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Overall objectives

The overall objective of the Project is to assist the Republic of Serbia, as beneficiary country in meeting the requirements of the Stabilisation and Association process.
In order to meet the overall objective with regard to sustainability, it is ultimately necessary that the Project Partner(s) to take full ownership of the processes and results that are achieved by this project. This will further require that the Government reinforce their policy decisions and define appropriate priorities in the relevant subject areas. An important lesson learned from similar projects is that a clear policy mandate and priorities are an indispensable prerequisite for achieving sustainable results.

Project purpose

The purpose of the Project is to facilitate the adoption by the beneficiary country of policies and legislations harmonised with the EU Acquis and with the EU political criteria.
In this context it should be noted that the EU expects from a candidate country that it meets the Copenhagen criteria (democratic political system, efficient market economy, and legislation harmonised with the EU acquis), which further implies that the entire public administration and judiciary must comply with the same goals and standards. This does not require solely the harmonisation of legislation, but harmonisation of the policies and strategies for meeting the political criteria as well.
We believe that the purpose of this project will be fulfilled if it benefits the recipient country not only in respect of fulfilling the EU criteria as such, but also in respect of the advantages that they bring along.

Beneficiary: The Serbian European Integration Office

The Serbian European Integration Office (SEIO) is a key player in the SAp and the SAA negotiations. The decree establishing the SEIO (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No. 65/2006) set out the competences of the Office. It is a service organisation that is oriented directly towards the Government and its director is accountable to the Government and the Prime Minister (Art. 3 of the Decree).
The mandate of the SEIO covers the following tasks:

Further Project Partners: Line Ministries, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court and Other Relevant State Authorities

Other project partners are those ministries and state bodies which bear the responsibility in the area of legal harmonisation process that the PLAC project aims to cover (“line ministries”), the National Assembly, and the Constitutional Court.
The new Law on Ministries (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 48/07), defined the powers of governmental institutions in the following manner:

In addition to above mentioned line ministries, the project team and designated experts will also maintain cooperation with the National Assembly – especially with the Committee on EU Integration and the EU Department – as well as with the Constitutional Court.
Other key institutions in the legislative process of the Government of Serbia (e.g. the Secretariat for Legislation) and economic operators, represented by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its EU Department are also considered as important partners.
 

Planned activities

1. Support to Harmonising Legislation with the EU Acquis 

2. Improving the Coordination and Monitoring Capacities for the Legal Harmonisation Process

3. Training and Capacity Building

Support to the Constitutional Court of Serbia in Meeting New Constitutional Requirements