Elections prolong execution of 61m euros for Kosovo

The desource of pre-finance means for Kosovo is related to the adoption of two international agreements in the Assembly, which cannot happen now after the legislature has ended and the country holds elections on February 9th.

In the Government of Kosovo, they say that as soon as agreements are adopted in the Parliament the means will be reduced and that delays do not link with measures the EU has imposed on Kosovo.

The growth plan is the new EU framework for speeding up reforms for European integration across the region, which combines reforms with direct financial contributions from EU funds to the budgets of profitable countries and investment projects. With the implementation of these reforms, Kosovo will benefit up to 882.6m euros in EU funds. Of this total amount, 253.3m euros are grants, while the rest of the 629.3m euros are long-term loans.

Klisman Kadiu, deputy prime minister for European integration, Besnik Bislimi, tells Kosovo that the European Union has not executed payments for any state in the region, as none of them have managed to approve agreements with the EU in their municipalities.

All countries of the region, including Kosovo, must sign and approve in Parliament two agreements for this instrument to enter into force and then become the transfer of the first tranche. These are the arrangement for the instrument and loan agreement. The first has been signed by the European Prime Minister and Commission, and has been submitted to the Assembly as a bill since December, until the second agreement has been recently submitted by the EC -- that is, in January of this year. No state in the region has yet to approve these two agreements, and as a result, the payments have not been realised for any state in the region yet. In the case of Kosovo, these two agreements will be approved after the new and follow-up framework's constitutionalisation, and then the means can be disbursed”, he says.

On the other hand, European Union spokeswoman Annita Hyper, says the European Union's Growth Plan will bring Western Balkan economies closer to the European Union.

According to her, the European Commission has praised Kosovo's reform agenda and has concluded that it is in line with its goals and requirements.

She adds that they are now finalising the latest procedure steps and that pre-finance means will be executed in 2025, after ratification of the agreements.

Kosovo handed over to the Commission in July its reform agenda, covering reforms in the fundamental area and socio-economic reforms. The Commission has praised the Reform Agenda and concluded it is in line with the objectives and requirements of relief (Reform and Growth). The Reformation's agenda was adopted on October 23, 2017, through a Commission Implementation Decision, following a positive opinion by the Member States. Kosovo has applied for pre-finance release of up to 7% of the total sum envisioned with this relief. The Commission and Kosovo are now finalising the procedural steps, which should allow pre-finance release to be done as soon as possible in 2025, pending the process of ratification of Kosovo”, she stresses.

However, European Integration Professor Dritero Arifi points out that pre-finance tools have pledged that to be disbursed in December last year, however, he adds that for technical reasons the same have been able to drag on the European Union.

In spite of that, he stresses that he expects any government after the February 9th elections to secure two-thirds of the vote in the Assembly to approve these agreements.

“Plani for the distribution of resources has been delayed for many technical reasons of the European Commission and will surely be delayed now due to elections in Kosovo. However, after the elections any government wants to be will receive the financial means and introduce them into the relevant” reforms, Arifi declares.

The Kosovo government in October 2024 has approved the Reform Agreement at the framework of the European Union's Instrument for Reform and Economic Growth for the Western Balkans, which the European Commission has approved. /kp