Funds from the Growth Plan EC expects Kosovo to announce entry into force, then payments

The European Commission is expected to officially announce Kosovo's entry into force of internationally ratified agreements in order to start with the payment of pre-finance from the Growth Plan.

A European Commission spokesman told Free Europe Radio that Kosovo has applied for the release of up to 7 per cent of the total pre-finance amount from the Instrument for Reform in the Western Balkans, adding that since agreements related to the reforms of the Growth Plan have been ratified by the Assembly of Kosovo, the state qualifies to benefit pre-finance.

“Once the laws are officially announced and this is officially communicated to the Commission, and provided the overall conditions [economic stability, public finance management, transparency and budget supervision] are met, and preconditions [respect of democratic mechanisms, constructive commitment to normalisation of reports between Kosovo and Serbia] can become the release of funds under the Growth Plan”, an EC spokesman for Radio Free Europe said.

Under the Instrument for Reform and Growth Rules for the Western Balkans, preconditions and general conditions must be assessed every time a payment is carried out. This means that once credit agreements and reform instruments enter into force, the European Union will allocate pre-finance funds, provided the criteria for payment are met. The assessment of whether conditions have been met before each payment and that rule applies to all the benefiting states from the Growth Plan.

On February 13th, the new Kosovo Parliament legislature ratified international agreements with the European Union. These agreements amount to 882m euros.

The EU package for the Western Balkans for 2024-2027 is worth 6 billion euros. If budgetary divisions are analysed, Kosovo amounts to around 882m euros ʹ 253m euros as grants and 629m euros in credit form, which means it benefits most funds in the region per capita.

Two other agreements needed to secure the funds were also ratified: one that allows the plan package and the reform plan, and the other on the loan agreement.

During the past year, when Kosovo faced a political crisis and lack of new institutions, concerns arose over the risk of losing these funds, as agreements were not ratified.

However, two days after the formation of the new Parliament and Government, MPs from the tenth legislature voted for ratification of agreements with the EU and those with the World Bank.

However; Kosovo has very little time to meet some of the reforms, if it wants to benefit from the financial means of the Growth Plan. The financial package for the entire region is envisioned for the period 2024,2027. Part of the reforms that must be met had the deadline in December 2024, while the rest in December 2025.

The European Commission allows the so-called grey superterm “”, under which the deadline is extended by two years for steps to be paid in December 2024 and for all steps to be paid in June 2025 and later. According to the EC officials' explanations, if a step is not met by the end of the grey period, the beneficiary state loses funds earmarked for that step. Every fee becomes the assessment of reforms implemented.

Serbia in January received something more than half the first means, as it had not met all reforms. Instead of the planned 112m euros, the country received about 61m, after having completed only three out of seven previous reforms.

Kosovo was among the first Western Balkan countries to approve the EU Growth Plan reform agenda, which was approved by the European Commission in October 2024.