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Author: WeBalkans

EU, EBRD and WBIF Bilateral donors finance the expansion of broadband in rural Serbia

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The EU supported Rural Broadband Rollout project was launched in 2020 and enables Serbia to expand the existing fibre backbone to 300,000 households and 1,500 schools/public institutions in 1,800 remote settlements in rural areas, without access to a broadband network.

 

The investments, to be implemented in two phases, will create new economic opportunities and skills for local populations in less developed regions through increased access to connectivity and training, as well as advance a competitiveness-focused policy engagement in the telecommunications sector.

 

Phase 1 of the project is progressing and has already expanded the broadband network in Serbia’s rural areas. In December 2022, works started to connect a local school in a village in Šumadija (Central Serbia), in the presence of the Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, and the Minister of Information and Telecommunications Mihajlo Jovanović, as well as the Ambassador of the EU to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret, and Matteo Colangeli, Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the Western Balkans.

 

The investment is supported by a €34 million investment grant from the EU, a €118 million EBRD loan package, and a €1.7 million technical assistance grant by the WBIF bilateral donors.

First grantees selected for Culture Moves Europe mobility

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176 artists and cultural professionals will be able to start their cultural mobility projects travelling to another Creative Europe country. The first grantee who travelled on 23 November 2022 from Ukraine, has already started her cultural heritage related project in Lithuania. Several others will start their project in 2022.  
Successful applications came from 26 Creative Europe countries, in particular from Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Spain, Belgium and Ukraine including one virtual project. Grantees selected 29 destination countries and the most popular mobility destination countries were Germany, Spain, Iceland, Italy, Finland and Portugal. Some projects will also be implemented in Ukraine Tunisia and Serbia.  
Out of 7 eligible sectors, most of the selected projects are in performing and visual arts as well as in music. In the first evaluation period, there were no successful projects in the field of architecture and only a few were selected in literary translation. In 44 projects out of 111 selected, the participants decided to travel in a more sustainable way and requested a green travel top-up. This is available for those who do not travel by plane. 25% of the selected projects were submitted by groups, up to 5 people.

Eternal rivals united against violence

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United against violence against women – this is the slogan of this year’s global campaign for 16 days of activism – Orange the World. The colour orange united the basketball players of Crvena zvezda and Partizan, who met this month for the first time for a derby in the best European basketball competition – the Euroleague. The captains of the two Belgrade teams recorded a joint video message:

 

“Violence against women – it must stop. It is our duty to protect all women: mothers, sisters, wives, friends… Report violence immediately – there are no excuses! Let’s help those who suffer violence. A bully is a coward – let’s be brave. Let’s protect the victims”. The players were joined by the Serbian national team coach Svetislav Pešić, as well as Partizan coach Željko Obradović.

 

Every third woman, both in the European Union and around the world, has experienced physical, sexual, socio-economic and/or verbal violence at least once in her life. Gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and gender-based violence are issues of basic human rights. This year, the EU Delegation in Serbia joins the global campaign of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence by promoting empowered women and through cooperation with the wider community against physical, verbal and socio-economic violence.

 

During this global campaign, the EU Delegation in Serbia  partnered with personalities from Serbia in the spheres of fashion, art, sports, literature, and cinema.

Winners of human rights online game prizes have been announced in Montenegro

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After a nine-day competition and 6,624 games started, the winners of the online prize game titled “Human rights in the palm of your hand” have been announced. Emro Feratović from Plav, Maša Stojanović from Cetinje, and Matej Stijović from Berane have each won a package of luxury EU promotional material.

 

The online game organised on the occasion of International Human Rights Day in cooperation with the company Alicorn, lasted from 1 to 9 December. The game consisted of different fields dedicated to human rights, where contestants moved around by rolling dice. Based on players’ comments, they really enjoyed playing it. Everyone who scored 50 or more points, out of the possible 81, qualified for a prize – a package of luxury EU promotional materials, signed by domestic fashion and jewellery designers. The three winners were chosen randomly from the database of qualified competitors.

 

International Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December in honour of the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, recognising for the first time in history the right of all people to life, liberty, and security.

EU-German project helps develop a joint waste management system in Pristina region

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On 12 December, as part of the project funded by the EU and Germany working to develop a joint waste management system for the Prishtinë/Priština region, the mayors of Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje, Gllogoc/Glogovac, Gračanica/Graçanicë, Obiliq/Obilić, Podujeva/Podujevo, and Prishtinë/Priština signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch their cooperation.

 

In line with the relevant EU directives and Kosovo laws, municipalities will now work to develop an Inter-municipal Integrated Waste Management Plan and an Inter-Municipal Cooperation Agreement for joint work in the waste management sector. The implementation of the Inter-municipal Integrated Waste Management Plan will be the next step in the establishment of an integrated waste management system, which started with the current project funded with €35 million by the EU and Germany for the construction, expansion and rehabilitation of landfills and transfer stations for solid waste in the region.

 

In order to support related reforms in the waste management sector, and together with the German government, the EU is financing projects implemented by GIZ for €19 million, for development of proper waste management policies and legislation, inter-municipal integrated waste management planning and cooperation agreements, capacity building at central and local level, introduction of a circular economy and implementation of priority investment projects.

