EU auditors in Belgrade – Green light for EUR 175 million from IPARD funds likely

External auditors of the European Commission have been in Belgrade since this Tuesday, August 15, 2017, in order to determine whether all obstacles to receiving the accreditation for the utilization of EUR 175 million from the IPARD funds have been removed, Blic learns.

The control is being carried out by three inspectors, one each from Ireland, Bulgaria and Macedonia, who are supposed to look into whether Serbia has met the European standards, which are a requirement for Serbian farmers to receive money from Brussels. Judging by the first impressions, it has. The auditors were visibly surprised to see that the biggest obstacle to the deblocking, the issue of the location of the Directorate for Agrarian Payments, has been removed.

More precisely, in early August, the adaptation of the Srbijasume building was completed, providing 2,500 square meters for the carrying out of the institution's activities. The remaining three requirements were solved before that. These are, namely, the amendments to the Law on Agriculture, which have removed problems related to defining the legal framework for the IPARD procedures, the employment of experts familiar with the EU rules and the establishment of a reference price list.

The Blic source says that it is nearly certain that Serbia will finally get a green light, which practically means that Serbian agriculturists may receive the first money from Brussels by the end of the year.

– The previous administration, headed by Minister Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic invited the auditors last year, although none of the requirements had been met yet. The idea was to see if it would pass and, of course, it didn't. It was clear that there would be no accreditation, which they eventually said in their report of August 2016. Due to the great damage done by this irresponsible act, but also the possibility of losing that EUR 15 million that need to be spent by 2018, the new team at the Ministry of Agriculture made the issue its priority – says the Blic source.

He adds that everything was done despite the remarkably short period of time available, as November is the deadline for the opening of the tender for the Brussels money.

– Local farmers should apply their project in November, so that there would be enough time to decide who is to enter the race for the first EUR 15 million by the end of the year. The remaining EUR 160 million will be successively drawn down by 2020. We expect the auditors to send the official report by the end of September, confirming that Serbia has been officially accredited for access to the IPARD funds. Regarding the initial amount of money, it should be known that Serbian, and not European, standards will be implemented – the Blic source says.

Minister of Agriculture Branislav Nedimovic confirmed for Blic that the auditors were in Belgrade.

– They've started looking into what we've done and the first impressions show that we have met the required standards. I am optimistic and I believe that the first invitation for the IPARD funds will take place by the end of the year – Nedimovic says.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Bruxelles

Uprava za agrarna plaćanja Republika Srbija

IPARD accreditation

IPARD funds

invitation for IPARD funds

funding agricultural production

adaptation of the building of the Directorate for Agrarian Payments

Law on Agriculture

Srbijasume building

Branislav Nedimovic

auditing for IPARD accreditation