Várhely: EU working to fulfil promise of Western Balkans membership

We are working hard to help the region with new opportunities for business and citizens and to fulfil the promise to bring the Western Balkans into the EU. EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliveér Varhely stated this in his speech at the Skopje Economic Forum, reports EB.

“to help the Western Balkans deal with energy crises and support the region, we have approved a 1 billion-euro energy support package during the last EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana. We are already distributing half of the package for authorities: 500m euros to ease the impact of high energy prices on small and medium enterprises and maintain affordable energy prices for families in need”, Said Oliveér Várhely.

He added that the EU has additional funds available to support diversification of energy resources and roads away from Russia. According to him, electricity and gas interconnections towards alternative supplies and a new LNG terminal in the Adriatic Sea will be fully financed by the EU.

“These investments would bring more energy, reliable and greener to the Western Balkans and have the potential to turn the Western Balkans into Europe's new energy entry pointn”, he added.

We are also supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, such as renovation of old housing blocks to reduce energy consumption and lower household energy bills.

He stressed that building a common regional market is essential to releasing the full potential of the Economic and Investment Plan.

“We saw at the Berlin Process summit last year a significant progress on the common regional market, where Western Balkan leaders signed three mobility agreements. Now it is important to ratify and implement these three agreements so that citizens can travel, work and study freely throughout the region, as we can within the EU”Várhely finished.