The European Commission has allocated 51.7 million euros to Serbia as a soft loan, as part of the pre-financing phase foreseen by the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, the EU Office in Serbia announced.
She added that an additional 59 million euros in pre-financing, in the form of grants and loans, will be channeled through the Western Balkans Investment Framework, to improve infrastructure across the country.
This pre-financing represents 7 percent of the total financial support pledged to Serbia under the EU Growth Plan.
The decision to pay the pre-financing comes after the Serbian Parliament ratifies the instrument agreement and the loan agreement under the Reform and Growth Instrument.
The EU Office stressed that Serbia will be allocated the remaining funds from the Reform and Growth Instrument for the Western Balkans after it has fulfilled the reform steps agreed upon by the European Commission and the Government of Serbia through the Reform Agenda and provided that the relevant preconditions and general conditions are met.
"The European Commission is assessing the implementation of the first set of reform steps related to fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, the business environment and private sector development, as well as the green and digital transitions," the announcement says.
The overall Growth Plan package for the six Western Balkan countries - Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro - amounts to 6 billion euros and covers the period from 2024 to 2027.
Of this amount, 2 billion euros are non-repayable EU grants, while the rest is in the form of favorable loans.
Previously, the EU paid pre-financing of €24.4 million to North Macedonia in March, €30 million to Albania in March and €12.5 million to Montenegro in May.
The goal of this ambitious EU financial package is to help economic growth in this region and, in this way, accelerate its European integration process.
Kosovo has not yet received any money from the pre-financing, as it must first ratify the loan agreement in Parliament.
It is not clear when Kosovo will have a new Assembly, as parliamentary parties are unable to find a way out of the political deadlock even four months after the elections were held in February.
According to an unofficial estimate, Kosovo could benefit from over 880 million euros from this package.
Over 250 million would be allocated as non-refundable money, while the rest would be in the form of soft loans. The 7% that would be paid as pre-financing would amount to around 61 million euros./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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