Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

One of the conclusions of the discussion “Where is the place and what is the role of local communities and civil society in the accession negotiations of Serbia with the European Union”, held by the National Convent on the European Union in Vranje, was that two thirds of the regulations to be adopted by the state during accession negotiations with the European Union will be applied at the local level.

“For Vranje, as a small local community, the most important is the application of the subsidiarity principle meaning that competences transferred from the highest levels of authority to lower ones must be accompanied by adequate financial funds”, said Zoran Antić, mayor of Vranje, and added that citizens are at the core of European integration.

The principle of decentralization is equally important to ensure knowing exactly who is competent for what. “It is important to implement decentralization from the top, to first identify what can be done at the level of local self-government, then transfer the competences further”, said Nataša Dragojlović, NCEU Coordinator.

According to the member of the Negotiation team Nebojša Lazarević, the main benefits of European integration will be for agriculture and underdeveloped areas of the country, while the most important issue for local communities is the availability of information from the local level to the negotiators. He added that the local communities must request information of importance proactively and in a timely manner (e.g. costs of applying European regulations).

The discussion in Vranje is part of the project “National Convent in Your Town”, implemented by NCEU with the support of the Good Governance Fund of the Embassy of United Kingdom.

(Secretariat of the National Convent on the EU)

Source: www.crnps.org.rs