Brussels (Brussels Morning) – The EU Council endorsed the Reform and Growth Facility for Western Balkans, aiming to support reforms and economic growth. The facility will provide up to €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in loans. It requires partners to align with EU values and prepare reform agendas.
The European Council gave its final approval to setting up a Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, a new mechanism to support EU-related reforms and economic growth in the region. The facility is the financial post of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. It will range from 2024 to 2027 and is anticipated to deliver up to €2 billion in donations and €4 billion in loans to the EU’s six Western Balkan allies in the coming years.
How Will the Facility Benefit the Western Balkans?
The Press of European Council states that the main purpose of the facility is to keep Western Balkan partners’ alignment with the EU’s values, laws, regulations, standards, policies and procedures, with a view to prospective EU membership, as well as their advanced integration into the EU single market and socio-economic convergence with the EU. The facility will fund a range of socio-economic and essential reforms, including reforms linked to the rule of law and fundamental rights.
What Criteria Must Western Balkan Partners Meet for Support?
To acquire support under the facility, each ally in the region must prepare a Reform Agenda, setting out the reforms it intends to undertake to fulfil the facility’s objectives. The Western Balkan partners will also be required to reflect on how the measures included in the Reform Agendas are anticipated to contribute to progressive and continued alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. EU member states will have a critical role in approving the beneficiaries’ Reform Agendas and, if required, their amendments.
How the Support Will be Provided?
Support under the facility will be delivered through: the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), in the constitution of grants and loans, for investments underpinning the Reform Agendas, such as acquisitions in infrastructure projects (€3 billion). loans spent directly to Western Balkan partners’ budgets to rev growth based on fundamental socio-economic reforms (€3 billion). Payments will be driven twice a year, provided that the partners fulfil the qualitative and quantitative measures set out in their respective Reform Agendas. Where the preconditions for approval are not met or are no longer met, the EU may determine to withhold the release of funds.
What Are the Preconditions for EU Approval?
General preconditions for EU permission under the facility include that partners continue to support and respect effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary procedure, free and fair elections, pluralistic media, an autonomous judiciary and the rule of law, and to ensure respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.
How Will Serbia and Kosovo* Fulfill Their Obligations?
For Serbia and Kosovo*, another precondition is that they employ constructively with measurable improvement and tangible results in the normalisation of their relations to fully execute all their respective obligations deriving from the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation and its Implementation Annex, as well as all outside Dialogue Agreements and that they employ in negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on the normalisation of relations.
What Measures Ensure Transparency in Fund Usage?
To improve transparency, the Western Balkan partners will need to set up a web portal for disseminating up-to-date data on absolute recipients receiving more than EUR 50,000 in total over four years under this facility.
