Guillaume Mercier confirmed that payments from the regional instrument are expected during the year.
BRUSSELS – The first regular disbursements from the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans are expected between the second and third quarters of this year, upon meeting the corresponding conditions, the European Commission spokesperson announced today. At the same time, he emphasized that the pre-financing for Serbia amounts to 101.8 million euros. “The Commission is now completing procedural steps, which should allow the pre-financing to be executed as soon as possible in 2025,” the EC spokesperson Guillaume Mercier stated in a written response to Tanjug, on the question of when Serbia and other regional partners can expect the first disbursements from this plan and how much the first disbursement for Serbia will be.
He added that partners, in order to initiate reforms, can request up to seven percent within the pre-financing from the total amount envisaged by this instrument, as requested by all five users whose reform agendas have been approved, except for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has not yet submitted a reform agenda. He also reminded that no payments have yet been made within the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans is a package worth six billion euros, which will be distributed in the period from 2024 to 2027 in the form of grants and loans with very favorable interest rates.
Within the Growth Plan, Serbia should have a total of 1.58 billion euros at its disposal by 2027. Serbia, like other partners from the Western Balkans, had to develop a reform agenda to receive financial assistance from the Growth Plan. The European Commission approved the reform agendas of five partners from the Western Balkans, including Serbia, in October last year, opening the way for disbursements from the Instrument for Reform and Growth for the Western Balkans, worth six billion euros. The Commission then announced that the five Western Balkan governments, in their ambitious reform agendas, committed to socio-economic and fundamental reforms they will undertake to stimulate growth and closer integration with the EU within the Growth Plan for the period from 2024 to 2027. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only regional country without an approved reform agenda. (February 19)
