Anti-Corruption Agency needs resources, says EC

BELGRADE - Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency Tatjana Babic said Thursday that it is very important that the European Commission's latest progress report on Serbia underlines the need to provide the Agency with adequate tools, capacities and resources, and to follow up its recommendations.

The EC noted that Serbia has made significant progress in the EU integration process over the past year and pointed to the strong political impetus to fight corruption, adding that the country further implemented the recommendations of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Babic told Tanjug.

On the other hand, the political impetus to fight corruption is yet to be put into efforts to implement the anti-corruption strategy and action plan, she pointed out.

The report stresses that the number of final verdicts remains low, "especially for high-level corruption," and that "repeated leaks to the media about ongoing investigations, in breach of the presumption of innocence, are an issue of serious concern," added Babic.

"The positive assessment of the European Commission regarding the risk analysis of draft legislation and the verification of property and revenues of public officials is very important for us," said Babic.

The report indicates that the EC closely monitors not only the adoption, amendments and supplements to the anti-corruption laws and their implementation, but also the attitude of executive and legislative authorities to independent state bodies and their recommendations.

"The cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the Agency, related, among others, to the proposal for a new law on the Agency, which was submitted to the Ministry in July this year, will be one of the indicators of...