СТАТУС НАЦИОНАЛНИХ И ДРУГИХ МАЊИНА И ПРОЦЕС ЕВРОПСКИХ ИНТЕГРАЦИЈА СРБИЈЕ

Todić Dragoljub (Институт за међународну политику и привреду, Београд), d.todic@diplomacy.bg.ac.rs
Nikolić Marko

The status of national and other minorities and the process of European integration of the Republic of Serbia (RS) are connected in several ways. The paper identifies the following three groups of issues: 1) the status of national and other minorities as a criterion for membership in the European Union (EU), 2) the status of national and other minorities in the legal system of the RS and the assessment of the European Commission (EC) of the situation in this area, and 3) the ability of national and other minorities to participate in activities related to the European integration process of RS, i.e. the process of harmonization of national legislation with the EU law. In addition, the starting assumption is based on the fact that the EU attaches great importance to the issue of the minority status. This is notably important since the issue of the minority status is taken as a criterion for membership in the EU under the “political” conditions and is associated with the development of democratic institutions and the rule of law in a broader sense. Hence, due to various circumstances that allow the creation and preservation of the gap between normative and real, achieving a formally satisfactory minority status does not necessarily imply substantial improvement of their position. The examination of normative capabilities of national and other minorities to directly participate in the activities evolving from the process of European integration, especially in the part relating to the harmonization of national legislation with the EU law, aims to review the conditions for the promotion of national and other minorities and qualitative improvement of the European integration process of RS. The main thesis discussed in the paper is that the high importance devoted to the issue of the status of national and other minorities in the candidate countries for EU membership does not commensurate with the capabilities of national and other minorities to be directly involved in the activities relating to the European integration process, primarily in the activities related to harmonization of the national legislation with the EU law.

Кључне речи: national and other minorities, European Union, European integration, Republic of Serbia, the conditions for membership, progress reports, legislative procedures, harmonization of national legislation with EU law, public participation.