Ahead of the two-day gathering of REC4EU project partners, held on 26th and 27th of May 2026, Fruška Gora Television aired an interview with Mr. Bora Obradović, a project steering committee member at the RDA Srem, and Ms. Suzana Čekanti from the Tuscany Energy Agency (ARRR Spa), lead partner and communications manager within the REC4EU project.
Ms. Suzana Čekanti from ARRR outlined the composition of the REC4EU consortium and its ambitious mission: improving territorial governance and services in support of renewable energy community development. She also expressed her pleasure at attending the seventh interregional REC4EU meeting alongside all European partners, hosted by the Regional Development Agency Srem. She emphasized that the partnership is quite diverse — there are territories where renewable energy communities are already a reality and well advanced in their development, while in others they are still in their early stages. She confirmed that REC4EU is not just a project, but a genuine journey — one that began in 2023 amid skepticism toward renewable energy communities, and has now, near the end of that journey, reached understanding, action, and hopefully lasting change.
Mr. Obradović shared that REC4EU is a long-term project, and that through their participation the focus has been on learning and exchanging experience with Europe’s most advanced regions in the field of renewable energy — with knowledge sharing at the very heart of why they joined. He noted that the good practices gathered through this partnership directly support local initiatives, backed by national and provincial structures, including the establishment of two renewable energy communities — one in Stara Pazova, at the Innovation Centre for Sustainable Development, and one in Sremska Mitrovica — as part of a broader Regional Centre for Sustainable Development.
On May 26, participants also visited examples of good practice in Ruma, touring the results of the Belgrade-based energy cooperative “Elektropionir,” particularly in the field of solar energy. Nenad Maričić spoke about four key projects completed to date. The first is on Stara Planina, where solar power plants were built for two villages and all revenue from electricity sales is returned to the community. The second is “Agrosolar” in Valjevska Kamenica, where solar panels are installed at elevation with agricultural land for food production beneath them. The third project was carried out with the “Dušan Jerković” primary school in Ruma, and the fourth involves identifying households in Ruma interested in collaboration. Maričić noted that around twenty Ruma residents have already independently installed their own panels, while Elektropionir has so far engaged 27 interested participants for its own project.
To conclude, it was noted that after a period of intensive dialogue and interregional exchange, the partners’ goals have been translated into tangible results, thanks in part to the support of regional stakeholders. REC4EU has demonstrated that interregional cooperation and the sharing of good practices can bring significant improvements to local and regional policies — and above all, can accelerate the energy transition, proving that every milestone achieved brings us closer to a greener and more energy-independent Europe.
The Interview
The interview is available here.
The web articles
Furthermore 3 interesting articles were also published by the Serbian media:
Article 1: “EUROPEAN ELITE IN SREM: RRA Srem hosts project partners from nine countries within the “REC4EU” project – in Sremska Mitrovica a Regional Center for Sustainable Development is being planned!”
Name of the portal: RUMA LIVE, city media
Article 2: “International conference on renewable energy and sustainable development hosted in Ruma”
Name of the portal: Srem News
Article 3: “Regional Development Agency Srem | Project Focused on Renewable Energy Sources”
Name of the newspaper: M News
The project “Renewable Energy Communities for EU regions” (REC4EU) is funded under the Interreg Europe program 2021-2027.
