COLLISION BETWEEN THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFICIENCY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The reform of public administration is necessary for enabling the economic development of a country. The Government of the Republic of Serbia has in the last several years conducted numerous reforms which have enabled a higher inflow of foreign direct investment. In order to create a better business environment, changes to the Law on planning and construction have been made in order to shorten the duration of issuing construction permits. Thanks to this Serbia has improved its position on Doing Business List which the World Bank publishes annually. This improvement, however, leaves room for discussion: can the principle of efficiency have an advantage over the principle of protecting the public interest? The goal of this analysis is to determine if the principle of protecting the public interest through conducting environmental impact assessment study is successfully implemented in the process of issuing construction permits.