“During this and last year, in a very challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic, Serbia managed to revise and adopt a number of important strategic documents in the field of Public Administration Reform and significantly improve the development and implementation of PAR policies in line with European standards,” the State Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Čedomir Rakić, has said at the ninth meeting of the CoR-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee.
Rakić spoke at today’s online session on behalf of Minister Marija Obradović, which was dedicated to the involvement of local and regional authorities in the process of Serbia’s accession to the EU. Referring to the recent European Commission Progress Report on Serbia, he has stated that Serbia has made progress in almost all areas, and that all the results on which the Ministry has worked intensively in the field of Public Administration Reform have been recognized.
“The most important document is certainly the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2021-2030, which was adopted in April of this year, within which a public policy document was prepared for the first time, which plans the strategic development of local self-government reform. The goal is to build a modern, professional, efficient and responsible local self-government that is capable of providing quality services to citizens and the economy and which contributes to the balanced development of Serbia through its actions,” Rakić has said.
As he has stated, digitization and creation of a citizen-oriented public administration remained the top priorities of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and with further progress in the development of eServices, the Public Administration Reform has contributed to providing an adequate response to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rakić has also recalled the recently adopted Law on the Protector of Citizens and the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, which will improve the responsibility and transparency of the public administration, but also strengthen the independence of the Protector of Citizens and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection. He has added that the Draft Bill on Referendum and People’s Initiative has been prepared, while its adoption is expected in foreseeable future.
“The Ministry monitors the implementation and participates in the implementation of 14 projects, which are primarily focused on the reform of the local self-government system, decentralization, greater participation of citizens and improvement of the electoral system. One of the biggest challenges in the coming period is the quality management of human resources at the central and local level, in order to successfully implement the obligations which stem from the EU accession process, but also the possibility of using EU funds,” the State Secretary has said, thanking the European partners for their donor support and continuous cooperation.
Today’s session of the CoR-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee, whose formal host for the first time in the new convocation is the Serbian side, was chaired by the co-chair Franz Schausberger, the representative of the State Parliament of Salzburg, and Dragana Sotirovski, the Mayor of Niš. In addition to the representatives of Serbian and European institutions, Mateja Norčič Stamcar, Deputy Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, also spoke at the session.
The topic of the meeting was environmental protection, climate action and energy issues. The focus of interest was also the extension of the TAIEX Programme to local and regional authorities.