Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Processes in Serbia

Abstract

Unlike the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), there is a long and well-established institutional legacy of environmental governance, and governance more generally, in Serbia. As outlined in the previous chapter, the governmental structures in Serbia are highly centralized at the state level, with minimal responsibilities at the municipal level and no intermediate level of governance. The exception to this is the autonomous province of Vojvodina with limited autonomy in selected areas, though these competencies were curtailed in the amended statute in May 2014. Because of existing governance capacities, the objective of Europeanization in Serbia was not one of state consolidation and creation, but rather to transform or rehabilitate authoritarian modes of government into practices that adhere to European democratic standards. In the period after the end of the Milošević-led regime, a number of reforms were passed, including new environmental legislation.