Commissaris Hübner in Servië: Commissie voor Europese toekomst van Servië (en)

Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, starts a two-day visit to Belgrade today. She will meet Serbian President Boris Tadic, Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic, and Minister of Finance Mirko Cvetkovic. She will discuss prospects for further cooperation with the EU through the new Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), which will help to enhance Serbia’s European perspective.

Speaking in advance of her visit, Commissioner Hübner i said: "Serbia is central for regional stability and good neighbourly relations in the Balkans. Serbia has the potential to be the engine of the region and the EU is ready to accelerate its EU course“ including candidate country status. But for this Serbia needs to reaffirm its European choice and meet the conditions. The EU can set the road sign, but it is up to Serbia to decide the direction."

In Belgrade today, Commissioner Hübner will hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister Djelic and Minister Cvetkovic. She will follow up discussions which took place when Mr Djelic came to Brussels in November 2007 on perspectives for co-operation in Regional Development, and on the importance of having well-informed, high- quality administration at national, regional and local levels. She will then meet the Standing Committee of Serbian Towns and Municipalities, many of whose members are active in co-operation programmes.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Hübner will travel to Kragujevac. There she will issue a joint statement on the development of regional policy and territorial co-operation with Deputy Prime Minister Djelic and will hand over to the deputy PM the financing agreement for the participation of Serbia in the EU-funded transnational cooperation programme "South-East Europe" with 15 other countries in the region (see MEMO/08/177). She will give a lecture at the University of Kragujevac, entitled: 'Serbia's contribution to a prosperous Europe', and visit cross-border renovation and training projects in the area, such as the National Museum of Pozarevac (with Romania). She will then hold talks with President Tadic.

Note for editors

On 4 April, Serbia signed a financial agreement on an IPA programme for 2007 with the European Commission. A total of €165 million will be distributed for use in 37 projects. One of these deals with Regional Socio-economic Development, and is worth €21 million.

In the 2007-2013 programming period, under the IPA instrument, Serbia participates in four cross-border programmes involving Member States: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and countries that border the Adriatic. These programmes will receive EU investment worth €140 million for the period 2007-2009. As far as transnational cooperation is concerned, Serbia qualifies for support under the South-East Europe programme for 16 countries in the region, which has a total budget of €245 million.

The Serbian government has started to recognise the need for an integrated and coherent regional policy. There are growing concerns over widening gaps in socio-economic performance and fortunes between different parts and different social groups within the country. As Serbia seeks to integrate its economy and markets more fully in the global context and, in particular in the EU single market, there is a need to ensure that all areas of the country improve their competitiveness.

Further information on European regional policy is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm.