Confirmed, the Committee of the Regions is holding a session in Novi Sad

Novi Sad, 3 April – Predrag Novikov, Director of the Office for European Affairs, has had a meeting with the representatives of the Permanent Conference of Cities and Municipalities, whereby the preparations for organising a session of the Committee of the Regions have started. ”It is of special importance that the session of the Committee of the Region will be organized in partnership between the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Permanent Conference of Cities and Municipalities, because it is necessary for relevant institutions at all levels to work together in the process of Serbia’s accession to the EU”, said Predrag Novikov, Director of the Office for European Affairs. “These meetings will strengthen the relations with the representatives of local authorities in the Republic of Serbia and will contribute to your country’s institutional capacity building in the process of decentralisation, which is a necessary guideline on the way to the EU, once the Stabilization and Association Agreement is signed”, as stated in the letter of Roger Kaliff, Chairman of the Commission for External Relations and Decentralised Cooperation of the Committee of the Regions. At the meeting of the Working Group of the Committee of the Regions, which will be held in Novi Sad on 15 June 2007, and which will be opened by the President of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtić, the topics will be the relation between our country and the EU, chances for Serbia’s regionalisation, establishment of regional partnerships across Europe in order to use IPA funds. The significance of the Committee of Regions emerges from the fact that the institution needs to give consent to a range of key issues: economic and social cohesion, health care, employment, training, environmental protection, education and youth, infrastructure network in Europe, transport and culture. The areas are covered by the two-third of EU legislation. The Committee gives its opinion on the issues local and regional authorities should be dealing with. The European Parliament also consults the Committee’s Council.