Representatives of key institutions, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Ministry of European Integration and GIZ, on behalf of the German-Serbian development cooperation, have signed today in Belgrade the Agreement on the Implementation of the Project “Support to Public Administration Reform in the EU Accession Process”. The value of the project is EUR 3 million, and it will be implemented in the following period until 2026.
The State Secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Maja Mačužić Puzić, has thanked GIZ for its continuous support to the Public Administration Reform, stressing that this process is not only important because of Serbia’s intention to become a member of the EU, but primarily because of the welfare of citizens.
“We want to establish a functional public administration system that provides quality services to citizens and ensures optimal conditions for economic growth and social development. By introducing positive changes in the work of public administration, significant savings in time, money and human resources are achieved, and the administration is fully committed to serve our citizens. To that end, the Ministry has invested a total of RSD 345 million in the establishment of 55 One-Stop-Shops in cities and municipalities throughout Serbia, and recently the Decree on One-Stop-Shop was adopted, which will contribute to the crafting of a legal framework for quality and efficient provision of public services,” Maja Macužić Puzić has pointed out.
She has said that a great step forward was made in all segments and that there were significant improvements, and she also expressed her hope that the established goals will continue to be reached in partnership in the future as well.
On the other hand, the Minister of European Integration, Tanja Miščević, has said that this cooperation helped to improve the coordination of accession negotiations.
“For the past three years, we have worked together with GIZ on digitizing the planning process and harmonizing national and European legislation, improving the planning system of administrative capacities, but also the resources needed for successfully conducting accession negotiations,” the minister has said. She emphasized that these jobs, along with numerous additional expert analyses and the preparation of recommendations on how to conduct negotiations more successfully, helped them to work in a planned and coordinated manner.
The Director of GIZ in Serbia, Daniela Funke, has said that she is very pleased that Germany has been supporting the Public Administration Reform process in Serbia since 2016, and that many significant results have been achieved to date.
“We expect that the public administration will go further in the direction of digitization, efficiency, innovation and sustainability. Citizens and the economy expect a more transparent, responsible and user-oriented public administration. These are the challenges which all countries around the world face. The project, with its series of activities aimed at digitization of services, citizen participation and capacity building in state institutions, had contributed to improvements in these areas,” Daniela Funke has said.
The Agreement was signed at the Final Conference of the project which was implemented during the previous three years, and within which the key results of the Public Administration Reform were presented, especially in the segment of modernized provision of services to citizens, human resources management, planning and coordination of public policies, and in the field of European integration.
The participants of the conference have confirmed that a prerequisite for joining the EU is an efficient public administration that is oriented towards the needs of the citizens.
The new project is a continuation of the cooperation between Serbia and Germany in this area, and includes a large number of activities that will contribute to the better functioning of public administration. In addition to the key signatories, the partners involved in the implementation of the Project are also significant, including the Secretary-General of the Government of Serbia, the Public Policy Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia, the Human Resource Management Service and the National Academy for Public Administration.
Photo gallery – source: MDULS
