The “Western Balkans and the EU” meeting began in Skopje today, where the leaders of the countries of the region and representatives of the European Union and the United States discuss the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which includes six billion euros in grants and loans to accelerate socioeconomic convergence with the European Union.
The meeting, hosted by Macedonian Prime Minister Dmitar Kovačevski, began with a panel discussion, and the event will be attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, while the chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Borjana Kristo will speak via video message.
The director general of the EC Directorate for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Gert Jan Koopman, and the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, James O’Brien, are also attending the meeting.
On Monday, before the start of the summit, Kovačevski said that the leaders will adopt a joint declaration and that the topic of the meeting will be the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
“The growth plan should bring reforms and financial instruments in the amount of six billion euros for the countries of the Western Balkans – two billion in grants, four billion in soft loans guaranteed by the EU,” Kovačevski said, adding that they would also discuss joint activities in areas of trade, economy.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that important meetings were held yesterday and this morning for the progress and development of the entire region.
“We talked with European and American representatives about the growth plan. We will continue to talk today. We talked about participation in the common European market and what is important for us are those green lines, above all for our trucks, so that they can pass freely across borders EU countries, to further lower their operating costs, to strengthen our trade, industry. For that, it is necessary that we do it ourselves in the entire region,” said Vučić.
He stated that in the coming days, two protocols will be signed within the framework of the Open Balkans initiative, which are important for the functioning of the agreement on free access to the labor market in Tirana, Skopje and Belgrade.
“The second part concerns the growth plan of the European Union. We had a long discussion with Koopman about it last night, what are the conditions, what is it and what are the reforms that we have to propose, in order to get that money and to use it in the best possible way used,” Vučić said ahead of the start of the Western Balkans conference in Skopje.
The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said that this is a very important meeting where the leaders of the six countries will agree on the step they can take in the process of getting closer to the EU.
“It is about a new growth plan and integration into the internal market, something that until now was only possible for EU member states. It is an important change and an opportunity that we must not miss. That is why it is important that we, the six Balkan countries, cooperate. Key is to put our citizens first and leave politics and history for later, because whatever we do, and if we can do it in time to improve things in the coming months, will define what our countries will look like at the end of this decade,” said Rama.
Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti added that the representatives of the region are meeting today with the representatives of Washington and Brussels with the aim of economic growth and development of the region.
“The values of the EU must be reformed in us, and the EU’s support must also be financial. The growth plan means six billion euros for our region, and in that case the amount of funds received depends on the good work we do and the successful performance we show. Today Kosovo will submit a list of reforms that were discussed, while in the following days we will also submit a list of indicative projects. As far as reforms are concerned, the focus is on the reform of public administration and public finance management, while among the projects we have those for the green agenda, digitization, investments in private sector and reducing the infrastructure gap,” Kurti said.
He thanked North Macedonia, the EU and the USA for, as he said, a very important meeting, which will enable greater regional cooperation, but also faster progress towards the EU.
In November 2023, the European Commission adopted a new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans with the aim of bringing some of the benefits of membership to the region before accession, strengthening economic growth and accelerating much-needed socioeconomic rapprochement. The goal is to enable partner countries to intensify reforms and investments in order to significantly accelerate the process of expansion and growth of their economies.
For this purpose, a new Instrument for Reforms and Growth for the Western Balkans worth six billion euros has been proposed for the period from 2024-2027. Payments will be made only when the agreed reforms are implemented, AA writes.
