquis demand the Government’s full commitment. For the process to be a success, politicians must move Environment and Climate Change up their list of priorities. Strong determination will be necessary to address decades of accumulated environmental challenges and the immediate and future challenges posed by climate change.

This is the third annual report published by Coalition 27. The report was jointly prepared by eleven members of Coalition 27: Belgrade Open School, Bird Study and Protection Society of Serbia, Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development, Climate Action Network Europe, Environment Improvement Centre, GM Optimist, NGO Fractal, One Degree Serbia, Young Researchers of Serbia, World Organization for Nature (WWF) and Safer Chemicals Alternative. The report was prepared with the valuable support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation office for Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo and in cooperation with the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), which provided comments and opinion regarding air quality.

The report follows the thematic framework set out in the European Commission 2016 Report on Serbia. In each thematic section we address policy and legislative developments, implementation and financing, and offer our recommendations on how to improve the process. The report contains two annexes: (1) A comparative table of recommendations from the 2015 report and this year’s report, and (2) an explanation of the methodologies and list of the authors (organisations) of each section.