Growth Plan for the Western Balkans: How to make it work for all?

The “Growth plan for the Western Balkans” presented by the European Commission proposed a plan for gradual and easier access to the markets of the European Union. The Commission proposal outlines avenue for closer integration the EU Single Market in 7 areas for trade in goods and provisions of services. Main preconditions of the plan is that the countries from the region deliver with on fundamental reforms and meet the EU acquis in the respective areas. While it is still unclear how this conditionally would be operational in practice, it is clear the EU will require the WB Countries first integrate regionally in the identified areas. One of the main topics of concern is if the access to the Single Market can bring economic growth in the region. In this regard, the Growth plan is equipped with financial package of 6 billion euros for the region. Conditioned on the green light from the Member States, these funds should support structural reforms in the region. The reform agendas is expected to cover areas of the cluster Fundamentals, as well sectoral reforms identified in the Economic Reform Programmes. While the fresh money from the EU has been welcomed by the Governments as well as the civil society, it remains questionable if the WB administrations have the capacities to deliver mature projects and implement them in relatively short time period. On the other hand, given that major part of the financial package will go through the WBIF, one could question to what extend the Growth Plan supports the capacity building function of EU funds in view to increase the absorption capacities of the region. The aim of the event is to offer platform to reflect and discuss the proposal for the Growth plan the EC if can support the improvement of the economic governance framework and bring closer the candidate countries from the Western Balkan to meeting the economic criteria in the accession process. The event will bring together policy makers and representatives of the civil society, academia and the business sector to reflect on this pertinent issues.