SERBIAN EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE FL

The project is a framework loan and consists of the new construction, renovation and equipping of education facilities in Serbia. The preliminary list of schemes shared by the Promoter consists mainly of regional training centres, offering vocational upper secondary, tertiary and adult education aligned with the labour market needs. However, given that the proposed operation is a framework loan, the final scope will only be known at allocation stage and, therefore, the project could also include investments in pre-primary, primary and secondary general education.

The project supports the Serbian Government with the implementation of its Strategy for Education Development by 2030, which aims at improving the quality and the relevance of the education system. By contributing to the modernisation of education facilities, particularly of the regional training centres, the project is expected to improve the quality of education in Serbia and its alignment with the labour market needs, especially for VET studies. Consequently, these investments are expected to improve the students' employability by reducing the skill mismatch, one of the main causes of youth unemployment in the Republic of Serbia. The project also includes energy efficiency measures to significantly improve the energy performance of the education facilities and provision of new equipment to support new pedagogical methods.

The Republic of Serbia is an EU Candidate Country. In 2004, it passed legislation updating its current legislation on environmental impact assessment that appears to converge with the EU directive at the time 1985/337/EEC including amendments up to the 2003/35/EC Directive. The principles of the 2004 legislation would satisfy the EIB's Environmental and Social Safeguards and Serbia is yet to close the acquis that would bring its current legislation into line with current EU Directives. The project is expected to be located in locations where existing school and education infrastructure exists or be redeveloping existing brown-field sites that are no longer used. Therefore, potential negative environmental and social impacts are likely to be minor. If situated in the EU, the project would likely fall within Annex II of Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by 2014/52/EU (the EIA Directive) and therefore be subject to screening. Current Serbian environmental impact assessment (EIA) legislation would screen the project components prior to providing development consent. The potential impact on any conservation areas will also need to be appraised. The compliance of the procedures in place with the EIB environmental and social standards will be analysed during the appraisal. The project is also expected to incorporate energy efficiency measures and improve the energy performance of buildings in line with the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU.

The Bank will require the Promoter to ensure that implementation of the project will be done in accordance with the Bank's Guide to Procurement and the relevant applicable EU public procurement rules.

The proposed operation is expected be covered by the comprehensive guarantee granted to the EIB under the Dedicated Investment