European Commission: Serbia, Kosovo Risk Missing Funding under Growth Plan over the Absence of Dialogue

European Commission/PHOTO/Guillaume Périgois

Serbia and Kosovo should play a constructive role in normalizing their relations in order to obtain access to funding under the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans that the European Union has adopted, the European Commission’s press service said on May 10.

“The normalization of relations is an essential condition on the path to the EU for both sides. Serbia and Kosovo are at risk of missing an important opportunity over the absence of progress,” one of the Commission’s spokespersons said in a comment for Radio Free Europe.

The Commission’s press service said in a written reply that constructive engagement in the normalization of relations implied full implementation of all of the commitments arising from the Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia and its Implementation Annex, as well as all previous agreements stemming from the Brussels dialogue, and the launch of talks on a comprehensive agreement on the normalization of relations.

The European Commission said that the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans represented “a comprehensive EU offer to advance the social and economic status of the region’s Six. “It includes progressive access to the EU single market, conditioned on progress made in the common regional market of the Western Balkans, and mechanisms to encourage reform. The Growth Plan is not an alternative to EU enlargement. It’s an offer to complete and accelerate the accession process,” the Commission explained.