EU envoy: Serbia needs higher economic growth

Addressing the gathering of the Permanent Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SKGO), Fabrizi added that the current growth was good but had to be higher.

He presented the annual European Commission (EC) report on Serbia's progress in accession to the EU and advised the SKGO members to use it as a tool.

“The report is for the Government, but the most of it, even 70 percent of the EU heritage will be implemented on the local level, and local authorities will benefit the most from the structural funds,” Fabrizi said.

According to him, the EC noticed good macroeconomic results in Serbia, and that the country had attracted more foreign investments than all other Balkan’s countries put together, adding that 71 percent of the investments came from the EU and that it should be even more.

Dusanka Golubovic, the Mayor of the northern town of Sombor and the SKGO President, said the report positively evaluated the minority rights, gender equality, expert education and the inclusion of the youth in the decision-making process in local municipalities.

At the same time, the report pointed out the deficiencies of the capacity at the local level to follow the European integration and answer the demands they had to.