The third Sub-committee on Justice, Freedom and Security was held in Brussels on 1 and 2 February 2016. The state of play in Serbia and progress achieved in these areas in the previous period were thoroughly reviewed on this meeting. The meeting also provided an opportunity to review the implementation of Serbian action plans required for the opening of accession negotiations on the rule of law chapters, which were adopted in September 2015.

The latest legislative developments, results achieved and activities envisaged for the upcoming were reviewed in the following areas: fight against corruption, police cooperation and the fight against organized crime, post visa liberalization monitoring, migration management, asylum, visa policy, document security, trafficking of human beings, drugs, fight against terrorism, anti-money laundering, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, judiciary and fundamental rights.

The meeting was co-chaired by Aleksandar Nikolic, State Secretary in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia and Christos Makridis, Deputy Head of Serbia Desk, DG NEAR. The representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office, Anti-Corruption Agency, Anti-Corruption Council, Deputy Ombudsman, Security Information Agency, Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, Office of the War crimes Prosecutor, Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Issues, Ministry of Culture and Information, Office for Minority and Human Rights, members of High Judicial Council and High Prosecutorial Council, as well as Judicial Academy Director took the floor during the meeting.