Serbian authorities and EU representatives met in Belgrade to discuss the implementation of programmes under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA).
The meeting was co-chaired by Ksenija Milenkovic, Acting Director of the Government`s European Integration Office and Michael Davenport, Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Serbia.
The members of both Committees underlined the importance of national sector policies and strategies as foundation for the implementation of EU projects and programmes, and linking these to budget planning and implementation.
The Committees welcomed progress made in the preparation of strategically relevant and mature projects, in particular through the establishment of a single project pipeline for large investment projects.
The Committees discussed two main challenges: (a) ensuring a sufficient capacity of the Serbian institutions in charge of programme and project management (b) overcoming bottlenecks related to municipal infrastructure projects in the environment sector. Michael Davenport underlined the importance of taking decisive actions to overcome these challenges in order to ensure the effective future use of the funds provided by the EU.
Meeting participants were also briefed on the timely and efficient mobilisation of EU assistance to assist Serbia in its efforts related to the flood recovery and the transit of migrants and refugees.
IPA is the main financial instrument of the EU to assist Serbia in its preparation for EU accession. Serbia is expected to receive an indicative amount of €1,5 billion in the period 2014 to 2020 under IPA. The EU is by far the biggest donor to Serbia with more than €3 billion of grants provided for Serbia`s development over the past 15 years,
The IPA Monitoring Committee meets once, and the TAIB Committee meets twice a year to monitor the implementation of the financial assistance and the implementation of projects financed by the IPA in the Republic of Serbia.
