The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue convened the first meeting of the Special Working Group to draft an Action Plan for the Exercise of the Rights of National Minorities on 20 December 2021.

In its opening speech, Nadia Cuk, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade noted that the state authorities have shown a visible willingness to contribute to the improvement of the position of persons belonging to national minorities and their active involvement in public policies. She also emphasised the necessity to increase knowledge and data on the position of persons belonging to national minorities, thus make the activities in the new Action Plan more specific and measurable.

Minister Gordana Comic reiterated that the new Action Plan will take into consideration the latest European Commission Report on Serbia, 4th Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities, as well as Ex post Analysis of the implementation of the Action Plan on national minorities prepared by the Council of Europe.

Dirk Lorenz, Head of the Political Section at the EU Delegation to Serbia congratulated the Serbian authorities for its dedication in addressing the issues pertinent to the national minorities in Serbia, whereby pointing out that additional efforts will be needed to ensure full exercise and enjoyment of their rights, which is of immense importance for the EU accession negotiations of Serbia.

Borce Velickovski, Chairperson of the Co-ordination of the National Councils of National Minorities noted the progress done thus far and called upon the members of the Working Group to work closely together in achieving the common goals.

The process of preparing the Draft Action Plan for Exercising the Rights of National Minorities is supported through the action "Promotion of diversity and equality in Serbia", which is part of the joint European Union / Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022".