After the democratic changes in autumn 2000, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia applied for membership of the Council of Europe. In its Resolution (2000) 15 on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia of 22 November 2000 the Committee of Ministers accepted the request and invited the Parliamentary Assembly to give its opinion on this application in accordance with Statutory Resolution (51) 30.
Due to the need to redefine the relations between two federal entities, Serbia and Montenegro have signed on 14 March 2002 the agreement which led to the adoption of the Constitutional Char6er in February 2003, constituting the State Union Serbia and Montenegro, as a successor of FRY.
During the accession procedure, the PA thoroughly examined the situation in the country and closely followed developments. An ad hoc committee observed the elections to the national assemblies of Serbia on 23 December 2000 and of Montenegro in April 2001. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) also observed the elections in the municipalities.
Serbia and Montenegro joined the Council of Europe on 3 April 2003. Accession to the Council of Europe followed the adoption of Opinion No. 239 (2002) of the Parliamentary Assembly, as well as an exchange of letters between the Chair of the Committee of Ministers and the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro, which list a number of commitments and obligations accepted by the new member when joining the Organisation - Resolution (2003) 3. The Committee of Ministers decided to set up a specific monitoring procedure, under the authority of its competent Rapporteur Group in the form of regular review of progress achieved and difficulties encountered as well as the implementation of the targeted post-accession co-operation programmes, on the basis of regular reports by the Secretariat.
Following the declaration of independence of the Republic of Montenegro on 3 June 2006, and in accordance with Article 60 of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Committee of Ministers at their 967th meeting adopted a declaration on the continuation of Serbia’s membership of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in the Council of Europe and the continuation of ensuring obligations and commitments.
The first Monitoring report concerning Serbia alone was presented to the Committee of Ministers in December 2006 (SG/Inf (2006) 15). The report and the decisions taken by the CM on this basis – sets up the roadmap for future cooperation between the CoE and Serbia, with the prospect of the forthcoming Serbian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.
In the meantime, the CoE Venice Commission adopted its opinion on the Serbian Constitution at the request of the Parliamentary Assembly.
Facts and figures:
Serbia became the 45th Member State of the Council of Europe on 3 April 2003.
Budget
The Council of Europe’s ordinary budget for 2007 is € 197 214 100.The contribution of Serbia is € 549 438.48 (i.e 0.2786 %).
