EU gives more than EUR 300 m for agriculture and environment in Serbia

(Photo: I.Vukša)

By 2020, Serbia will get EUR 160 m from EU pre-accession funds for environment and EUR 175 m for agriculture development, it was said today at the meeting of local self-governance on the role of reaching European standards in these areas.

At 42nd assembly of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), a coordinator of the EU Integration Office, Sanja Knezevic Mitrovic, said that out of some EUR 1,4 billion, which Serbia has at its disposal within the next IPA cycle, EUR 160 m will be set aside for environment, EUR 85 m by 2018 and the rest by 2020.

State secretary at the Ministry of agriculture and environmental protection, Danilo Golubovic, confirmed at the meeting the program for usage of EUR 175 m for agriculture from IPARD2 pre-accession funds planned for Serbia by 2020.

The state secretary at the Ministry of agriculture and environmental protection, Stana Bozovic, reminded that by 2018, Serbia is obliged to transfer EU legislation in environment field and said that for reaching standards in that field main challenges refer to funding and insufficient expert capacities, especially at the local level.