Vucic: Ambitious agenda set out for Serbia

VIENNA - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said at the “Business Bridge” business forum in Vienna on Wednesday that the government of Serbia set out an ambitious agenda that includes major reforms crucial for the creation of a more favorable business environment.

Serbia is looking at wholesale structural reforms, Vucic said at the forum organized by the Economic Senate of Austria and Serbia, adding that new laws on labor, privatization, bankruptcy, and permit issuance, vital for a favorable business climate, will be adopted over the next month and a half.
"We made an effort to create the best incentive package for all those who want to invest in Serbia with tax reliefs," said Vucic.

Under the law coming into effect on July 1, a company that creates 10 jobs in Serbia will only pay contributions for 3 employees, while the state will be paying for the remaining 7, he explained.

If 100 jobs are created, the company will only pay 25 percent of the costs, and the rest will be covered by the state.

This fiscally neutral measure is intended to boost employment, Vucic stressed, adding that Serbia is about to face difficult fiscal consolidation measures in order to reduce the fiscal deficit and public debt.

Serbia is committed to the European path, said Vucic.
"Our goal is to meet the obligations related to the EU accession by 2019, and then we expect the EU to decide whether Serbia will be accepted as a full-fledged EU member," Vucic underlined.

He said that Serbia wants a closer cooperation with Austria and expressed his belief that the two countries will belong to the same sphere of influence.
"One hundred years since the outbreak of World War I, the Serbs and the Austrians have...