Next EU’s budget is good for Serbia

The head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Serbia, Sam Fabrici, estimated that the next long-term budget proposed by the European Commission will be good for Serbia and the Western Balkans, as more assistance was planned.

„The next long-term budget proposed by the EC is good news for two reasons,“ Fabrici said, adding that the first reason was „a proposal to increase pre-accession aid to 14.5 billion euros, an increase of 20 percent,“ which means more help for Serbia and the Western Balkans.

As a second reason, he stated that the budget would be flexible to accommodate new membership when candidates are ready for admission.

„This was also said in the strategy for the Western Balkans, which was adopted in February,“ Fabrici said, adding that the draft budget „clearly confirms the EC’s commitments to Serbia and the Western Balkans.“

In the proposal for a new multi-annual EU budget for the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), which funds resources for reforms in candidate countries for the EU, the budget is estimated to be 1.2 times higher than in the current budget, or about € 2 billion per year in line with inflation.

For the period 2021-2027. for the IPA, 12.865 billion euros is foreseen according to prices in 2018, or 14.5 billion in line with inflation, according to the published EU budget proposal.