With a series of successful meetings with representatives of the European Commission, delegation the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) finalized its visit to Brussels, fifth in a row. Thus, the FIC continued to support the process of European integration of Serbia, is a reliable partner both to the Serbian Government and the European Union.
During a two day visit, FIC delegation met with representatives of 7 directorate generals of the European Commission: NEAR, ECFIN, TAXUD, EMPL, TRADE, CNECT, and GROW. In addition, meetings with representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and with the Serbian Ambassador to EU Ana Hrustanovic were also held.
At the meeting with Director for Western Balkans Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, FIC President Yana Mikhailova said that “Serbia continues steady but moderate progress in reforms, which has secured stability but is not enough to reach the set goal. In order to catch up with EU level of economic development – the stronger economy and higher standard of living – Serbia needs to speed up the reforms and accelerate accession negotiations”.
Special attention needs to be devoted to achieving sustainable fiscal consolidation (structural reforms, especially privatization and corporatization of state-owned enterprises) and improving law implementation, especially in the tax area (strengthening tax administration).
In the discussions with EU institutions, the FIC underlined the instrumental importance of reforms in the following fields: tax, labour, trade and inspections, food safety, real-estate, digitalization& e-commerce, telecommunications, and general legal framework (specifically bankruptcy and foreign exchange regulations).
As always, FIC underlined its readiness to continue and enhance its engagement to support EU accession process, through exchange and cooperation with both Serbian Government and EU institutions.
European institutions were again encouraged to actively support Serbia because mutual collaboration is needed for bringing the Serbian market closer to EU rules and practices. Members of FIC delegation were: FIC President Yana Mikhailova, FIC Board Member Goran Pekez and Executive Director Ana Tozzi.