Western Balkans, EU Council ready to negotiate Growth Fund

Brussels – EU Council’s green light for financial assistance to the Western Balkans countries. Ambassadors from the twenty-seven member states approved the negotiating mandate for the Reform and Growth Fund for the countries in the region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). Presented by the European Commission last November, the special program is expected to provide, from 2024 to 2027, up to €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in loans to EU partners.

The Fund will support the EU’s Western Balkan partners in undertaking a comprehensive series of socioeconomic and fundamental reforms, including on the rule of law and fundamental rights, support the enlargement process and accelerate the partners’ economic convergence with the EU. In this regard, payments “will be subject to strict conditionality in terms of the implementation of the reforms set out in the agenda agreed by each partner,” the EU Council recalls in announcing the green light.

This is one of the key points for the permanent representatives of the twenty-seven countries. One of the fundamental changes from the initial proposal of the EU executive concerns precisely the strengthening of the council’s role in the governance of the instrument. Thus, the EU member states will have a say in the disbursement of resources. The EU institution will have a greater weight in adopting and amending reform agendas, monitoring compliance with preconditions for EU support, and assessing compliance with payment conditions. In its mandate, the council places greater emphasis on aligning partners with the common foreign and security policy.

As soon as the European Parliament has adopted its position, inter-institutional negotiations for the final go-ahead and activation of the Western Balkans Reform and Growth Fund can begin. The EU strategy for the region is based on four pillars, aimed at strengthening the economic integration of the Western Balkan partners with the EU single market, promoting economic integration within the region through the common regional market, accelerating key reforms, and increasing financial assistance.