9 hours agoDirect Picula: Serbia receives record funds from EU, but scans European integration
Periskopi(2 years ago)
(2 years ago)European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula said Serbia has received record funding from the European Union for investment projects, even though its progress on the road to membership has been assessed as the limited or non-existence “in the latest report. Addressing the outgoing European Enlargement Commissioner, Oliver Warelj, at the Commission for [...]
Addressing the outgoing European Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Warelj at the European Parliament's Foreign Policy Commission (AFET), he said the assessments of Warelj and the European Parliament most frequently changed in exactly Serbia's example.
Your “Priorities have often been investment projects, which of course are important, but the European Union is not only an economic community, it is primarily a community of values and risk exchange. For example, for projects in Serbia, the EU has allocated six billion euros and 200m euros in investments by 2020, while only 30m euros have been invested in strengthening the judiciary”, Picula said.
He added that the percentage of EU support in Serbia is the lowest of all countries negotiating membership.
“Despite the record financial resources Serbia has received from the EU, do you think it has made any progress in the area of stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights and the respect and protection of minorities?” asked the outgoing commissioner.
He also asked him if he thinks Serbia is closer to stepping down in the membership process or has a reasonable delay.
