Visa-free travel for Kosovar passport holders will become a reality on 1 January 2024 at the latest. Following agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on a proposal by the Commission, passport holders from Kosovo will be allowed to travel to the EU without a visa, for maximum 90 days in any 180-day period.
Visa-free travel brings key benefits for citizens on both sides, strengthening further the EU relations with Kosovo. Kosovo has consistently fulfilled all benchmarks and continuously shown its commitment. With this achievement, all Western Balkan partners will soon have visa-free access to the EU.
Already in 2016, the Commission proposed to the European Parliament and the Council to grant EU visa-free travel for the people of Kosovo. The Commission assessed that Kosovo fulfilled all requirements since 2018, fulfilling all the benchmarks set in the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap.
Keys to 25 newly-built Regional Housing Programme (RHP) apartments were delivered to refugee families in Zrenjanin, Serbia on 13 April.
In addition to the beneficiaries themselves, the ceremony was attended by Nataša Stanisavljević, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia (KIRS); Soufiane Adjali, UNHCR Representative in Serbia; Gerhard Salzer, Programme Manager at the European Union Delegation to Serbia; Simo Salapura, Mayor of Zrenjanin, and Dušan Kovačević, Head of the Public Sector Projects Implementation Unit Ltd., amongst others.
Addressing those gathered for the event, Commissioner Stanisavljević pledged that KIRS would continue with the delivery of new housing units within the RHP: “In the next two months, we expect to deliver another 450 new homes for the most-vulnerable refugees,”she said.
One of the beneficiaries present, Duško Jeftenić, thanked RHP stakeholders on behalf of the refugee families: “The difficult years are behind us. We are reluctant to remember those times, and have decided to look to the future instead,”he said. “Today, one of the most beautiful things happened to us – now, we look forward to finally settling down in our new apartments.”
In Paraćin, Serbia, the works on the construction of an amphitheatre and a children’s playground are underway in order to ensure the conditions for improving the cultural offer by arranging the central part of the municipality, while its connection with the Crnica river bank will facilitate urban mobility. This is done with the support of the European Union (EU) through the EU PRO Plus programme, which is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of European Integration.
The works on the development of public areas, financed by the EU with 170,000 Euros, along with the construction of the aforementioned amphitheatre and playground with a recycled rubber surface, also includes the installation of smart benches, free internet, and containers with waste categorization.
The project in Paraćin is among the local infrastructure projects in the regions of Šumadija and Western Serbia and Southern and Eastern Serbia that the EU supports through the EU PRO Plus programme with close to six million Euros in order to improve the quality of life of people through the renovation and reconstruction of educational, health and social care institutions, sports and cultural facilities, and improvement of communal infrastructure and public administration buildings.
Thanks to the support it received as part of the project “EU for Green Agenda in Serbia”, the company “HBIS Serbia“ improved the management of production processes by introducing a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system and installing new dust emission meters.
A specialized PLC computer program enables data from eight dust emission meters to be processed in real time and, if they approach the upper limit, it gives a sound and light signal via an alarm in order to respond in time by changing parameters in the production process.
In this way, “HBIS” fulfils the legal obligation to continuously measure dust emissions and manages to reduce dust concentrations in the air, which is of great importance for the health of the local population and the preservation of the environment. Additionally, an overview of average daily dust concentrations from 3 meters is available to the public on the “HBIS” website.
The procurement of the PLC system is one of 16 solutions for accelerating the green transition of the Serbian economy that received financial support for implementation, and arrived as a response to four public calls announced during 2022, within the “EU for Green Agenda in Serbia” project.
We remind you that the new Public Call for proposals for innovative solutions in all five areas of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans was opened in February this year and will last until the end of 2026.
The project “EU for the Green Agenda in Serbia”, with the technical and financial support of the European Union and the partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is implemented by UNDP, in cooperation with the Embassy of Sweden and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with additional funding from the Governments of Sweden, Switzerland and Serbia.
As part of the celebrations of Europe Day, as a gift to the citizens of Serbia, the Delegation of the European Union is organizing a Big EU Party which will be held on May 12 in the Hangar, Port of Belgrade, and the headliner is the German band Alphaville – who will perform in Serbia for the first time.
The concept of the Big EU party is to satisfy all musical tastes and generations, so in addition to Alphaville, the Croatian mysterious masked duo Nipplepeople will perform, as well as the irresistible band from Niš Stereo Banana. With some of the best representatives of the local DJ scene, the party will last until the morning, and Dejan Milićević, Lea Dobričić, Luton, Cosmic G and Gavra will be responsible for an unforgettable time.
This is a great opportunity to dance, sing and celebrate love, respect, freedom, and tolerance – the universal values of the European Union, but also of the band Alphaville which has been on the world music scene for 40 years, and on May 12, they will perform for the first time in Serbia. Their hits “Forever Young”, “Big in Japan”, and “Sounds Like a Melody” have no expiration date. The first album “Forever Young”, which has their greatest hits, was declared the best electro-pop album of all time in several polls. The German band that sings about Japan conquered Europe in the eighties, and the fact that their songs are covered and remixed by some of the world’s most famous musicians and DJs shows how much of a mark they left in music.
A new BioSense Institute building was officially opened today in Novi Sad. Benefiting from a prime location at the entrance of the city centre, it will offer almost 7 000 m2of state-of-the-art facilities for scientific research and business ventures. As part of the University of Novi Sad, the premises provide high-end laboratories and workplaces for life sciences studies for around 250 scientists. Startups will have a dedicated area for the development of innovative solutions in the fields of agriculture and biotechnology. These new facilities, with their highly sophisticated equipment, will reinforce the institute’s scientific potential and transformation into a European centre of excellence that is capable of conducting the most advanced research projects applicable on a global scale.
