26th November 2009

Subotica, City Hall

The conference gathered around 40 participants from the municipalities included in the action, host city of Subotica, NGO-s, local media representatives. After the presentation of the project’s main objectives by Stanka Parac Damjanovic, Director of LDA Subotica, the key note speeches were delivered by: on behalf of the Mayor of Subotica, Mr. Slavko Parac, vice president of the City Assembly of Subotica. He informed about the ongoing efforts to strengthen the capacity of the city administration to meet the challenges of modernization in providing services to citizens and to better coordinate the work of different departments to more successful utilization of present and future EU funding opportunities intended for local self-governments in Serbia. Mr. Laslo Varga, Member of Serbian Parliament, president of the Parliamentary Committee for EU integration spoke about the recent initiatives to reinforce the role the Parliament in support to EU integration process of Serbia. The initiative also includes bilateral visits of Serbian MP-s to EU member states so as to establish direct communication with respective Parliaments. Mrs. Nadia Cuk Skenderovic, Head of CoE Office in Belgrade presented to the audience the main topic of the training program: EU regional policy with comparative analysis and practice of regionalization process in SEE; Mrs. Snezana Djordjevic had the presentation on European standards of local self-government – from policy measures to compliance of the newly established system of local self-government in Serbia with these standards. Mr. Aleksandar Popov, Director of Center of regionalism Novi Sad presented the experience and good practice of regional city to city networking activities of the Association Philia linking cities and NGO-s in the Balkans. He also spoke about the advocacy work of the Center for regionalism for genuine decentralization and the necessary legislative preconditions for effective and responsive performances of local self-governments in Serbia.

Mr. Srdjan Majstorovic, Deputy Director of the EU Integration Office of the government of Serbia could not attend the conference due to other urgent commitments, and in further communication it was agreed that he would be able to accept to be a guest speaker in of the trainings which will be organized in municipalities.

During the debate, participants demonstrated a high level of understanding of main project objectives emphasizing the need for improved capacities at local level for collaborative   development of project proposals for EU funding opportunities. Many agreed that a specific value of this project is the fact that it is intended for smaller municipalities and will be implemented in the form of capacity building intended for each local government separately, but will also help their improved interaction and co-operation in determining common areas of interests in applying for EU funding opportunities. In addition, the project activities coincide with intensified activities of Serbian government for speeding up the EU integration process, and with an increased number of calls for proposals intended for local governments and CSO-s.

The second part of the conference was dedicated to participants’ interaction and the planning of the time table for the training seminars. The design of the training seminar in municipalities was presented by the Project team members. Representatives of local governments expressed their willingness to provide all necessary support in organizing the events, both in terms of ensuring the conference room in the town hall, contacting and sending out the invitation letter to local participants and active participation in presenting the main project objectives at the beginning of each seminar.