The project Support to Commission for State Aid Control aims to support to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and in particular the existing state aid control and granting institutions, in alignment of rules and procedures in the field of state aid control with the EU acquis.
The project is financed by the European Union pre-accession funds (IPA 2014) with EUR 999,000 budget. The project is managed by the Ministry of Finance – Department for Contracting and Financing of European Union Funded Programs. The main beneficiary is the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia, while the main recipients are the Ministry’s Department for State Aid Control and the Commission for State Aid Control. Other institutional beneficiaries are line ministries in charge for granting state aid (Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Ministry of Environment Protection, Ministry of Mining and Energy, Ministry of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure), as well as Development Fund, Serbian Development Agency, local self-governent units and other entities in charge of giving state aid. Indirectly, the beneficiaries of the project are the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, business associations and non-governmental sector.
„Think State Aid First“ is one of the key project’s messages, intended to enable that state aid control rules are part of the earliest planning phase within institutions. The important segment of the project is raising awareness of all stakeholdres in the public sector, as well as of citizens, about the fact that integration of state aid control rules is a tool for long term strengthening of public finances, and that state aid in accordance with the rules can be one of instruments of economic and social growth.
Within the project, trainings in the field of state aid will be organised for all 174 local self-government units in Serbia, as well as an exchange of experience between Serbian state aid control experts and most relevant experts from the EU.
Оverall project’s objective is to further support Serbia’s progress on its European Union accession path (among others through alignment with acquis communautaire), specifically for what relates to Negotiation Chapter 8 – Competition Policy, by securing progress in further development and implementation of the system of rules and procedures in the field of state aid control.
The project has started in February 2019 and will last until February 2021. It is implemented by the consortium led by Alternative Consulting in cooperation with DMI France and Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania.