Serbia made efficient use of EU funds, ECA report says

BRUSSELS - Despite some weaknesses, Serbia has used EU pre-accession funds in a responsible manner, the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the EU's top independent financial supervisory body, has said in a report.

The ECA has established that EU support of about EUR 1.2 billion over the 2007-2013 period has been globally effective in preparing Serbia for EU membership, says the report, published in Brussels on Tuesday.

By directing funding towards good governance, establishing the rule of law and fighting corruption, the European Commission has set priorities successfully, which has led to a gradual improvement in these sectors, the Court said.

On the other hand, the report highlights weaknesses such as a complete lack of coordination between an European assistance programme for judicial reform and a similar programme of the US government.

"The audited projects delivered their planned outputs although they suffered from weaknesses regarding their design, implementation and sustainability," the report said.

"Despite gradual improvement in managing the IPA, the Commission needs to further improve the second generation IPA used in the 2014-2020 period," the auditors concluded.

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