The European Commission is expected in the coming days to approve the first regular payment of funds for Serbia under the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) has learned from reliable sources within the institution.
Serbia has already received pre-financing funds from the Growth Plan, and will now receive the first regular disbursement, amounting to €61 million.
According to sources within the European Commission, the initial plan foresaw a first tranche of €112 million. However, in order to receive the full amount, Serbia was required to fulfill seven reform steps.
RFE/RL sources say that Serbia has so far fully completed only three out of the seven required reforms, which led the European Commission to reduce the amount of the first tranche.
The remaining funds will be disbursed only after Serbia fulfills the remaining reform obligations.
At present, Serbia is considered the last among the countries deemed to have met the conditions and undertaken meaningful reforms to align with European Union standards.
The first payments from this package were already received in October last year by Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina have, for the time being, not received any funds from this package.
The European Commission approved Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Reform Agenda only in December, and financial disbursements, including pre-financing, can begin only after the relevant agreements enter into force and all conditions are met.
Kosovo, meanwhile, has not yet approved the credit agreements with the European Commission, due to the institutional crisis last year, which prevented the formation of a new executive.
The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans represents the most ambitious financial package ever launched by the EU for the region.
The total value of the package is €6 billion, of which €4 billion are concessional loans, while €2 billion are non-repayable grants.
Funds will be distributed based on population size and GDP of each country.
According to preliminary plans:
- Albania: €922.1 million
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: €1.085 billion
- Kosovo: €882.6 million
- Montenegro: €383.5 million
- North Macedonia: €750.4 million
- Serbia: €1.5864 billion
All projects financed under the Growth Plan must be completed by the end of 2027, and deadline extensions will not be possible.
In July last year, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost €108 million after failing to meet deadlines for approving its reform agenda. In such cases, unused funds are redistributed to other countries in the region.
