In the period from November 4 to November 5, 2014, the bilateral screening for the Negotiation Chapter 8 – Competition with the representatives European Commission was held, in Brussels, in the framework of negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union. The Serbian delegation was chaired by Vesna Kovač, State Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, and President of the Negotiating Group on Competition. Tanja Miščević, Head of the Serbian Team for Negotiations on Accession to the European Union, was also present. The representatives of – the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and telecommunications, the Ministry of Finance, the Commission for State Aid Control, the Competition Commission, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Urban Planning, the Ministry of energy, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Protection, the National Bank Serbia, the Accreditation Body of Serbia, the Agency for Export Credit Insurance and the Office for European Integration – also participated in the screening meeting.

At the meeting, issues from two important areas of harmonization of the legal and institutional framework of the Republic of Serbia with EU standards – protection of competition and state aid policy – were discussed in detail.

In this first stage of the screening process for the Chapter 8, the representatives of the Republic of Serbia presented the current situation in the field of competition and state aid, in terms of compliance of national legislation with the EU acquis, in terms of policies on combating abuse of dominant position and restrictive agreements, then control of concentration, as well as rules on State aid, with a special focus on the sectors of energy, environment, postal services, culture, transport, infrastructure and services of general economic interest. Serbia’s progress was assessed positively, particularly in the area of competition policy. The Screening Report, prepared by the European Commission is expected in the next few months, in which it will give a formal assessment in these areas and list the conditions under which the opening of negotiations on this chapter can be expected.