EU decided to set aside additional funds from IPA for financial support to budget of Serbia

(Božidar Đelić)

European Union has decided to set aside funds for financial support to the budget of Serbia from IPA programme for preparation of the Balkan countries for membership in EU, as well as from Union’s funds for macrofinancial aid.

That was announced today (March 25, 2009) in Brussels by Božidar Đelić, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, who said he had learned that information from Hoakin Almuni, the European Commissar for Finance.

Đelić explained that EU had agreed for the first time to make it possible for Serbia to receive temporary budget support from European funds.

Part of preadmission programme IPA has been changed for that purpose, and the agreement on provision of macrofinancial support to the Government of Serbia has been reached.

The exact amount of financial support for covering the anticipated deficit in Serbian budget, which is one of the results of the global economic crisis, will be determined later.

It has been announced that the mission of the Directorate General for Economy and Finance of European Commission will come to Belgrade in April to talk with the representatives of the Government of Serbia about all the details of the framework of that support and the amount of aid.

European Enlargement Commissar Oli Rehn and Serbian officials announced earlier that 120m EUR could be granted from IPA programme, while even larger amount was mentioned in the context of EU’s macrofinancial support to the needs of the Government of Serbia.

Vlada Republike Srbije

IPA

Božidar Đelić

Hoakin Almunija

Directorate General for Economy and Finance of European Commission

Oli Rehn