Source: Blic
Advancing towards European integration and becoming actively involved in it “requires prior harmonization of the normative system and building of necessary administrative capacities”. This phrase, which appears particularly often in the context of our country's Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, does have a bureaucratic air to it, but it nevertheless conveys a notorious truth. Countries which, like Serbia, aspire to EU membership must harmonize their legislation with the European legal standards and at the same time empower the existing government bodies and establish completely new ones capable of applying these standards in reality.Neither of the above is easy - far from it. It is therefore all the more satisfying to occasionally hear a European official saying that our “strong administrative capacities” are a serious advantage in our EU accession efforts. And yet, as satisfying as they may sound, remarks like these should not be taken unreservedly and uncritically. A full evaluation must include certain facts that are less widely known. One such fact is that, out of 17 independent and regulatory bodies established in Serbia in recent years exactly to enforce European standards, eight lack electronic presentations, while five do not even have a regular address. Now, how does this appear in the context of European standards? The answer, I believe, is clear to everyone. It is equally clear that “administrative capacities” and European standards are not a matter of meaning well, but depend on real conditions and actual action. Rodoljub `abi, Commissioner for Information
