EU to help Western Balkans reforms with 6 billion euro package
The European Union plans to help the countries of the Western Balkans pursue reforms needed for integration with the wealthy bloc with an investment of 6 billion euros ($6.4 billion), the EU executive's president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in Skopje on Monday, Reuters reports.
North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina all need to seize the "window of opportunity" for the enlargement of the EU and work to align their standards to those in the bloc, von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen said the EU's new growth plan for the region would include the opening of its common market to the Western Balkan countries in areas such as free movement of goods and services, transport and energy. It also urged the countries to open a common regional market, and pursue it with necessary reforms. North Macedonia, for example, needs to reform its business environment, create an efficient public administration, have sound public finances and improve the fight against corruption. It also needs to amend the constitution to recognise Bulgarians as a minority, as requested by Bulgaria, to allow the country to join the EU.
"These reforms will come with investment," von der Leyen said during a press conference with North Macedonia Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski at the start of her Western Balkans tour.
Von der Leyen said the EU was ready to start disbursing 100 million euros in micro-financial assistance but "we need to do more, we need to bring our economies closer," since the economies of the Western Balkan countries account for about 42% of the EU average income.
