Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret signed today an Agreement on additional EU support for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic worth €10 million.
Additional €10m from EU for economic recovery of 99 municipalities
Joksimovic stated that this support will be implemented through the EU programme for local development – EU PRO Plus, and the mentioned funds are intended to continue strengthening the resilience of 99 most underdeveloped local governments to the consequences caused by the pandemic.
She called on local governments, regional development agencies and the non-governmental sector to prepare projects and use those funds in order to strengthen small and medium enterprises, new employment of hard-to-employ and vulnerable groups, solve environmental problems and promote gender equality and investment.
Giaufret said that the EU remains Serbia's partner in the process of European integration, and that the Intergovernmental Conference will confirm Serbia's progress in that process.
He pointed out that an additional €10 million will enable work on important issues at the local level that needs additional support, emphasizing that the Serbian economy reacted well in the challenging circumstances of the pandemic, but that municipalities should be helped to face the challenges ahead.
According to him, the addition of €10 million to the original budget of the €30 million programme is an excellent example of the agility of the European Commission and the strong partnership between the EU Delegation and the Ministry of European Integration.