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Author: WeBalkans

Serbia and the EU helping Ukraine together

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On 28 March, Prime Minister Brnabic, the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia and the Ambassador of Ukraine witnessed the dispatch of energy equipment to Ukraine which Serbia provides with support of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The devices were briefly presented on trucks before they were sent off to Romania from where they will be delivered to Ukraine. “The trucks transport 19 different electronic devices, parts of the electrical infrastructure that Serbia decided to share with the people of Ukraine. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has produced numerous problems, and to this day more than 17 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret.

 

The donation is financed by Serbia, and the transport is facilitated by the European Union, through the Civil Protection Mechanism.

 

The ambassador said that Russia is systematically destroying Ukraine’s civil energy infrastructure and thanked the Government of Serbia for deciding to join the EU in providing equipment and aid to Ukraine.

 

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism facilitates cooperation in emergency response, preparation and prevention between Member States, as well as several other European countries. Serbia became a member of the Mechanism in 2015, but even before that, during the devastating floods in May 2014, Serbia felt the benefits of European solidarity through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. This operation has been one of the largest since the Mechanism was established.

EU’s direct financial assistance to Kosovo exceeds €1.3 billion

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The 16th consecutive yearly Financing Agreement between the European Union and Kosovo under the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) was presented to Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi on March 24 in Pristina by EU Ambassador to Kosovo Tomas Szunyog. The agreement, which is worth €62 million and is a component of IPA III for the years 2021–2027, raises the total amount of direct financial aid from the EU to more than €1.3 billion and reaffirms the EU and its Member States as the main donors of funds to Kosovo.

 

This is the second financial assistance agreement between the EU and Kosovo this year; just last month, the EU provided to Kosovo €75 million under its Energy Support Package for the Western Balkans to help its citizens and businesses cope with the increased energy prices, stimulate energy saving, and improve energy efficiency.

 

The Financing Agreement signed today by Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi will help Kosovo to enhance the socio-economic integration of non-majority communities and returnees, develop waste and wastewater management infrastructure, including the sewage system in the capital Pristina, improve energy efficiency in the public sector, and align Kosovo laws with the EU acquis and support legal professionals.

 

The EU started providing IPA funding to Kosovo back in 2007. IPA I and IPA II programmes covered the 2007-2020 period, including 14 annual Financing Agreements worth €1.2 billion. IPA III funding covering the 2021-2027 period and associated annual Financing Agreements started being implemented last year, with the Agreement for 2021 worth €64 million and for 2022, delivered today, worth €62 million.

EU and Albania finalise IPA22 and IPA23 agreements providing €162.6 million of EU assistance to Albania

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On 24 March, the Council of Ministers of the Government of Albania approved Financing Agreements between the European Commission and the Republic of Albania on the Annual Action Plans (AAP) for 2022 and 2023 under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) III.

 

The 2022 programme (IPA22) includes an EU contribution of €82.6 million and covers actions in the areas of environmental protection, developing perspectives for youth, strengthening democracy, EU acquis alignment, continuing the fight against organised crime, strengthening thejudiciary as well as supporting reforms to fulfil EU standards and norms.  The 2023 programme (IPA23) will provide a further €80 million to support Albanians with the socio-economic consequences of the energy crisis.  Funds from both programmes are grants that do not need to be repaid by Albania.

   

The IPA23 programme will support Albanians with the socio-economic consequences of the energy crisis by funding the Government of Albania’s response to the energy crisis, which foresees:

 

-Energy bill subsidies for over 1 million Albanian households;

 

-Support to 168,000 small and medium enterprises in Albania to offset high energy prices.

 

This support is part of the EU 1 billion Western Balkans energy support package announced at the Western Balkans Summit in Tirana in 2022.

Boosting digital development of the Western Balkans

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A donor coordination meeting regarding the Western Balkans Common Regional Market and the Regional Digital Area was conducted as part of the Investing in Digitalization in the Western Balkans conference on March 28 in Sarajevo. The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) jointly organised the event, which was attended by regional ministers responsible for the digital sector, other high-ranking government officials, local and international experts in digital projects, significant donors, international financial institutions, and Western Balkan business representatives.

