The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Várhelyi, said that at the regional summit in Tirana on the European Union’s plan for economic growth in the Western Balkans, there was agreement among Balkan leaders to achieve results in four areas this year.
During the press conference after the summit, Várhelyi said the first area concerns the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). He mentioned that revising the rules for it is easy, as most banks operating in the region are European banks.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama used as an example the money sent by the diaspora to their countries of origin. He stated that with the current tariffs, they pay six times more for transactions. Therefore, according to him, this system will save money for citizens.
“The new plan will allow us to bring this cost to the same level as the member states, which alone will save us half a billion euros,” said Rama.
The second area, according to the economic growth plan – valued at 6 billion euros for the period 2024-2027 – concerns the creation of green lanes. According to Várhelyi, this implies no waiting at border points in the Western Balkans region.
The third area, which the region together with the EU expects to yield results this year, is research and scientific work, which according to Várhelyi means bringing in the new generation of innovative industries to the region.
And the fourth area is for all municipalities in the region to have the opportunity to offer free internet networks in public spaces.
“We also discussed what we will do next year,” he said, adding that he expects ideas from the countries of the region in this direction.
During the conference with the European senior official, Rama said that despite the current goodwill, he said that the “mentality” of the region’s states could be an obstacle to the implementation of the growth plan.
“The only major obstacle we may fear is the mentality among the states of the region because as I said earlier, this new plan for regional growth is the same as what we agreed upon 10 years ago when we started the Berlin Process,” said Rama, adding that the plan also resembles the concept of the Open Balkan initiative.
He warned against the inclusion of bilateral political issues in regional and European integration.
“European integration goes through regional integration and the new growth plan seals it,” he said, emphasizing that all “rumors heard” about the Open Balkans – a regional initiative of Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia, opposed by Kosovo – are now exposed as such.
Previously, during the summit, Várhelyi said the growth plan was ambitious, potentially doubling the six Balkan economies in the next ten years. But, he said, for the plan to be functional, the region’s states must apply the required reforms and criteria.
According to Várhelyi, the plan is part of the enlargement process and implies that alongside the reforms made by the aspiring states of the region, the bloc offers them “all the benefits of membership before your states become EU members”.
“We are at the beginning of a very fundamental change, but also very fast in the Western Balkans,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, during the meeting, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said that for the growth plan, the Western Balkan states must engage without any reservation.
“With the growth plan, we will take the necessary steps to move closer to each other and to the EU, or we will risk failing to get closer to the EU. Or we do it together, or we fail together, our economies cannot flourish by hindering each other’s free movement. Either we make peace to work for our prosperity, or the lack of this prosperity will make us lose peace. This is how the EU works, this is how the Western Balkans should work,” he said.
Albania, according to Rama, aims to apply for membership in the common euro payment area during this year.
“Our ambition as Albania is to be ready for our application in June, if we only reduce the waiting time for our trucks at regional and EU borders by just three hours, we can achieve an overall increase of 25 billion euros,” said Rama, calling for “Balkan politics” to be left out of this common challenge and for states to focus on the success of the growth plan.
At the summit, besides Rama, who was the host, other regional leaders participated: the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferi, and the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti was not physically present at the February 29 summit, “due to previous engagements”. However, he was part of the summit virtually through a video address.
The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić, also addressed the summit through a video link.
The EU’s plan for the Western Balkans aims to boost the region’s economic growth, accelerate necessary reforms, and carry out investments that could advance the EU’s enlargement process with these countries.
A similar summit for this plan was held on January 22 in Skopje, North Macedonia.
What is the plan for economic growth in the Western Balkans?
The new plan for economic growth in the Western Balkans countries, approved by the European Commission on November 8, 2023, is based on four pillars.
The first pillar is “strengthening economic integration in the EU’s single market”.
This will depend on the adaptation of the region’s countries to the rules of the single market and simultaneously opening their markets in relevant sectors to neighboring countries.
The second pillar of this plan is “strengthening economic integration within the Western Balkans through a common regional market”.
According to the EU’s experience, this could lead to a potential economic growth of 10 percent.
The third pillar of this plan is “accelerating fundamental reforms”. This implies enforcing the rule of law, which also helps attract foreign direct investment and strengthens regional stability.
The fourth pillar of the European Commission’s new plan for economic growth in the Western Balkans is “increasing financial assistance to support reforms”. This includes the proposal for 6 billion euros in aid.
As the region’s countries benefit from trade relations with the European Union through the respective Stabilization and Association Agreements, the European Commission proposes to go beyond this by making changes to these agreements to ensure equal conditions in the market and between countries in the enlargement process and EU member states.
All these goals are in line with the ideas being implemented through the Berlin Process, as well as the creation of the “common regional market”.
