Call for Local Governments to Compete for Projects Financed from IPA Funds

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integrations, Bozidar Djeli,c sent yesterday (July, 7th, 2010) an invitation to all local governments to compete for projects financed from the IPA funds, as it was announced on the website of the Government of Serbia.

At the meeting of the Committee of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) for European Integrations and International Cooperation, Djelic said that the European Union will in the future provide greater support to Serbia at the local level.

He pointed out that the successful implementation of projects that are currently opened, with regard to strengthening the capacities of local governments, would be the argument for seeking additional funds for those governments.

Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that local governments are not using enough the means from the pre-accession funds, and he also said that there were few projects that would be funded from those sources.

Djelic stressed that both central and local authorities in Serbia should preserve the energy and commitment to further European integrations, whereby it is necessary to become more involved in implementing this goal.

He pointed out that the IPA funds for the 2011 will have allocated 18.5 million USD for implementation of the projects that are ready and for realization of the projects that are in preparation.

According to him, since 2007., ie in the first part of the application of seven-years financial agreement, the European Union has allocated at the local level in Serbia 135 million EUR.
Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that the greatest successes in the first two years of the mandate of the Government of Serbia were visa liberalization and ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).

He recalled that the Agreement on Stabilization and Association had been ratified so far by Spain and Malta, and he expressed his expectation that during the summer, the same would be done by other EU member states.

Djelic indicated that the primary objective in the coming period was going to be the regrowth of living standards, with assessment that the results could have been better, but that was influenced by the economic crisis, which had an effect on Serbia.

SCTM President, Djordje Stancic, announced that this Organization would work in the future, with the help of the Serbian government, on improving the capacity of local government bodies in communication with the EU, and as a concrete example of implementation of the project, he named realization of the project of introducing EU officials in five municipalities in Serbia.

Stancic added that it was necessary to work on explaining that citizens and local government, what were the changes and effort required upon joining the EU.