 

While sharing key success stories of digitalisation in the Western Balkans, they agreed on the importance of boosting successful digitalisation models in the area of soft and hard infrastructure in the private and public sector. Addressing infrastructural and financial gaps in the digital infrastructure sector, creating a Regional Digital Area and digital ecosystems, and increasing financing opportunities for the digitalisation of small businesses were identified as the key priorities going forward.

 

During the first part of the conference, the EBRD and the EIB presented selected investment projects and initiatives in the area of digital transformation. To date, the EBRD has invested over €562 million in the information technologies and communications sectors of the six Western Balkans economies. Separately, the EBRD is now developing specialised financing programmes for digitalisation, the first of which — the €40 million GoDigital credit line in partnership with the European Union — was launched last year in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Technical cooperation included single access points for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Albania and Montenegro. Hundreds of small businesses received advisory services on digitalisation.

 

Since 2020 alone, the EIB has provided €200 million for digital projects in the Western Balkans to help companies digitalise, improve the capacity, coverage and quality of the 4G network and roll out 5G mobile services, and increase digital capacities and skills in over 1 500 schools. In 2022, our investments helped boost new digital business models, connect 4 million households to fibre broadband and enable 6.6 million subscriptions for 5G services globally.

Faculty of Organizational Sciences at the University of Belgrade Receives a Modern New Wing

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Overcoming Challenges and Embracing the Future with a New State-of-the-Art Facility and Accredited Courses in IT and AI.

The Faculty of Organizational Sciences at the University of Belgrade was established 53 years in 1969. The faculty was initially established to offer education to employees already working in the economic sector in various state-owned institutions and companies, who did not possess a higher education degree. With time, the faculty gained prominence and has become one of the most sought-after faculties in Belgrade. The faculty admits approximately 900 new students every year, but last year, it received over 2000 applications for enrolment, which is almost double the available student capacity. Despite its success, the faculty has faced significant challenges over the years, with the most pressing being the lack of physical space. Until 1982, the faculty was situated in the suburbs of Belgrade and subsequently moved to a new centre location, which was formerly a primary school building.

”We had only 900 square meters available, which was too small even for a primary school, let alone for a faculty. We had only five classrooms, no amphitheatre and no professional study cabinets.”

Professor Aleksandar Markovic from the Faculty explains that working in this limited space was very challenging. ”We had only 900 square meters available, which was too small even for a primary school, let alone for a faculty. We had only five classrooms, no amphitheatre and no professional study cabinets,” says Professor Markovic. Over the year, the faculty expanded its working space by adding one more floor to the existing building, as well as an underground amphitheatre and an annex, bringing the total space to over 5000 square meters, which was a significant improvement but still insufficient. The faculty needed to further expand its existing capacities, introduce updated curricula, and offer better conditions for its 6,000 students and 270 employees.

The situation changed drastically for the better in April last year when the Faculty received a modern, new wing covering an area of 6,056 square meters. This marked a significant step in the modernization of Serbian education. The total investment of €9.3 million was financed by the government and the European Investment Bank (EIB), which has been a long-standing partner in Serbia’s education, research and development sectors. The new facility comprises two 200-seat auditoriums, a reading room with a library, a laboratory, IT rooms, and multifunctional halls, all equipped with computers and interactive whiteboards. Thanks to these improvements, the faculty will be able to increase its annual student intake by 25-30 %.

”With over 11,000 square meters of space, we now have more than enough room to conduct our teaching and research activities in the best possible way. Thanks to this, we can now plan new classes and further expand an innovate our curricula with the help of the new facilities and equipment.”

About the project

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending arm of the European Union. As the biggest multilateral financial institution in the world, the EIB has been active in Serbia since 1977, providing finance to support key infrastructure projects, SMEs, industry, services and local authorities, providing a total of €7.2 billion of investments to date.

Professor Markovic explains that the new facility has enabled the faculty to adopt a new development strategy and an improved vision for the future. ”With over 11,000 square meters of space, we now have more than enough room to conduct our teaching and research activities in the best possible way. Thanks to this, we can no plan new classes and further expand an innovate our curricula with the help of the new facilities and equipment,” says Professor Markovic.

