TIRANA, Albania — The leaders of five Western Balkan countries met Thursday in an effort to push ahead a European Union plan that promises financial aid and a faster road to membership in return for economic reform.
Brussels’ plan calls for 6 billion euros (about $6.5 billion) to be sent to the Balkan states over the next three years in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to the join the bloc. That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.
Balkan leaders have welcomed the plan, but the reform agenda is a challenge to implement.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who hosted the summit in Tirana, called the new growth plan “a truly encouraging result of a friendly and open exchange of views.”
“The new opportunity of this out-of-the box plan represents not only recognition from the EU of our decade-long efforts to build a common future against the savage winds of the past, but also challenges us to demonstrate our readiness for a shared European destiny,” he said at the opening speech.
The region’s six countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for membership, but residents have been frustrated with the slow pace of the process. Croatia was the last EU member country to be accepted in 2013.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said the European Commission aimed at halving the time of implementation of the new “ambitious” plan.
“But for this to go forward, we also need the region to go forward and that means to deliver on the reforms that are necessary to make this plan functioning and functional,” he said.
Present at Thursday’s meeting were Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, North Macedonian Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi, and Borjana Kristo, the head of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Council of Ministers. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti planned to send an online message.
Varhelyi was accompanied by senior Commission officials and representatives from international financial institutions.
Rama also said that bilateral disputes should not interfere in the implementation of the growth plan.
Serbia has not recognized Kosovo’s 2008 independence, and recent tensions between them have sparked concern among Western powers. Both have said said they want to join the EU, but the bloc has warned that their refusal to compromise is jeopardizing their chances for membership.
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