Brussels, 6 March 2024
Member states’ EU ambassadors today agreed on the Council’s negotiating mandate on the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans.
The proposed facility is the centrepiece of the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, presented by the Commission in November 2023. It will support the EU’s Western Balkan partners in undertaking a comprehensive set of socio-economic and fundamentals reforms, including on the rule of law and fundamental rights, support the enlargement process and accelerate the partners’ economic convergence with the EU.
Covering the period from 2024 to 2027, the facility is expected to provide up to €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in loans to the EU’s Western Balkan partners. Payments will be subject to strict conditions in terms of achievement of reforms set out in each partner’s agreed Reform Agenda.
Main elements of the Council’s mandate
The Council’s negotiating mandate builds on the Commission proposal for establishing the facility, further clarifying and developing some of its elements, including the general and specific objectives of the facility and the preconditions for EU support.
One of the key changes concerns the strengthening of the Council’s role in the governance of the facility, in particular in the adoption and amendment of the Reform Agendas, the monitoring of the fulfilment of the preconditions for EU support and the assessment of the fulfilment of payment conditions.
In its mandate, the Council also puts a stronger focus on partners’ alignment with the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Next steps
Today’s agreement will allow the Council presidency to start negotiations on the final text for the facility with the European Parliament as soon as the Parliament has voted on its mandate.
Background
On 8 November 2023, the European Commission presented a new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, together with its annual enlargement package.
The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans is based on four pillars, aimed at enhancing the Western Balkan partners’ economic integration with the EU’s single market, boosting economic integration within the region through the Common Regional Market, accelerating fundamental reforms, and increasing financial assistance to support the reforms through a Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans.
To fund the new Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, €2 billion of additional support was allocated to the Western Balkans as part of the mid-term revision of the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027.
- Council’s negotiating mandate on the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans
- New Growth Plan for the Western Balkans (European Commission)
Source – EU Council