The faculty has recently received accreditation from the ministry for new courses, including information and software engineering, as well as artificial intelligence. This is a significant development that will contribute to the growth of Serbia’s innovation and IT sectors. Furthermore, the faculty achieved a major success by winning the first prize at the prestigious international CBS Global Case Competition 2022, surpassing 300 student teams from universities across the globe.

EU4Municipalities: Strengthening Local Governance for Better Service Delivery in Albania

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A Grant Scheme to modernise local public infrastructure and build capacities for improved local governance. Albania is a country with a population of around 2.8 million people, and it faces numerous challenges related to governance and service delivery. Despite significant progress made over the past decades, Albania’s public institutions continue to face challenges related to accountability, transparency, and efficiency. The decentralization process initiated in the country in 2014 aimed to address some of these challenges by transferring more power and responsibilities from the central government to local authorities. However, the decentralization process has faced various obstacles, including a lack of resources and capacity at the local level. To support Albania in overcoming these challenges, among others, the EU4Municipalities project was launched in 2021. The purpose of the project is to support the development potential of municipalities and improve the socio-economic and environmental conditions of local communities in Albania. The project aims to address the main problems that affect the quality of life and economic prospects of the community by improving local public services and by aligning them with European standards. The project is being implemented by a consortium of partners led by NALAS a network of associations of local authorities of South East Europe and includes Non-Governmental Organisations Co-Plan Institute for Habitat Development, Eco Partners for Sustainable Development and NALAS’s members in Albania Association for Local Autonomy and the former Association of Albanian Municipalities.

“The project’s necessity was recognized through direct exchanges between EU Ambassador and the EU Delegation representatives with municipal authorities and local communities in previous years, which indicates a bottom-up approach.”

Elton Stafa, the Team Leader for the EU4 Municipalities project at NALAS, highlights the project’s significant contribution to local governance. “The project’s necessity was recognized through meetings between EU Delegation representatives and municipal authorities in previous years, which indicates a bottom-up approach,” says Elton.

The project’s primary means of support for local governments is a grant scheme aimed at enhancing local public infrastructure, improving the quality of public services, implementing municipal strategic plans, and building local government capacities for EU fund management. In the first call for proposals launched in 2021, the project provided support to six municipalities through grants of up to €200.000. The second call, launched in 2022, extended support to additional 13 municipalities with grants ranging up to €50.000. The projects that received grants covered a range of areas, including local economic development, environmental protection, improvement of local public infrastructure and services, youth and community empowerment, and more. As of today, the project has signed 19 grant contracts amounting to 1.7 million € of EU contribution.

“ The municipalites have a great interest on the project, and the finalized grant project have presented highly tangible resulsts. All in all, the EU4 Municipalites has become an important element on overall development of Municipalities in Albania.“

About the project

EU for Municipalities (EU4M) is a project funded by the European Union. It aims at fostering municipalities’ development potential and improving the socio-economic and environmental conditions of local communities in Albania. The “EU for Municipalities” project will support the development of local infrastructure by providing better public services and sustainable local economic development. The project will have a direct impact on improving the quality of life and prospects for Albanian citizens in their communities while it will help local governments strengthen their capacities for EU funds management.

As part of its support on strenghtening the capacities of the municipalities the project has provided so far provided 15 training on project proposal preparation and grant managment to 200 municipal representatives. Entela Pinguli, the EU4Municipalities Deputy Team Leader considers this project as highly succesful. “The municipalites have a great interest on the EU4M grant scheme and the project’s approach, as they bring tangible resulsts. All in all, the EU4Municipalites has become an important element on overall development of Municipalities in Albania“, says Stafa.

As part of its effort to enhance the municipalities’ capabilities, the project deliveed 12 training sessions on project proposal preparation and grant managment, benefiting 490 municipal representatives. The capacity building copmponent is an integral part of the EU4Municipalities grant scheme. Entela Pinguli, the EU4Municipalities Deputy Team Leader regards this initiative as highly effective“ The municipalities have displayed a great interest in the project, and the implementing grant projects are expected to yield highly trangible outcomes, which improve municipal services and touches people’s lives.

Looking forward, the EU4 Municipalities project is expected to continue to play an important role in strengthening Local Governance for Better Service Delivery in Albania.

