Agriculture Minister Elena Tanasković has requested the European Commission to extend the spending deadline for the IPARD farm fund to ensure €30 million in grants for Serbian farmers do not remain unused.
Extending the deadline by one year would allow Serbia to fully use the remaining €158.5 million from the IPARD 2 programme, said Tanasković after meeting European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Vojcehovski in Brussels on Thursday.
Serbia has spent €42 million, and another €80 million is set to be spent by the end of 2023.
“If we don’t get an extension, the rest of the funds will be unused, which I consider a great loss, first of all for Serbian farmers,” said Tanasković.
Serbia’s Agriculture Ministry pointed out that the European Commission showed its willingness to respond positively to Serbia’s request for a one-year extension so that farmers could use the funds the European Union donated to Serbia.
(EURACTIV.rs I Bojana Zimonjić Jelisavac)
Source: euractiv.com
