Skopje, 21 December 2023 (MIA) – The best way for the Western Balkan countries to utilize the European Commission’s Growth Plan was the focus of Tuesday’s discussion “Growth Plan for the Western Balkans: How to make it work for all?“ held in Skopje by the European Policy Institute (EPI), and attended by policymakers, representatives of civil society, academic community and the business sector.

Simonida Kacarska from EPI noted that the European Commission (EC) proposed the Growth Plan in October as part of its enlargement package through which, she said, they expect to ensure the implementation of certain reforms and provide greater EU support to that end.

“This undoubtedly is a great opportunity for the countries of the region, but a lot has been left up to us, to propose healthy projects and create a reform agenda that will be complementary with the accession, but at the same time it will allow assistance and provide tangible results outside of the accession process,” said Kacarska ahead of the event.

The plan itself, she added, will be highly conditioned with reforms and the rule of law.

“That’s exceptionally important for us as a civil sector, because we hope that we will be able to use it as a tool to exert pressure for reforms and internal consensus. We expect that this plan, at this stage which we find ourselves, will give us a bit of impetus in order to implement reforms without which we wouldn’t be able to make use of the funds in the future,” said Kacarska.

The State Secretary at the Secretariat for European Affairs and deputy chief negotiator, as well as coordinator for the Growth Plan, Drita Abdiu – Halili, assessed that the plan is an excellent opportunity for the country and the region, and noted that apart from being an opportunity, it also represents an obligation.

“The reform plan has the support of all stakeholders in our society. It’s very dynamic and a lot of work lies ahead because we are talking about a proposal from the EC that is yet to be adopted. Between January and March it is expected to be worked out in more detail in terms of the reforms, deadlines and projects. It is a reform agenda and in order to implement the reforms we will propose concrete projects which we will then be able to finance through this new mechanism which is outside the existing mechanisms. This will require a lot of work and input from all of us, as countries and government, in order to reap the benefits,” said Abdiu-Halili.

Abdiu-Halili said there is no possibility for the Growth Plan to be conditioned with informal political conditions and the constitutional amendments.

“There are no formal nor informal political conditions because we delivered our reform agenda. Apart from these areas, we also have a section on the rule of law, where there are steps that we need to fulfill, and they are already a part of our reform agenda, and we don’t have the constitutional amendments as a condition,” said Abdiu-Halili.

Photo: MIA