Public administration reform is one of the three caryatids, i.e. one of the three most important criteria for Serbia’s progress in the field of European integration, and it is important that constant progress is made in many spheres of public administration reform, said Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Branko Ružić today. In his opening speech at the event “Challenges for Public Administration Reform in Serbia: Key Findings of the 2017 SIGMA Monitoring Report” Ružić said that many activities from the Action Plan 2015-2017 had been the drivers of change in public administration, such as open data, e-government … He underlined that it is significant that, based on the progress made by Serbia, Serbia was able to receive EUR 80 million sector budget support from the EU, which, according to him, is a major motivational factor to continue making “big steps forward”. Ružić, explained that out of these EUR 80 million, EUR 70 million is direct support to the budget of Serbia, and ten are related to four projects, two of which are coordinated by the Ministry headed by him. In the previous period, EUR 17 million were allocated from the republican budget, while EUR 30 million were allocated by bilateral donors outside the sector budget support. “These are not so insignificant funds aimed at achieving this important goal that brings us closer to the EU,” Ružić underlined. He added that he expects the new Action Plan 2018-2020, which will contain all the indicators and guidelines from the Report on what needs to be fixed and improved. Public administration reform, he says, largely defines what we did in previous years, and we had a process of public administration rationalization and went through a revolutionary process of reform and change, so that citizens would be satisfied with the state services. Head of EU Delegation to Serbia, Sem Fabrizzi, emphasized that public administration reform, along with the rule of law and economic governance, is one of the three crucial areas for successful EU accession. As he said, the recently launched Strategy for the Western Balkans clearly highlighted the importance of public administration reform, which is not implemented only for the purpose of EU accession, but rather in the interest of Serbian citizens – so that they would have a modern, transparent and responsible administration. Fabrizzi said that the Union is assisting Serbia in the reform process and reiterated that EUR 80 million had been set aside for sectoral support for a period of three years.