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Serbia to get €190m from IPA funds in 2009

Belgrade, 11 January 2009

Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic today stated that this year Serbia can expect EU financial assistance of €190 million from IPA pre-accession funds and at least €400 million of macro financial assistance, in the form of a favourable long-term loan.

File photo of Bozidar Djelic

Author: Tanjug

In an interview for the Beta news agency, Djelic explained that the €400 million loan will be used only if budget and privatisation revenues are smaller than projected.

Apart from that, I also expect that, together with my colleagues from countries in the region, we will try to ensure that a portion of the €200 billion, which the EU has earmarked for stimulating the economic activities of its member countries, be allocated to Western Balkan countries, he explained.

According to him, there will be more challenges this year and it is very important that all institutions function normally, especially the Serbian parliament, so that they can work for the interest of Serbian citizens.

He reiterated that Serbia will not agree to any blackmail concerning Kosovo-Metohija for the sake of EU integration.

Belgrade has not been blackmailed in any such way yet. An institutional solution will have to be found when Serbia enters the EU but until then the situation in the field and all our efforts will show that a continuation of talks is necessary for the sake of a historic compromise between Belgrade and Pristina, stressed the Deputy Prime Minister.

He added that the issue of unfreezing the Transitional Trade Agreement still remains and that Serbia has been proving its full cooperation with the Hague tribunal on a daily basis.

We hope that these elements will help alter the adamant Dutch stance, so that Serbia can apply for candidate status by April at the latest, said Djelic.

He stressed that the arrest and extradition of Ratko Mladic to the tribunal is not a condition that will simply disappear, but added that it is up to Serbia to show its full cooperation with this court and the best way to do that is to arrest the two remaining Hague indictees, Mladic and Goran Hadzic.

We have considerable evidence that Serbia is cooperating with the tribunal, added Djelic, stressing that it is Serbia’s obligation to maintain its strategic direction of EU accession since that is in its best interest.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the EU enlargement process has become more difficult due to the global crisis and Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, but it has not stopped and certain steps aimed at integrating Serbia and the Western Balkans still remain.

Djelic said that as for the visa liberalisation process, the European Commission will present its first conclusions about Serbia in May at the latest.

We expect that all Western Balkan countries will receive additional suggestions, which we can work on during the summer and members of the Schengen zone may make a concrete decision around the end of the year. Our goal is to make that decision a positive one, stressed the Deputy Prime Minister.