The European Commission considered to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved. When it comes to Montenegro, there is a new momentum in the country with a new government, to get back on track on its accession path.
Finally, for both Kosovo and Serbia, the way ahead lies in living up to their commitments under the EU Dialogue. Serbia has taken important – according tot he European Commission – steps forward this year with the Ohrid Agreement which must now be implemented. The country decreased in tensions in the north of Kosovo, in particular on the car licence plates, on electricity and on preparing for early municipal elections.
„Of course, accession negotiations are one part of our effort to bring the Western Balkans closer. But the other part is to look at the economy. If you look at the Western Balkan economies, they stand today at around 35% of the EU average. In other words, there is a lot of untapped potential. This is what the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans is looking at. There was a lot of praise for the new Growth Plan. „ – Ursula von dr Leyen said after the meeting.
The new Growth Plan basically has four pillars. The first one is to say: The European Union opens its market to the Western Balkans in seven important sectors. For example, cooperation on customs, cashless payments, seamless transport, roaming like at home, and other sectors that are important.
Secondly, the Western Balkans open their markets respectively to their neighbours. So to really complete the Common Regional Market. If the Common Regional Market would be completed this could increase the GDP of the Western Balkans by 10%.
The third element is to have the Western Balkans accessing the Single Market, reforms have to be done in the Western Balkans.
And the fourth element is investment. That is the Growth Plan that says: You do reforms, here is the investment that accompanies those reforms. Investment and reform is a principle that you are familiar with from NextGenerationEU. And the new Growth Plan has the potential to double the size of the region’s economy within a decade.
„Of course, this is the big picture, but there are also lots of good steps, smaller steps, forward. Take roaming, since 1 October, roaming charges have been cut by 90%, thanks to the operators working together. Now we are working on a full ‘roam like at home’ framework to make it permanent. Or if you take transport. We now have a roadmap for the modernisation of border crossings agreed by the partners today. This is seamless customs procedures between us, these are good for an easier integration into the EU’s Single Market. That means more business, trade and investments.” – von der Leyen said.
Speaking of investments, the European Commission looked at the already working Economic and Investment Plan, EUR 30 billion for the Western Balkans. It has already delivered EUR 17 billion. And today, a fresh batch of five more projects worth nearly EUR 700 million was adopted. Be it a solar photovoltaic power plant in Albania, for example, or a railway in Montenegro. These are the projects that the European Commission is pushing forward with the Economic and Investment Plan.
On digital, there was good news, because European Commission wants to extend the WiFi4EU programme to the Western Balkans. That means bringing EUR 15 million of grants to make it possible for 400 municipalities to have WiFi in their area.
„Finally, young people – the most precious part of our lives –, in October, we were happy and honoured to open the local office of the College of Europe in Tirana. I can report that by now 500 students have already applied to come and study there next year. The European Union will finance 15 scholarships. And today, we had a pledging moment. 21 Member States promised to pledge for scholarships, so this is big and good news for the region. „ – Ursula von der Leyen said.
