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

Clusters 1 and 5 to be put in focus of local self-governments

Belgrade, 1 June 2021

Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic stated today that cluster 1 and cluster 5 in the negotiations with the European Union should be the focus of local self-governments and underlined that in addition to public administration reform, the transition to cohesion policy is important.

At an online conference on the occasion of the European Day for Local Self-Governments, at which the Agreement on Cooperation between the SCTM and the Fund for European Affairs of AP Vojvodina was signed, Joksimovic explained that cluster 5 concerns resources, cohesion and agriculture.

According to her, cluster 1 deals, among other things, with public administration reform, in addition to the general part of the rule of law, statistics, public procurement and financial provisions.

She assessed that, in addition to the public administration reform, cohesion policy and Serbia's preparation for the transition to cohesion policy for EU accession are especially important, and currently for the use of pre-accession funds in the accession process.

When it comes to cohesive policy, Joksimovic emphasised that the Ministry is responsible for the preparation of Chapter 22 within cluster 5, which refers to regional policy and coordination of structural instruments, noting that the action plan has already been sent to the European Commission.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Sem Fabrizi pointed out that one of the key principles of the Union is not to undertake anything and not to work instead of the region and local self-governments, unless that activity would be more effective.

The EU will do nothing unless local or regional levels of government can not do it entirely on their own, he reiterated, adding that the Union provides additional mechanisms and instruments to implement programmes, then helps regions make decisions and strengthens national regional parliaments.

Fabrizi also pointed to the importance of implementing the Green Agenda and underlined that the role of public administration, but also of civil society, is very important in the accession process.