Brussels/Novi, 23/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - A €34 million contract was signed on Tuesday for the reconstruction of the Sloboda (Liberty) Bridge in Novi Sad. This is the largest of the bridges seriously damaged by NATO action in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in 1999. According to a European Commission press release, the project will be the largest so far financed by EC funds in the FRY and will be managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction, which manages most EC-funded programmes in the FRY. It aims to restore full navigation of the river Danube. The Commission decision to proceed with the reconstruction of the Sloboda bridge was taken in March 2002, following the FRY authorities' implementation of a November 2001 agreement on navigation conditions. Commissioner Chris Patten explained that, "The restoration of navigation is of economic and commercial, environmental, cultural and political importance to Europe -and the reconstruction of this bridge will obviously be of enormous importance to the inhabitants of Novi Sad."