Today, 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 in advance of accession, boost economic growth and accelerate much needed socio-economic convergence. The objective should be to enable partners to step up reforms and investments to significantly accelerate the speed of the enlargement process and the growth of their economies. For this, a new \u20ac6 billion Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans has been proposed for the period 2024-2027. Payments will happen only after the fulfilment of agreed reforms.<\/p>\n
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The\u00a0new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans<\/strong>\u00a0is based on\u00a0four pillars<\/strong>, aimed at:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As part of the Growth Plan, every Western Balkan partner will be invited to prepare a\u00a0Reform Agenda<\/strong>\u00a0based on existing recommendations including from the annual Enlargement Package and the countries’ Economic Reform Programmes (ERP). This Reform Agenda will be consulted with, assessed and adopted by the Commission.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n European Commission President Ursula\u00a0von der Leyen<\/strong>\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cWith today’s adoption of the new \u20ac6 billion Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, we are bringing the Western Balkans economies closer to the EU. The potential of this Growth Plan is extraordinary. This Growth Plan could double the economy of the Western Balkans in the next 10 years. With its combination of reforms and investments, it will allow the Western Balkan to\u00a0<\/em>benefit soon from key areas of our single market, \u00a0including free movement of goods, \u00a0services and workers, the single euro payments area, transport, energy and the digital single market.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Next steps<\/strong><\/p>\n It is now for the European Parliament and the Council to examine the proposal for the Facility in the framework of the MFF mid-term review package. Once adopted, the six Western Balkans partners will be invited to submit their individual reform agendas laying out the socio-economic and fundamental reforms they will undertake to spur growth and convergence under the Growth Plan during the period of 2024 – 2027. Serbia and Kosovo need engage to constructively in the EU-facilitated Dialogue on normalisation of relations, led by the High Representative, as necessary pre-condition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Economic convergence is an essential element in getting the Western Balkan countries closer to the EU. Currently, the level of convergence between the Western Balkan partners and the EU is not progressing fast enough, with average GDP per capita in purchasing power for our Western Balkan partners standing at between 30% and 50% of the EU average.<\/p>\n Integration with the EU’s single market has been the main driver of economic growth for all countries that joined the EU. The positive impact on a country’s GDP and income levels that arise from the integration with the EU’s single market, has been clearly demonstrated in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, the European Commission adopted a new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, with the aim of bringing some of the benefits of membership to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152227,"featured_media":1228121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"country-for-news":[53,54,49,50,51,52],"class_list":["post-1228120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","wb_theme-connectivity","wb_theme-culture-and-youth","wb_theme-democracy-and-fundamental-rights","wb_theme-economy","wb_theme-environment","wb_theme-equality-and-fair-society","wb_theme-innovation-and-skills","wb_theme-regional-cooperation","country-for-news-north-macedonia","country-for-news-serbia","country-for-news-albania","country-for-news-bosnia-and-herzegovina","country-for-news-kosovo","country-for-news-montenegro"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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