This project worth €34 million was financed by €14 million in EU grants via the ANTARES project, €20 million from the Serbian government and a European Investment Bank (EIB) loan of €18 million. The opening ceremony was attended by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, Serbian ministers Tanja Miščević (European integration), Jelena Begović (science, technological development and innovation), Jelena Tanasković (agriculture, forestry and water management), Mihailo Jovanović (IT), Marko Blagojević (public investment) and Branko Ružić (education), as well as President of the Government of Vojvodina Igor Mirović, representatives of the EU Delegation in Serbia and EIB Global.
The Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović and the Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, visited today the works on the construction of the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnector.
“I am glad to see how this project is progressing. The EU continues to be committed to diversifying gas supply in Serbia and increasing the resilience and competitiveness of its energy system. We eagerly await the gas that will flow through this gas pipeline during the next heating season. The EU also offered Serbia to participate in the joint procurement of gas with the EU member states,” said Ambassador Giaufret.
The length of the gas interconnector on the territory of Serbia is 109 km, and the capacity is 1.8 billion cubic meters in the direction towards Serbia. Works on the construction of the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnector started in February 2022, and completion is planned for the last quarter of this year. In addition to greater security of supply and diversification of gas routes and suppliers, the new gas pipeline will also enable further development of the distribution and supply gas pipeline network in the south of Serbia.
The construction of the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnector is financed by EU grants, which amounted to EUR 49.6 million, EIB loan in the amount of EUR 25 million with national co-financing. Also, the EU supports the construction of a gas interconnector section on the territory of Bulgaria, which is 60 km long, with a total of EUR 33.6 million.
Ambassador Johann Sattler, Head of the Delegation of the European Union and Special Representative of the EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina, visited the University of Bihać and discussed with students of the Faculty of Economics the positive role that young people who lived outside of BiH can have in initiating development of the country, should they decide to return.
“Young experts who decided to return to Bosnia and Herzegovina, after gaining education or professional experience abroad, have the potential to play an important role in the economic growth of Bosnia and Herzegovina, bringing new ideas, skills and perspectives. Living and working abroad can be a transformative experience that helps individuals grow both personally and professionally. By returning home, they can bring new knowledge and use it to create positive change in their local communities,” said Ambassador Sattler.
Panel discussion was organised as part of the European Union’s project “Generation Change” focused on students from public universities. The other members of the panel at today’s discussion were Damijan Sedar, Ambassador of Slovenia to BiH, Dijana Vuković, associate professor of Faculty of Economics in Bihać and Dino Kišmić, Founder/CEO of IDK Studio software & web development company.
In the past two months, Ambassador Sattler, together with ambassadors of EU Member States, visited public universities throughout BiH and talked with students about various topics that are important to young people, but also important for the country’s progress towards the European Union. During the past five events held in Zenica, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Mostar and Bihać, the Ambassador met with more than 600 students. The sixth and the last event is planned for late April with the students from the University of Banja Luka.
At the handover ceremony of a valuable donation provided by the European Union, the Head of the EU Delegation and the EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Johann Sattler, on 13 April 2023 officially handed over a cystoscope to the Children’s Surgery Department of the Cantonal Hospital “Dr. Irfan Ljubijankić” in Bihać.
The cystoscope, worth around 30,000 KM, will be used in the treatment of the youngest patients who had to be previously transported to Sarajevo for cystoscopy examinations due to the lack of this instrument in the Una-Sana Canton. Except for the Department of Pediatric Surgery, the cystoscope will also be used in the Department of General Surgery.
Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Hercegovina Ambassador Johann Sattler said that thedonation of this equipment is part of a larger project worth €2 million to help social cohesion in local communities that have received large numbers of migrants.
The equipment was provided through a project “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Enhancing Social Cohesion in Communities Hosting People on the Move”, funded by the European Union and implemented in the Una-Sana and Sarajevo Canton by the International Organization for Migration in Bosnia and Herzegovina (IOM).
WeBalkans and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) are proud to announce the launch of the “Made of Us – An EU-Western Balkans road trip” awareness campaign which aims to promote a positive image of the EU to the people of the Western Balkans, and vice versa. The campaign format features 12 young EU and Western Balkan vloggers as the campaign’s protagonists who will travel across the region in pairs, consisting of one EU and one WB vlogger. Each of the pairs will travel in one of the Western Balkans Six, and share their experiences along the way via the creation of their own online content.
The EU Ambassador to Montenegro, Mrs. Oana Cristina Popa, the Italian Ambassador, Ms.Andreina Marsella, and other speakers spoke at the campaign launch event, which was held at Europe House in Podgorica. The event featured EU and Balkan inspired food, music, and a networking with personalities from previous WeBalkans campaigns, as well as local Montenegrin social media influencers.
The vloggers covering the Montenegro leg of the journey, Emir Cirikovi from Montenegro and Alice Franchi from Italy, were also at the event in person and held speeches together with the other ten Made of Us vloggers who joined online. After the launch event, they immediately set off on their journey by car.
The campaign will last a total of six weeks between 18 April and 30 May, with each week focusing on one of the WB6 partners. The vloggers will cover a total of 18 EU-supported projects, 6000 km by car, and meet many interesting and inspiring local personalities along the way, all the while showcasing the natural scenery, extraordinary landmarks and unique cultural heritage that the Western Balkans have to offer. The twelve vloggers will record their experiences using their own equipment and social media channels, translating the journey into high-quality social media and web content, photos and videos, which will be disseminated on the WeBalkans channels.
Don’t miss a second of this exciting journey – start following WeBalkans and all of the vloggers on Instagram now!
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