The Council presidency and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on setting up a Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans. The Facility is the centrepiece of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans presented by the Commission in November 2023.
The Facility will cover the period from 2024 to 2027 and is expected to provide up to €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in loans to the EU’s Western Balkan partners. It will complement the existing Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III), considerably increasing financial assistance to partners in the region.
Objectives of the Facility
The Facility will support the EU’s Western Balkan partners in undertaking EU-related reforms and stimulate their economic convergence with the EU, based on ambitious Reform Agendas. The Facility will also promote partners’ alignment with the EU values, laws, rules, standards, policies and practices with a view to future EU membership.
Next steps
The provisional agreement will now need to be endorsed by the Council and Parliament with a view to formal adoption by both institutions following legal-linguistic revision.
- Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans: Council agrees its negotiating mandate (press release, 6 March 2024)
- New Growth Plan for the Western Balkans (European Commission)
| Read more |