Since September 2012, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has been continuously supporting the process of European integration of the Republic of Serbia through technical assistance projects titled Support to the European Integration Process and Support to EU Accession Negotiations in Serbia. These projects have significantly contributed to the strengthening of institutions for EU accession negotiations and development of public administration capacities of Serbia.
Continued support to the European integration process has also been provided within the project Support to Public Administration Reform in Serbia, which envisages a special component intended for this purpose.
Challenge
An important condition for the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union is public administration reform. Although Serbia has taken certain steps in this field during recent years, additional reforms are needed related, among other issues, to improving the coherency of public policy planning systems, human resource management in the public sector, and optimisation of public services. Furthermore, the quality of EU accession negotiation management needs to be ensured to complete this important process in the most efficient way possible.
Objective
The Serbian administration is better prepared for EU accession, especially with regard to a stronger focus on citizens’ needs.
Approach
The project supports the Republic of Serbia in its effort of making public administration more efficient and citizen oriented. The project is closely aligned with the Serbian reform agenda in the field of public administration. Namely, the main national reference document is the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2021-2030 and its corresponding Action Plan for the period 2021-2025.
As far as the management of the EU accession process is concerned, the central document is the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA).
The project builds on the results of previous phases and focuses its efforts on 1) strengthening the comprehensibility of policy planning and legislative processes (incl. EU integration) and on creating 2) procedural and personnel conditions and capacities for better service provision.
Activities in the first field of intervention aim to increase the harmonisation of the selected planning documents of the Republic of Serbia and to improve the quality of reporting on the implementation of the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis, contributing to increased transparency and a better understanding of the complex European Union accession process. Activities in the second field of intervention support the improvement of services by enabling the systemic involvement of users. It is planned that human centred design of services will become an official part of the training curriculum for civil servants. Human resource capacities in public administration will be improved by standardising job descriptions, and including competences important for providing services to citizens.
Project period
10/2023 – 9/2026