Belgrade, Serbia – 8 November 2013

Serbia accepts other provisions of the European Charter of Self-Government

“The willingness of the Serbian Government to ratify articles of the European Charter of Self-Government (ECLSG) which were not accepted at the time of the adherence to this text is a very positive step forward on the way to a European area of common standards for local self-government. This coincides with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of entry into force of the Charter in September and its recent ratification by the 47^th Council of Europe member state, the Republic of San Marino”, said Congress Secretary General Andreas Kiefer in a meeting with State Secretary Radoje Savićević in the Serbian Ministry of Regional Development and Local Self-Government in Belgrade on 8 November 2013. The meeting was also attended by Assistant Ministers Nataša Dragojlović (Decentralisation) and Saša Mogić (Local self-government).

“This initiative reflects the recent reforms in Serbia which have aimed at strengthening the role of local authorities by introducing news legislation and amending the existing one”, Andreas Kiefer added.

He confirmed the will of the Council of Europe to continue the good co-operation with the Serbian authorities as well as with the representative associations of municipalities and cities, with a view to establishing a sustainable distribution of powers at the different levels of government. A prerequisite for this is the creation of political and administrative capacities at local and regional level. The Congress is ready to make its experience available for the next steps in Serbia’s reform process.

Radoje Savićević invited the Congress to present its activities on fighting corruption and promoting ethical behaviour at local and regional level to Serbian authorities and stakeholders in 2014. The Congress will organise an international conference on this subject on 8 May 2014 in Innsbruck.

Photo : Nataša Dragojlović, Assistant Minister in charge of decentralisation, Andreas Kiefer, Congress Secretary General, Radoje Savićević, State Secretary and Saša Mogić Assistant Minister in charge of local self-government.