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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia will continue with reforms, development in all areas

Belgrade, 25 October 2022

Candidate for the position of Prime Minister of the new government of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabic stated today that the work in all areas needs to be continued so that Serbia could keep on getting stronger and stronger, keep on winning and so that the quality of life could continue to improve, regardless of all problems, challenges and adversities that our country is facing.

In her address to Members of the Serbian parliament, at a special session whose agenda includes the election of the new government and the swearing-in of the Prime Minister and members of the new government, Brnabic recalled all the challenges faced by the previous government, stressing that, despite everything, all the goals set back then were met.

The next government will surely face much bigger and more demanding challenges than anything we could have imagined two years ago, she assessed.

According to her, since 24 February of this year, when the war in Ukraine began, everything in the world, and especially on European soil, has changed. Almost the only foreign policy topic is Ukraine and the relationship with the Russian Federation. The two exclusive economic topics became energy and inflation.

In the political sense, as she stated, it seems more and more that emotions have overcome reason, and that the biggest scramble in the future will be the scramble for energy and food.

This is why no one will be surprised that our absolute priority in the mandate of the new government will be energy, that is, the new energy policy of Serbia.

In the energy sector, after decades of stagnation, we have already begun to change things in order to be able to count on new energy production facilities next year. We are finishing the construction of block B3 of the Kostolac B thermal power plant, which means an additional 350 MW for our energy system. We are completing the construction of a gas interconnection to Bulgaria which will provide us with an alternative route for gas inflow and connect us to the liquefied natural gas terminals in Greece. We are continuing with the construction of the Buk-Bijela hydroelectric power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the Electric Power Industry of Republika Srpska, which will mean an additional capacity of up to 115 MW for our power system, Brnabic underlined.

We will have to start building the pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations Bistrica and Djerdap 3, in order to provide balancing for several thousand megawatts from renewable energy sources in the future, as well as to work on the construction of oil pipelines, in order to diversify the source and supply routes, Brnabic said.

All in all, as she pointed out, we will invest about €12 billion in the new energy policy of the Republic of Serbia in the coming years as part of the "Serbia 2025" development plan.

According to her, we should keep in mind that climate change will be more and more drastic and that its consequences will be greater, and we must get prepared for that. This is a particularly sensitive issue for our agriculture, but also an issue that will influence the formation of Serbia's new energy policy.

The question is how, in such difficult circumstances, we can continue with capital investments in road and railway infrastructure, increase investments in energy infrastructure, and maintain the trend of continuous growth of salaries and pensions, while doing all this in a fiscally responsible manner, keeping the public debt below 60 percent of our GDP and gradually reducing the budget deficit, explained Brnabic.

She pointed out that the only answer is - by further increasing our competitiveness and the productivity of our economy, with the assessment that we have room for additional growth in both areas.

That growth, above all, should be the result of additional improvement of our education system, greater investment in science and innovation, and the use of modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). That is why the implementation of one of the most ambitious projects under the mandate of the future government - BIO4 Campus - is so important to us. We have achieved a lot with digitalisation, but now we have to go further, and further means biotechnology, the Candidate for the position of Prime Minister of the new government said.

We need to continue being one of the most advanced countries on the European continent in terms of quality and innovation in our school curriculum, she underlined and reiterated that we must invest more in science as investing in science means innovation and increased competitiveness.

In 2019 we established the Science Fund and started to employ young scientists and PhD students and today we are reaping the benefits of it.

We are starting with the reconstruction and construction of the “Lozionica” facilities in Belgrade, as part of a project of establishing a creative multifunctional centre.

When we opened the Genome Sequencing Centre at the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering and completed the Conceptual Project, we made the first concrete steps towards establishing and building BIO4 Campus, she pointed out and confirmed that this remains to be one our most important tasks for further growth and development.

The government must continue with its work on the implementation of the “Serbia 2025” project too.

Our plan is to complete five motorways and expressways within the next year, including: a section of the Moravian Corridor to Krusevac, the Surcin-Novi Beograd section on the Milos the Great motorway, the ring road around Belgrade to Bubanj Potok, the Valjevo-Lajkovac expressway and the motorway from Ruma to Sabac, Brnabic specified.

She estimated that all of the above is a way to reach the set goal that by 2026, the average salary in Serbia will be €1,000, and the average pension will be €500.

In order to achieve this, the prerequisite is that we do everything to preserve peace and stability in these areas, she said.

That is why, as she pointed out, regardless of all the problems and many disagreements about important issues, we will continue to work on the European integration of Serbia.

Serbia will continue its European path, because Serbia belongs to the family of European nations and countries. More than 65 percent of foreign investments in Serbia are investments from EU member states. Over 70 percent of our exports go to the EU. With the support of the EU, we are building many infrastructure projects and implementing public investments in schools, hospitals and gerontological centres, she reminded.

We have heard for a long time that the most important thing for our integrations is to make significant progress in the area of the rule of law. Today, we clearly understand the messages from the EU that further progress depends on two questions: (1) whether we will align our policy with the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, or in other words, whether we will impose sanctions on Russia; (2) how quickly and in what way it is possible to reach a final agreement on normalisation with Pristina - which in itself is quite cynical because even today, almost 10 years after the signing of the Brussels Agreement, the implementation of which is guaranteed by the EU, Pristina has not implemented the very core of that agreement – Community of Serb Municipalities.

In any case, it is in the interest of our country and our people that we continue with reforms on the European path, first of all because these reforms are good for us, because they strengthen our economy, because they make our public administration more efficient and transparent, and because the rule of law is important to us. We are building a European Serbia, and membership itself certainly does not depend only on us, Brnabic said.

Serbia will also continue to invest in its friendships and partnerships with other countries, she pointed out and reiterated that we demand that the principles of international law be respected indiscriminately, as well as the UN Charter, and that all Security Council resolutions be consistently respected and applied.

We remain a country that has a firm and unwavering stance on these issues.

And all the ministers in the government of the Republic of Serbia must respect that, and defend this position of our country at every step and in every situation.

Our red lines are quite clear. The following are sacred to us:

interest of the Republic of Serbia,
full independence of Serbia in deciding on all issues of internal and external policy, in accordance with its own national interests and the principles of international law, and
preservation of vital interests and security of our people in Kosovo and Metohija.

We will make maximum efforts to preserve the peace, and we will do our best to continue to build a better connected, economically open, stable and prosperous region. We will continue to work on the Open Balkans initiative and we hope that Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina will soon join us. The initiative is also open to Pristina, as it will ensure a dialogue on the most important topics for the quality of life of all people in these areas, and therefore the safety of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

Brnabic emphasised that we remain committed to the dialogue with Pristina, but that before any agreements on further normalisation agreements, the First Normalisation Agreement, the Brussels Agreement, must be fully implemented.

She reiterated that we will continue the fight for our territorial integrity and that the government of the Republic of Serbia will continue to help and support our people in the countries of the region, while we will work even harder to return our people from abroad.

That is why I expect the ministers to do their best, to dedicate themselves fully to their work, which they should understand as the greatest duty to their country and their people. I expect them to show, at every moment, every day, due respect for all citizens of the Republic of Serbia, in whose interest, and for whose interest we should work exclusively.

Dear Members of Parliament, the team that should carry out this includes:

1. First Deputy Prime Minister responsible for foreign policy and security and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic

2. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali

3. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Milos Vucevic

4. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Maja Gojkovic

5. Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade Tomislav Momirovic

6. Minister of Economy Rade Basta

7. Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Jelena Tanaskovic

8. Minister for Environmental Protection Irena Vujovic

9. Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic

10. Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic

11. Minister of Justice Maja Popovic