30.10.2023.

Minister Vučević hands over contracts to refugee families as part of Regional Housing Programme

Today, at the Palace of Serbia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence presented contracts for apartments purchased in Belgrade to refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.

The apartments have been built as part of the Regional Housing Programme, subproject 9, and the contracts for 71 apartments were handed over by Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret, Mayor of Belgrade Aleksandar Šapić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia Nataša Stanisavljević, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)in Serba Soufiane Adjali, representative of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Augusta Featherston, director of the Public Sector Projects Implementation Unit Dušan Kovačević, and representatives of the Swiss, Hungarian and German embassies.

Today, after more than three decades, Minister Vučević said in his address, the injustice that they personally experienced and that we as a nation experienced is being corrected to a certain extent.

- This is a nice occasion, but we need to look back at the causes that have brought about this situation. Not one of you has voluntarily left or lost your home and homeland, many have unfortunately lost their loved ones, but someone had decided that after the collapse of former Yugoslavia, our people should not live where they had lived for centuries. As a nation, we experienced the greatest exodus at the end of the 20th century, and in Europe. Not many tears were shed over our suffering, there wasn’t much understanding. They often tell us, explicitly or tacitly, that we ourselves are to blame for what we have experienced. I do not think that our people are to blame and I think that they have the same rights as other nations, regardless of where they live. But the most important thing you should know, that you should be sure of, dear compatriots, is that the Republic of Serbia is a home and homeland for all of us, regardless of where you had to come to Serbia from. Serbia is big and strong enough to embrace all its people - emphasized Minister Vučević.

According to the Minister of Defence, finding a solution to the housing issue is of great importance, because it is essential for people to have a roof over their heads, especially those who had to leave their homes and hearths.

- Perhaps you weren’t needed or wanted there, but we need you and you are part of this society, this nation, this country. If only we had had the strength to address these basic issues earlier, to solve the housing issue. Over the last three decades, new generations have been born, some new children who were born in Serbia have grown up, listening to stories about their homelands from you. Someone could have visited them, but essentially they are the children and grandchildren who are growing up in Serbia. And that is why this is a great thing and I would like to express my most sincere thanks, even though I have objections to what we experienced 30 years ago as a nation, to all contributors, donors, the European Union, the United Nations, the OSCE, The Council of Europe Bank, to all those who have worked with the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration. I also congratulate you, Mayor Šapić, because this is an important thing, these are the citizens of Belgrade who live and work in your city and thanks to this, they are becoming permanent citizens of Belgrade - said Minister Vučević.

Serbia has accepted more than 600,000 refugees over the past three decades, which ranks us among the European record holders, Minister Vučević said. He expressed his expectation that with the selfless help of all those who have helped so far, the rest of the people who have been expelled from their native countries will have their housing issue resolved, which is a task assigned to us from both the President of the Republic and the Government.

- Dear compatriots, I hope you will never again experience what you experienced in the nineties. I hope that the pain you carry and that cannot be alleviated or erased does not hold you back in your future life, that your children are happy and satisfied to be living in Serbia. I hope they will stay in Serbia, I hope we will have more children, more houses, more apartments, I hope we will have normal, decent lives, just as other nations and countries do. We ask for nothing more and nothing less. Not an iota more or less than others. And I believe that, as a firmly established European nation, we deserve that and we will definitely fight for it politically. Welcome to our city, we hope that you never wander again, that you never change your addresses again, and that you always live in your own country. And I hope you will have more apartments and more houses. And above all, I hope we will all have more children and more grandchildren. Long live Serbia - Minister Vučević said.

Ambassador Giaufret, Mayor Šapić and a beneficiary of the Regional Housing Programme, Rada Milojević, addressed those present, emphasizing the importance of the Programme and praising the efforts of the Republic of Serbia to provide all refugee families in our country with a roof over their heads.

The Regional Housing Programme is a joint programme of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia lasting several years and aiming to provide permanent housing solutions for refugee families in the greatest need in the region.