By taking part in the Community programmes, which represent an important instrument of the EU enlargement policy, the Republic of Serbia builds and improves its technical and administrative capacities to prove its preparedness for EU membership and to enable the implementation of sectoral EU policies.

Within the previous EU Budget (2007–2013), Serbia participated in a large number of EU programmes while the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) evaluated Serbia's participation in these programmes. In the new 2014-2020 EU Budget, Serbia has continued to participate in the Community programmes.

The Republic of Serbia actively participated in the following Community programmes, under the EU Budget for 2007-2013:

• Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), earmarked for research and technological development (http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html);
• The Culture 2007-2013 Programme, intended for cooperation in the area of culture (http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/culture/);
• The PROGRESS Programme, intended for employment and social policy (http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&;catId=327) ;
• Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme - The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Operational Programme (CIP EIP) and the Information & Communication Technologies Policy Support Operational Programme (ICT-PSP) (http://ec.europa.eu/cip/, http://ec.europa.eu/cip/eip/;
• The Fiscalis 2013 Programme- for cooperation in the area of implementing tax policy (http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/tax_cooperation/fiscalis_programme/fiscalis2013/index_en.htm);
• Customs 2013 Programme – for cooperation in the area of implementation of customs policy (http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/cooperation_programmes/customs2013/index_en.htm);
• TEMPUS and Erasmus Mundus Programmes – for cooperation in education (http://www.tempus.ac.rs/);
• Life-long Learning Programme, intended for cooperation in life-long learning (http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/);
• The Youth in Action Programme, intended for cooperation in the area of youth programmes (http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/youth/);
• The Safer Internet Programme – aimed at safer Internet (http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/index_en.htm).

According to Swedish SIDA, 700 project proposals were funded from the EU programmes in the above-stated period in Serbia, and the total value of projects chiefly managed by the Serbian institutions amounted to EUR 84.5 million. According to estimates, total financial gain from Serbia's participation in the EU programmes is at least EUR 65.2 million. Youth, students, scientists, youth centres, theatres, universities, faculties, schools, scientific institutes, hospitals, libraries, regional development agencies, local self-government bodies, NGOs, SMEs, public and private enterprises, ministries and the tax and customs administration employees were the beneficiaries of EU programmes in the above-mentioned period.

When it comes to the new 2014-2020 EU Budget, Serbia has started to participate in the following Community programmes:

• Horizon 2020– research and innovation programme http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/what-horizon-2020;
• Erasmus + – youth education programme http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm;
• Creative Europe – for funding transnational projects in the fields of culture and creative work http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/;
• Europe for Citizens – programme intended for funding projects spreading better understanding of the European Union, its history and diversity http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/europe-for-citizens-programme/index_en.htm.

Serbia has also shown an interest in or is at various stages of negotiating its participation in other Community programmes as well: Customs 2020, Fiscalis 2020, Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME), Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).