Socio-economic challenges in Western Balkan countries have been hampering their European Union integration path, but this will change with a new €6 billion cash injection for the region, the EU Ambassador to Tirana, Luigi Soreca, said on Thursday.
In a press conference one day after the publication of Albania’s enlargement package report, Soreca said the funding will help speed up the accession process for candidate countries.
“Economic convergence is an essential element for Albania and other Western Balkan countries to come closer to the EU. Currently, socio-economic terms are holding these countries back on the path of integration. The purpose of this plan is for these countries to benefit,” Soreca said.
The Growth Plan, initially confirmed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the October Berlin Process Summit in Tirana, will see some €6 million given to EU hopefuls in the Western Balkans.
“The objective is to help the partners to fulfil the reforms and investments and to follow the path of the EU more quickly,” Soreca said.
He explained that the Growth Plan will be based on three pillars: improving the region’s economic integration with the EU single market, promoting the economic integration of the Western Balkans, and accelerating essential reforms to attract more foreign investment.
Albania must prepare a reform agenda every year, and the growth plan’s financial assistance is conditional on fulfilling them, Soreca added.
“Enlargement is back in EU politics,” Soreca said, adding that “We must answer the call of history and work for the enlargement of the EU.”
Economic convergence will be an essential element of this, the ambassador added.
The Commission’s report on Albania showed progress in all areas, although some were more apparent than others. Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku noted its convergence with the EU but also the removal from the FATF grey list.
Balluku described the full report as “the most positive ever drawn up for our country and that it directly represents the very good progress of the deep reforms we have taken and their concrete results in strengthening the rule of law and the fight against organised crime.”
Since Albania was finally given the green light to start accession negotiations in July 2022, the country has been working hard on the analytical review of Albania’s acquis compared to the EU’s, Balluku said.
Among the good news and progress noted in the report, “serious concerns” were also raised about corruption, which the Commission said is “prevalent in many areas of public and business life and preventative measures have little impact.”
In terms of freedom of expression, it found there was “little progress made” and noted issues such as media ownership, lack of financial transparency, poor working conditions, and verbal, physical, and legal attacks on journalists.
(Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)
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