A contract was signed by the Serbian government to receive 138.5 million euro from EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA).

The EU integration minister Jadranka Joksimovic announced that 76.5 million euro of the total grant, will be dedicated to local economic development and support, innovative enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises. The total financial support to Serbia from the EU budget for 2019 amounts to 211 million euro.

In addition to this support for 2019, funds are earmarked for Serbia under the instrument for pre-accession assistance for rural development (IPARD), an incentive for agriculture – 40 million euro, support for civil society organisations – 5 million euro and for special measures in response to the migration crisis – 27.5 million euro.

In December, Serbia opened Chapter 4 – Free Movement of Capital in its EU accession talks. Serbia started accession talks with the EU in January 2014 and has already opened 18 of the 35 chapters of the EU body of law, two of which were provisionally closed.