The prime ministers of the six Western Balkan countries signed a new plan for a regional common market and an agreement on mobility, which includes access to higher education, during the Berlin Process summit.
The summit, held on Monday in Berlin, was led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with the attendance of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and representatives from partner countries.
Chancellor Scholz highlighted that the new agreements “will make life easier for people.”
The new regional common market plan is an integral part of the EU’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, approved in May, valued at six billion euros. On October 11, EU member states approved reform agendas for five of the region’s countries, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina, paving the way for the European Commission to make the first payments from this package.
Bosnia must still wait for approval of its agenda, as the document it submitted to the EU was incomplete and did not address all of the European Commission’s recommendations.
Unofficial calculations suggest that Kosovo could receive over 880 million euros from the Growth Plan, with more than 250 million euros in grants, and the rest in favorable loans.
