Cash Grants (Government of Serbia)

Cash Grants (Government of Serbia) is sponsored by Government of Serbia. The Government of Serbia offers financial support for Greenfield and Brownfield projects in the manufacturing sector and services that may be subject to international trade. These grants aim to offset initial capital investments and ease the start-up of business endeavors.

While targeting its critics for foreign funding, Serbian state receives billions from abroad - European Western Balkans While targeting its critics for foreign funding, Serbian state receives billions from abroad Aleksandar Vučić addressing the public on 1 December 2024; Photo: FoNet The highest Serbian officials, along with pro-government tabloids, continue to spread the narrative that the protests in the country are being financed from abroad with the aim of destabilizing Serbia.

Old stories about “colour revolution” are being recycled daily in an attempt to divert divert attention from students and citizens demands, who have been protesting for seven months. Meanwhile, the Serbian state and its institutions remain the largest recipients of foreign funding from governments and the EU.

Over the past decade the EU has allocated approximately 64 million euros to support civil society and media – representing only 2-4% of the EU’s total non-refundable assistance to Serbia, which reached over 2. 9 billion during the same period. “The operation to overthrow Serbia has been in the making fro a long time.

There has been long-term investment against our judiciary, prosecution… Enormous sums of money have been funelled into Serbian media that have become a platform for destroying Serbia. Billions of euros were invested in bringing Serbia down, and they nearly succeeded”, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić said during the SNS rally in Niš.

“Blockaders (the word used by ruling party and tabloids for students) directly linked to London – now everything is clear: Europe is financing the destruction of the state and with those help”, reads one of dozens of articles from the daily tabloid Informer, which routinely targets government critics without consequence.

Informer alleges that foreign governments are financing the protests, claiming that students have met with professor from Faculty of Political Science, Dušan Vučićević, who leads the “Popular Democracy”, project aimed at promoting democratic values among high school students in Serbia.

The fact that the project is supported by the Westminster Foundation, publicly disclosed on the project’s website – is used by Informer as “evidence” that British intelligence is behind the protests. The financing of civil society organizations was also the topic of an Informer morning show featuring former Yugoslav foreign minister Vladislav Jovanović.

The show claimed that the West is waging a hybrid war against Serbia and accused independent media outlets and civil society organizations, such as KRIK and Crta, of allegedly hiding their funding sources. It concluded that the prosecution should initiate proceedings against them. Informer failed to mention that the funding sources of these, and other civil society organizations, are publicly available.

Detailed information on projects and donors can be found on their websites. EU has allocated to civil society and media 2-4 total non-refundable assistance In their attacks on activists and organizations, pro-government media and officials never mention how much foreign funding the Serbian state itself receives.

As the EU Delegation to Serbia stated for European Western Balkans , over the past decade the EU has allocated approximately 64 million euros to support civil society and media – representing only 2-4% of the EU’s total non-refundable assistance to Serbia, which reached over 2. 9 billion during the same period.

“The EU provides both financial and technical support to civil society development in Serbia through several instruments, including regional and national grants under the ‘Civil Society and Media’ (CSF) program, as well as the ‘Global Europe for Human Rights and Democracy’ program,” the Delegation stated.

Since 2020, 114 grants have been awarded to 143 civil society organizations in Serbia through three main mechanisms: project (action) grants, operational grants, and financial support to third parties (FSTP). To support grassroots civic initiatives at the local level, over 700 sub-grants have been awarded to smaller civil society organizations across all 29 districts and 102 out of Serbia’s 174 municipalities.

Civil society organizations in Serbia have addressed a wide range of issues, including media freedom, environmental protection and climate change, youth policy and local youth engagement, human rights, anti-discrimination efforts, democracy, citizen participation in policymaking, social inclusion, Roma issues, healthcare and consumer protection, education and employment, and culture.

The Delegation added that since 2020, the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) has awarded 160 sub-grants to 106 media outlets and 54 civil society organizations, with one-third of the initiatives involving youth. Not only does the Serbian government regularly receive funds from EU member states through European programs, it has also benefited from U.S. assistance in the past.

The United States, primarily through USAID and other agencies, has provided over 1 billion dollars in development aid to Serbia since 2000. The majority of these funds have been directed to the state budget and managed by the ruling political majority through public institutions. In 2024 alone, Serbia received $40,144,406 from USAID, the bulk of which went into the national budget.

Civil society organizations and media outlets received only a fraction of that amount. What lies behind the trends shaping the Western Balkans? Twice a month, we bring you what daily news often misses, straight to your inbox.

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