Institutions and Oversight

The courts, prosecutors, and parliament are meant to function as independent checks on executive power. In Serbia, a set of judicial amendments introduced by ruling majority MP Mrdić has undermined both judicial independence and prosecutorial autonomy, drawing sharp criticism from legal experts and international bodies. Parliament, meanwhile, has continued to manipulate procedures, sideline the opposition, and rubber-stamp executive decisions rather than scrutinize them. This section documents how institutional power is exercised - and what it costs when institutions fail to function as genuine checks.

Amendments to Key Judicial Laws: Systemic Changes Without Public Consultation

August

On 17 July 2026 the Government submitted to the National Assembly a draft Law on the Judicial Academy, with accompanying amendments to the Law on Judges and the Law on Public Prosecution. The package makes a certificate of completed Academy training the mandatory precondition for a first appointment as a judge or prosecutor, confirming the Academy as the single entry point into both professions. It entered procedure a day after the Venice Commission's urgent opinion, which found key recommendations implemented but insisted the legislative process remain transparent and inclusive.

On 13 July 2026, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ana Brnabić, announced a public call for candidate applications for a new Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, formally opening the election procedure. The application deadline is 30 days. The incumbent Commissioner, Milan Marinović, has announced that he will run again, although the applicable 2021 law bars re-election. The procedure is expected to conclude in autumn 2026.

July

The National Assembly voted down a motion of no confidence in the government of Đuro Macut, with 40 MPs in favour, 135 against and one abstention. The opposition had filed the motion on 13 February over the Generalštab case, but the debate was held only at the end of July, after months of postponement. The session took place only once the ruling majority requested it and provided the quorum, underlining how far parliament's oversight of the executive depends on the majority it is meant to scrutinise.

Brief

Judicial Academy draft law would make one institution the sole gate to judicial careers

The government's draft law, in parliament since 17 July 2026, would make a certificate from the Judi...

Line illustration of an open institutional doorway with two candidate figures waiting to enter.

Brief

Electing a new Commissioner for Information: a contested second term and an open procedure

On 13 July 2026 the National Assembly announced a public call for the election of a new Commissioner...

Update

No-confidence vote fails after five months of parliamentary delay

The opposition's motion, filed in February over the Generalštab case, was voted down 135 to 40 on 29 July - but only after months of procedural delay by the ruling majority.

Update

Education inspection into University of Belgrade statute change tests the limits of university auton...

Following reports about a proposed change to the rector-election rule, the Ministry of Education announced an extraordinary inspection - raising the question of where oversight ends and university autonomy begins.

Update

Interpol refuses Serbia’s arrest warrants for exiled Novi Sad activists, citing political case

Interpol will not issue international warrants against six students and activists in exile, assessing the case as political - a decision that places Serbia's prosecution in a markedly different context.

Update

The 2026 EU Rule of Law report on Serbia: reform on paper, not in practice

The report finds too little real progress to advance - against the backdrop of Serbia's stalled path to the EU

Update

Military analyst charged over sound cannon claims, sought after leaving Serbia

Aleksandar Radić, who first claimed a sound cannon was used on protesters, is charged with endangering the constitutional order and leaking secrets; prosecutors want him detained and sought internationally.

Update

A sitting minister invokes “ethnic cleansing” – and keeps her job

Snežana Paunović said she would have "ethnically cleansed" Kosovo in 1998. A week of condemnation from the EU, Kosovo, the opposition and civil society later, she is still a minister in Serbia's government.

Update

EU declines to open Cluster 3 with Serbia

Member states withheld the cluster despite a Commission note crediting Belgrade with "recent progress" - much of it the authorities undoing damage they themselves recently caused.

CRTA.Plus is part of CRTA’s work to document developments related to democracy, the rule of law, and accountability in Serbia.

Key Issues

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Other pages

Slučajevi

Institutions and Oversight

The Government sends parliament a draft Law on the Judicial Academy making completed Academy training the sole gateway to judicial and prosecutorial office.

The National Assembly announced a public call for the election of a new Commissioner for Information of Public Importance.

The National Assembly rejected the opposition’s no-confidence motion in the government, five months after it was filed.

Judicial Academy draft law would make one institution the sole gate to judicial careers

Electing a new Commissioner for Information: a contested second term and an open procedure

No-confidence vote fails after five months of parliamentary delay

Education inspection into University of Belgrade statute change tests the limits of university auton...

Interpol refuses Serbia’s arrest warrants for exiled Novi Sad activists, citing political case

The 2026 EU Rule of Law report on Serbia: reform on paper, not in practice

Military analyst charged over sound cannon claims, sought after leaving Serbia

A sitting minister invokes “ethnic cleansing” – and keeps her job

EU declines to open Cluster 3 with Serbia