EUR 771mn in EU pre-accession funds

EUR 771mn in EU pre-accession funds

“Anyone with an idea should come to us, and we will find the appropriate competition, provide assistance putting together a project which is then submitted to the European Commission,” Dušica Zajc, advisor to Slovenia-based consultant company RR&Co said.

“However, the EC approves only 25 percent of submitted projects since it practices a strict control over its spending,” she added.

In order to increase chances for receiving funds for a particular project, it is best to have partners from other European states involved, Zajc said, adding that the whole procedure can last longer than a year.

Of EUR 771mn, 186mn will be spent in 2007, 191mn in 2008, 195mn in 2009 and 198mn in 2010.

Serbia was granted access to the Seventh Framework Program for research and technology development (FP7) last month. The Program reserves between EUR 186mn and 198mn per annum for projects from Serbia only.

The extent to which Serbia will use these funds will depend on the competence of the state institutions and experts skilled in preparation and management of projects, RR&Co representatives said.

They added that Serbia currently lacked sufficient number of such experts, and that Belgrade only should have a separate institution employing at least 50 people tasked with project preparation and management.

Of all EU member states, only Ireland managed to utilize as much as 92 percent of its pre-accession funds.

RR&co is a consulting company that plans to open three offices in Serbia over the next year to offer services and assistance to those who want to apply for irreversible funds from the EU pre-accession funds.