During June 2022, the Twinning project that is financed by the European Union with the objective of supporting the establishment of a carcass classification system in line with the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, began in Serbia. The project will be carried out by experts from Spain and Latvia who will collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management (MAFWM) of Serbia. The Ministry of Finance of Serbia, through the Department for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programmes as contracting body, is responsible for financing, contracting, execution of payments and supervision of the project implementation.

Twinning is an instrument of the European Union for institutional cooperation between the Public Administrations of the Member States of the European Union and the beneficiary or partner countries. The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) aims to provide support for the transposition, implementation and enforcement of European Union legislation.

In this case, the general objective of the project is to direct meat producers towards to market and consumer demands, and to improvement of the quality of meat production and the transparency of the meat market in the Republic of Serbia.

It should result in the establishment of a mandatory classification system for beef and pork carcasses on the slaughter line and the reporting of their prices in accordance with European Union regulations, as well as the establishment of the application of definitions, labels and sales labels.

The common classification system allows the classification of carcasses and price allocation according to the standards. In addition, the mandatory communication of prices makes it possible to monitor the market, anticipation or detection of disturbances, and launching of response measures if necessary.

In addition, this system pursues a transparent functioning of the market, in which producers are located in a transparent, consistent and fair manner for their productions.

It is a tool to improve knowledge and sharing of information for farmers, industry, administration, and society in general.

The project, which has a budget of 1,000,000 euros, has a duration of 18 months, during which different missions of Spanish and Latvian experts will be carried out, who will visit different meat establishments and will carry out the training of the MAFWM, of the control bodies and the staff of the slaughterhouses. Serbian team will also travel to Spain and Latvia to see how this system works in those countries.