Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic announced today that Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Olivér Várhelyi has instructed his service to release approximately €94 million from Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) for Serbian’s ongoing projects as well as projects funds that have not been carried out so far.
Previously, Joksimovic formally addressed Varhelyi with a letter asking him to take measures to prevent and combat the effects of the coronavirus epidemic in Serbia.
This equates to €15 million for emergency needs under current programmes and contracts with UNDP and UNOPS. It also looked at the possibility of using almost €21 million more from European integration support programmes.
In his letter, the Commissioner also indicated the possibility of additional support in agreement with the government of Serbia by diverting the funds allocated for the implementation of projects, whose implementation has not yet started, to support the health system and overcome the socio-economic consequences in the amount of €57.6 million.