EU launches €10-million project to strengthen healthcare in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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On 13 December, the EU Office in BiH announced a €10-million project to strengthen preventive and primary healthcare in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project is part of the European Union’s ongoing support to the health sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and will be implemented by Unicef, the World Health Organisation, and the World Bank.
 
Over the next four years, the EU Support to Health Sector Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina project will focus on supporting reforms of primary healthcare and capacity building of the BiH health sector. It will also contribute to the development of policies to scale up child health services with a focus on childhood immunisation, early childhood development services, nutrition and mental health.
 
During the pandemic, the donor providing the largest amount of support to BiH has been the EU, giving more than €20 million for the procurement of high quality medical equipment, vaccines and cold chain equipment to store vaccines. The EU has also provided more than €75 million to support socioeconomic recovery in BiH from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of strengthening the BiH economy, ensuring retention of existing job and creating new ones.

EU strengthens capacity of BiH Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices with donation of IT equipment

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As part of the European Union’s ongoing support for healthcare in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU Office in BiH handed over IT equipment worth around €20,000 to the BiH Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices. For the Agency’s daily work, the European Union procured five PCs, 11 large monitors, two multi-function laser printer and nine laptops. This equipment will strengthen capacity in the Agency, which is responsible for providing high-quality and safe medical products and medical devices for human use and establishing a functional system for the regulation of medicinal products in line with international standards.

 

The donated equipment will enable easier insight into diagrams of complex laboratory analyses and large amounts of data, but also facilitate greater mobility of employees and business continuity in emergency conditions.

 

During the pandemic, the donor providing the largest amount of support to BiH has been the EU, giving more than €20 million for the procurement of high-quality medical equipment, vaccines and cold chain equipment to store vaccines. The EU has also provided more than €75 million for post-pandemic recovery.

Vice-President Pavlova pledges EIB Global support for the energy crisis at the EU Western Balkans Summit

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At the EU Western Balkans Summit held in Tirana, Albania, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Lilyana Pavlova pledged support to the region to cope with urgent short-term needs stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine. This support will come from EIB Global, the arm of the Bank focused on operations outside the European Union, in the form of new projects that it plans to finance in the region to deploy clean energy, expand electricity networks and storage infrastructure, and help the private sector implement energy efficiency measures. She confirmed that the Bank is fully aligned with the €1 billion energy support package announced by the European Commission and plans to play a key role in its implementation.  
In addition to support in the energy field, the EU bank will enhance its comprehensive mix of lending, blending and advisory services and deploy more experts on the ground to support connectivity, the green and digital transition, education and healthcare. Promoting the growth, digitalisation and decarbonisation of the private sector will also be a priority for the Bank. As part of this, the European Investment Fund (EIF), a subsidiary of the EIB Group, has launched the Western Balkans Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility (WB EDIF) Guarantee 4 SME Resilience, which aims to respond to the economic difficulties by increasing access to finance for some 4 000 small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

EU to provide additional €10 million in support for Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces

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The Council of the European Union adopted an assistance measure worth €10 million that will support the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH). This decision is part of the EU’s work to further strengthen its security engagement with its Western Balkan partners and builds on previous EU support for the AFBiH, notably through a previous assistance measure announced in November 2021 worth €10 million for the demining battalion of the AFBiH, an assistance measure worth €6 million announced in June 2022 for the benefit of the Balkan Medical Task Force (BMTF) and the continuous support for EUFOR Althea for the BiH Armed forces, including through training.  
The new assistance measure will finance field equipment, key tools for military engineering and material to protect against Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats. This assistance was requested by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2022. Through the provision of appropriate equipment, the assistance measure will strengthen the capacities of the tactical support brigade and the AFBiH as a whole.  
The new assistance measure was adopted under the European Peace Facility (EPF). The EPF was established in March 2021 as a tool to expand the EU’s ability to provide security for its citizens and its partners. It enables the EU to provide all types of equipment and infrastructure to the armed forces of EU partners, in compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The new assistance measure was adopted in response to a request made by the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 2022.

The Regional Housing Programme celebrates the delivery of its 10 000 home in the Western Balkans

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The Regional Housing Programme (RHP) celebrated a landmark moment on 30 November, with the delivery of its 10 000th home for most-vulnerable refugees and displaced persons in the Western Balkans region. The occasion was marked during a ceremony to deliver keys to 40 newly-built RHP apartments to refugee families in Vršac, Serbia. In total, the RHP aims to deliver 11 400 homes across the four Partner Countries of the RHP – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia – by mid-2023.

 

In addition to the beneficiaries themselves, the delivery of keys ceremony was attended by Nataša Stanisavljević, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia; Holger Schröder, Head of Unit, Western Balkans Regional Programmes and the Economic Investment Plan at DG NEAR and other national and international representatives.

On behalf of the European Union – the main Donor to the RHP – Mr. Holger Schröder congratulated the families on their new homes, and reflected on the importance of the RHP both for the region and the EU. ” The Regional Housing Programme symbolises EU solidarity towards vulnerable families who left their lives behind, “he said. 

 

The visit by RHP stakeholders to Vršac followed a meeting of the RHP Assembly of Donors that morning, and preceded a RHP Steering Committee meeting in Belgrade on 30 November, hosted by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, chaired by the European Union, and co-chaired by Switzerland, another key Donor to the Programme.