Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Working group for preparation of application for EU Solidarity Fund set up

Belgrade, 1 May 2020

By a decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, on the proposal of Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic, a special Working group has been set up to prepare an application for the European Union Solidarity Fund to support public expenditures incurred during response to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.

The task of the Working group will be to make, in accordance with EU deadlines and rules, a comprehensive application that will enable covering some of the funds allocated by Serbia in the previous months in response to the emergency situation caused by the epidemic.

Following the outbreak of the health crisis, the European Commission has decided to support Member States by extending the Solidarity Fund to public health crises beyond its previous purpose to support recovery from natural disasters.

Another significant change is solidarity with the candidate countries that will be allowed to use these funds, initially intended only for the Member States.

Following these decisions of the European Commission, Minister Joksimovic announced that our country will apply for financial help of this fund for the purpose of unburdening the budget of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the urgent mobilisation of the state institutions in order to prepare the application.

Taking into account the complexity of the whole process, the formation of the Working group will enable the compilation of an accurate list of all Serbia's expenses incurred in order to prevent the spread of the crisis, as well as other elements of the application.

After receiving all applications, the decision on the amount of support for each country will be taken by the European Parliament and the Council on the recommendation of the European Commission.

The Republic of Serbia has already used the funds of the European Union Solidarity Fund in 2014 for repairing the damage caused by floods, and on that occasion, it received €60.2 million.