There is a risk that Serbia will lose around 74 million euros from the IPARD program of the European Union, intended for farmers, because she did not use those funds in a timely manner, the European Western Balkans portal announced, referring to unofficial sources. As they stated, the money that would European Union could withdraw refers to the IPARD 2 program, worth 175 million euros, and Serbia should spend it by the end of 2024. In the meantime, IPARD 3 worth 288 million euros was launched, which is valid until 2027, writes Euronews Serbia.
The Ministry of Agriculture explains that the IPARD 2 budget is distributed by year and accredited measures, as well as that the rule is that these funds must be withdrawn within three years from the year in which they were allocated.
They add that until now the funds allocated for the first years of the program have not been used, due to the fact that the number of realized projects and user requests for payment of funds was small, while the users themselves and the administration did not adapt to the new system and way of exercising the right to incentives.
They also state that the experiences of all countries that implemented that program are identical.
What are the experiences of farmers?
Milan Bogunović from the Initiative for the Survival of Serbian Farmers is one of the farmers from Banatski Karađorđevo who bought a new tractor thanks to the grants he received at the competition within the IPARD program.
He applied for funding in 2021, and the tractor arrived almost two years later.
"It's a perfect tractor, I can work 24 hours a day with it, it won't break anything, but I'll get tired." And not what it used to be, quite lying under the tractor, repairs and everything that takes up our time. In this new agriculture in those short time intervals, you don't have room for repairs now that I have five days to sow and the rain arrives," he told Milan.
Because of the fear of the unknown, he said, he missed the first competition.
When they saw that the use of the IPARD program was possible, other farmers in Banatski Karađorđevo bought new tractors in the same way.
However, many give up, and Milan states that there are several reasons - lack of money, negative experiences with corruption present at domestic competitions, slow administration, but also illogicality in the procedure itself.
For example, elimination due to tax debts.
"I receive the quarterly tax on September 1, let's say, I pay it on September 2." There I have 25 paras of interest, or two dinars of interest. Twenty-five paras or two dinars of interest is enough for them to eliminate us. Give us eight days to fix those tax problems, to pay them," said Milan.
The authorities, it seems, have heard these criticisms, because they removed them in the IPARD 3 program, that is, they left farmers a deadline of eight to 20 days to settle their tax debts.
15 public calls were announced
The ministry says that a total of 15 public calls were announced in this program cycle, within which 3.180 user requests were received. Of these, 1.556 projects were approved, the total value of which is around EUR 197 million in incentives, of which EUR 148 million is from the European Union budget.
So far, about 116 million euros have been paid, of which 87 million euros from the European budget, and in the process of approving the right to payment, about 20 million euros, ie 14,7 million euros from the European Union budget.
The relevant ministry states that they are working in parallel on the implementation of IPARD 3, as well as that two public calls for the allocation of funds from that program have been announced so far and that the response of farmers is good.
The interest of farmers is increasing
IPARD consultant Miloš Jandric from the IPARD system Novi Sad is not clear how the state could lose money due to non-use of funds because, he says, the interest of farmers in the recently opened public call for the procurement of tractors is high.
"Currently, the situation on the market seems to us that a greater number of requests will certainly be submitted than there is money in the budget provided for those purposes." According to our estimates, the money should be for around 400 tractors. "Based on the consultation of colleagues who do this work, we determined that more than that number was certainly submitted in less than two weeks," Jandrić told Euronews Serbia.
Now those requests are processed much faster than at the beginning of the IPARD program, when there were a number of doubts, says Jandrić.
Permits pending
However, there are still problems, because there is often a long wait for permits issued by various institutions, so applications to the competition fail, regardless of great interest.
When asked how complicated the process of applying for funds from IPARD funds is for farmers and whether the procedure can be simplified, IPARD consultant Bojana Adžić says that there were difficulties from the very start, but that 2024, the year in which IPARD 3 began program, brings so many good things, benefits and positive guidelines for farmers.
"As for the documentation that is submitted, as for the conditions that are fulfilled, the procedure, everything is very clear and everything is prescribed by the regulations of the Administration for Agrarian Payments." "Thanks to the consultants, you can carry out these procedures very neatly, and from my point of view, after all these years, I would no longer say that it is complicated, moreover, looking back all these years, I could say that it is really simplified," she said.
Is the right to state subsidies lost?
Experts cite as one of the causes of the loss of funds from IPARD the weak response of farmers to the calls of the ministry because, as they say, by using IPARD funds, the right to state subsidies in that year is lost.
When asked if this means that if one applies for money from IPARD and does not receive it, he loses the right to a subsidy, Adžić says that this question is often asked by farmers and that perhaps the spread of misinformation misleads agricultural producers that if with one agricultural who submit a request for a certain incentive, they lose the right to another.
"No, they don't lose their right." Of course, you cannot apply for every public call and for every measure, but what is important is that the measures of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Administration for Agrarian Payments are very clearly and well, in my opinion, coordinated," she said.
Obstacle - fear of bureaucracy
Apart from misinformation, Adžić cited farmers' fear of bureaucracy and complicated documentation as the biggest problem when applying for IPARD funds. She specified that young farmers up to the age of 40 have the right to a refund for consulting services up to 70 percent, as well as for a tractor.
Source: Euronews Serbia
