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having regard to its previous resolutions on Serbia,

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having regard to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the European Communities and their Member States of the one part, and the Republic of Serbia, of the other part (1), which entered into force on 1 September 2013, and its candidate status,

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having regard to the Commission’s ‘Serbia 2021 Report’ of 19 October 2021 (SWD(2021)0288),

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having regard to the conventions of the International Labour Organization,

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having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),

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having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,

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having regard to Rule 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas Serbia must be judged, as is any country aspiring to become a Member State of the EU, on its own merits in terms of the fulfilment and implementation of and compliance with the criteria and common values required for accession;

B.

whereas democracy, human rights and the rule of law are fundamental values on which the EU is founded and are at the heart of the enlargement, stabilisation and association processes; whereas sustainable reforms are needed to tackle the significant challenges that remain in these areas;

C.

whereas Serbia needs to develop an irreversible track record in adhering to, upholding and defending the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights;

D.

whereas freedom of expression and the independence of the media remain serious concerns which need to be addressed as a matter of priority;

E.

whereas Serbia is increasing the number of contracts it has with major Chinese industrialists and granting China more and more legal privileges, even when these are contrary to EU law; whereas the agreement between Belgrade and Beijing on the employment of foreigners allows Chinese labour law to be applied in Serbia; whereas in March 2021, there were press reports of mistreatment of employees of the Chinese company Zijin Mining, which took over a copper mine in eastern Serbia in 2018, while they were deprived of their passports and housed in precarious conditions;

F.

whereas there have been serious allegations against the Chinese tyre production company Linglong Tire in Zrenjanin, northern Serbia, regarding the working conditions of 500 workers from Vietnam; whereas these allegations include violations of human rights, human trafficking and conditions that could endanger human health and lives; whereas the workers’ passports were confiscated; whereas the contracts of the employees in the Linglong Tire factory include irregularities which indicate that labour exploitation has taken place in relation to salaries, leave and working hours, contrary to the applicable regulations of the Serbia Labour Law;

G.

whereas widespread environmental protests have recently been reported across Serbia against the backdrop of the rushed adoption of two laws, the Law on Referendums and People’s Initiative and the Law on Land Expropriation; whereas the latter law is seen as opening space for controversial foreign investment projects, such as the Rio Tinto mine, with a heavy impact on the environment; whereas the citizens of Serbia exercised their fundamental human right to peaceful assembly; whereas strong allegations have stressed that police forces violated their obligation to protect the lives, rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as the protection of the rule of law; whereas the police used a serious amount of force and arrested several protesters; whereas protesters were attacked by unidentified armed groups, hooligans and bulldozers;

H.

whereas the Serbian Government made a decision to withdraw the Law on Land Expropriation from the parliamentary procedure after the president returned it for reconsideration; whereas the government will analyse the law and introduce changes after a broad public debate; whereas on 10 December 2021, the national assembly adopted amendments to the Law on Referendums and People’s Initiative referring to the certification of signatures and the abolition of the fee for verifying signatures;

I.

whereas both the Linglong Tire factory and the environmental protests involve allegations of intimidation and physical attacks against media workers, activists, civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs);

J.

whereas cluster 4 in the accession negotiations with Serbia was opened on 14 December 2021 at an intergovernmental conference;

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