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

Serbia to receive €1 billion from EU pre-accession fund from 2007 to 2011

Belgrade, 29 November 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic and Director for Western Balkans in the European Commission's Enlargement Directorate General Pierre Mirel signed the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) from the EU in the amount of €1 billion to be released to Serbia from 2007 to 2011.

These funds will be used for institutions building, socio-economic development, quicker European integration and cooperation with the neighbouring countries.

Djelic said at a press conference held after the signing of the agreement that is the largest assistance which Serbia has ever received and that, after initialling the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), this is a clear sign that Serbia's reality is the European Union.

He said that this assistance is not conditioned by any political prerequisites and that it has nothing to do with negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, but that the EU granted assistance to Serbia because that is in its interest.

Mirel said that the EU wants to help Serbia in its accession process and added that the Union is not helping Serbia because it is generous, but because it has interest in doing so.

He said that signing of this agreement is the third step Serbia has made recently in getting closer to the EU, recalling that the previous two were the initialling of SAA and signing of the Agreement on visa relaxations.