January 14, 2009 – Pontis Foundation has completed an 11-month project, To Strengthen Serbian Regions. The project was implemented in co-operation with partner organization Citizen‘s Pact for South and East Europe from Serbia.
The overall objective of the project was to transfer Slovak experience from the transition and integration process to the EU. The project was focused on two Serbian regions - Backi Petrovac and Nis.
As part of the project, we organized two roundtables and co-organized a conference in Belgrade with Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence.
The first roundtable was focused on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises with Slovak experience from the integration process to EU. Pontis invited representatives from small and medium enterprises, and representatives from non-governmental organizations and public administration to learn about connections between them and EU integration. The event also featured discussion of using IPA funds in the upcoming period.
The second roundtable organized in Nis was focused to prospects for young people in Serbia. Participants included representatives from youth organizations, the town hall, companies, and the University of Nis . Policy notes from the roundtable were published with recommendations on how to improve the situation of young people in Serbia. The policy notes were distributed to all deans of faculties at Nis University and to all relevant representatives from government institutions in Belgrade and Brussels.
In addition to the roundtables, we hosted former Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Eduard Kukan at a conference devoted to Serbian EU integration process.
Project recommendations:
◊ In Serbian regions, many activities focus on raising awareness about the EU. However, these regions lack concrete experience as young EU member states. examples of such experiences were presented at the first roundtable, which addressed the development of small and medium enterprises and agriculture. These topics are mostly relevant for the northern part of Serbia -- the autonomous province of Vojvodina.
◊ It is crucially important for Serbians to travel to EU member states, not just to hear about them. Therefore it is important to provide opportunities for Serbians to meet with representatives of institutions that represent and make up the EU to all stakeholders who will be involved in using pre-accession assistance from EU.
◊ Slovak experience from the EU transition and integration process is still very relevant for Serbia. Serbians often say that Slovakia is seen as the model for EU accession.
◊ The Serbian government should prepare a law for decentralization. Slovakia and other donor countries should actively support the process of decentralization in Serbia.
◊ The 65% of acquis communautaire will be administered by public administration, which is neither prepared institutionally nor transparent. Providing assistance and know-how in building the capacities that are needed for harmonizing legislation with the EU, using pre-accession assistance from the EU, and supporting the effectiveness of management in public administration and the non-governmental sector should be some of the priorities of foreign donors in Serbia.
The project was supported by the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia. The main media partner in Serbia was B92.
Financial support:
Partners:
Media partner:
print version
recommend page
sitemap
notification