Western Balkan Growth Plan Has Potential to Double Region’s Economy

Ursula von der Leyen (BETAPHOTO/STA/Tamino Petelinsek)

The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, stated in Brussels on Nov. 8 that this EU body had adopted a Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, worth six billion euros, which could double the region’s economy in the next ten years.

“With the adoption of the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, we are bringing the Western Balkans economies closer to the EU. With its combination of reforms and investments, it will allow the Western Balkan to benefit soon from key areas of our single market,  including free movement of goods,  services and workers, the single euro payments area, transport, energy and the digital single market,” Von der Leyen stated.

She stated during the presentation of the 2023 Enlargement Package that the goal of the Growth Plan was to enable the partners in the Western Balkans to speed up reforms and investments to significantly accelerate the speed of the enlargement process and the growth of their economies.

The plan envisages the increasing of financial assistance to support the reforms for the period 2024-2027, consisting of two billion euros in grants and four billion in concessional loans, with payment conditioned on the partners’ fulfilling of specific reforms.