Energy Challenges Conference held in Tirana, Albania

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On 10 March 2023, a diverse group of stakeholders from the public and private sectors, investors, project developers, and financiers involved in energy transitions came together for the “Energy Challenges towards Transition and Sustainability” conference in Tirana, Albania. The conference addressed various topics such as the ongoing energy crisis, strategies for transition, energy security, and decarbonization. A particular emphasis was given to financing investment in renewable and power sectors, examining the roles and perspectives of consulting and financial institutions. The Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, highlighted the high level of interest from foreign investors in Albania and welcomed each investment in the energy sector.

 

Ms. Balluku also discussed developments in the energy sector and presented the Albanian government’s response to the energy crisis. This includes the use of floating oil-fired power plants, wind farms, and solar power plants. She noted that the construction of the power transmission line between Albania and North Macedonia, supported by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), is progressing at the same pace in both countries. Ms. Balluku also welcomed the upcoming Presidency of the Energy Community and Summit on the Berlin Process to be held in Albania in October.

 

The conference was jointly organized by the Foreign Investors Association of Albania, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, the State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination (SASPAC), and representatives from various organizations, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER), the World Bank in Albania, USAID, Albanian and foreign industry companies Verbund Green Power Austria VOLTALIA, STATKRAFT, PPC Renewables, and Shell Companies in Albania.

20 More Displaced Families Receive New RHP Homes in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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On 21 March, another 20 families celebrated receiving new apartments in Odžak, marking a significant milestone for the Regional Housing Programme (RHP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The event was attended by several key figures, including the Head of Operations for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross-Border Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to BiH and the Minister of Displaced Persons and Refugees in the Federation of BiH.   The RHP aims to provide homes for approximately 11,300 families across the Western Balkans region by the end of June 2023. To date, more than 2,500 housing units have been completed, and close to 34,000 people are expected to receive new homes by the end of the programme.   Gianluca Vannini, Head of Operations, congratulated the BiH authorities on their achievements and noted the success of the programme. Minister Ramić echoed these sentiments and praised the attention paid to detail in constructionand Jozo Križan, speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, expressed gratitude to the RHP donors, implementing partner organizations, national and local institutions, and was lost for words with excitement.

Project “o-dva-ja-mo” launched in Uzice,Serbia

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On March 3, 2023, in Sevojno, the EU funded Project for Household Waste Separation “O-DVA-JA-MO” was promoted in the city of Užice, which received 5,350 blue bins in which households will separate paper, plastic and metal. In addition, 570 blue containers for the same purpose and 124 yellow containers for glass were donated, as well as two trucks for the removal of separated dry waste.

 

The project aims to establish a system for waste separation at the point of origin in 17 municipalities across Serbia by investing not only in equipment but also in informing citizens about the advantages of separating household waste for its later successful recycling, in order to reduce the amounts that end up in landfills and the recycling rate in 4 regions increased to 15% in the next two years.

 

This project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia with the support of the European Union and the Kingdom of Sweden.

Artificial Intelligence: The Present and Future

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According to the Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize every aspect of society, including healthcare, transportation, education, and finance. It offers new opportunities for innovation and growth, and can improve people’s lives in ways that are yet to be discovered. His remarks were made at the “Age of Artificial Intelligence” ceremony and mini-conference, which celebrated the Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Serbia’s two years of work in Novi Sad.

 

The EU and Serbia have a robust research and innovation partnership, as evidenced by the grants awarded to the Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Serbia. The “It Takes Two to Tango” project, funded by the Horizon Europe 2022 program, aims to develop a synergistic approach to human-machine decision-making, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between humans and machines in AI development.

 

Ambassador Giaufret also announced the possibility of an EU-funded grant through the SAIGE project, which aims to support the strengthening and acceleration of the Serbian innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. These examples highlight the strong partnership between Serbia and the EU in promoting research and innovation, particularly in AI.

 

In 2019, Serbia adopted the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, making it the 26th country worldwide to have such a plan. In 2021, the country established the Institute for the Development of Artificial Intelligence and put a “supercomputer” into operation. Serbia has also been a member of the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence since last year.

 

The EU’s support for innovation and competitiveness in Serbia amounts to over €200 million euros since 2014. The funds allocated to this sector are intended to enhance the quality of science, innovation, and connections with European and international scientists and entrepreneurs, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the Serbian economy. Serbia has been a beneficiary of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation since 2014.