Reply to Written question | Doc. 14952 | 18 July 2019

Pressure imposed by the Serbian Progressive Party in the elections for the National Council of Bulgarians in Serbia on 4 November 2018 and forced withdrawal of the list "Unification of the Bulgarians in Serbia"

Author(s): Committee of Ministers

Origin - Adopted at the 1351bis meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (10 July 2019). 2019 - Fourth part-session

Reply to Written question: Written question no. 736 (Doc. 14793)

1. The Committee of Ministers recalls that Serbia is a Party to the key Council of Europe treaties regarding minorities, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

2. The Committee of Ministers, together with the Advisory Committee, is monitoring the implementation of the first of these instruments in Serbia to ensure that its standards are being effectively applied. In this way, it has been able to evaluate the progress made as regards the protection of minorities there, as well as to identify problems and challenges.

3. With the next monitoring exercise in relation to Serbia under the Framework Convention now under way, the Committee of Ministers will continue to evaluate the situation in that country, and in so doing will have regard to all relevant information available to it, including as regards the functioning of the system of representation of national minorities.