In the last six years, the EU has set aside more than €170 million for flood prevention, as well as for recovery and reconstruction in Serbia. Valjevo is only one of the Serbian towns that has benefitted from that money. A total of six kilometres along the Jablanica, Kolubara, and Obnica rivers around Valjevo have been protected from floods. Valjevo is now probably Serbia’s one of the most protected towns.

The completion of the works was marked near the Veselinović bridge over the river Obnica. In attendance were the Head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia, Ambassador Sem Fabrizi, as well as the Director of the Austrian Cultural Centre, Adrian Feix on behalf of his country’s Embassy, and the Mayor of Valjevo, Lazar Gojković, the director of Srbijavode, Goran Puzović and the director of the Office for Public Investment Management, Marko Blagojević.

“I am glad to be in this city again,” said Ambassador Sem Fabrizi. “Last month, I was in Valjevo to meet with medical staff hired by the EU to fight COVID-19 in Serbia. On that occasion, I promised the mayor that I would come again to mark the end of the project to protect the citizens of Valjevo from the flood.” The Ambassador also recalled the great floods of 2014, when 50 municipalities in Serbia and 1.5 million people were affected by the catastrophe. Then, too, the EU showed its solidarity in the efforts to recover from the consequences of the flooding.