EU delays pre-financing for Kosovo, Serbia

The European Union said that it will not currently allocate "pre-financing" funds to Serbia's Kosovo, under the Western Balkans Growth Plan.

European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier, at a press conference, said that the process for Kosovo and Serbia is continuing and that the precondition for receiving these funds is to engage constructively in the dialogue for the normalization of relations, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

He emphasized that Albania and North Macedonia have already been allocated 7 percent of the pre-financing, which amounts to 64 million euros.

"I can confirm that at this stage there is no pre-financing for Serbia and Kosovo. Earlier this week, and last week, pre-financing was made for North Macedonia and Albania. However, the process is continuing for Kosovo and Serbia," he said.

According to him, at this stage he cannot confirm whether the precondition for Kosovo and Serbia in terms of normalizing relations has been met.

"In the procedures for the Growth Plan, there is a precondition when it comes to Serbia and Kosovo, which is to engage constructively in the dialogue for the normalization of relations. At this stage, I cannot confirm whether the precondition has been met or not. It will be explained when a decision is made regarding pre-financing," the EU spokesman added.

In addition, in order to benefit from EU funds, Kosovo must ratify the agreement with the EU in the Assembly.

Due to the February 9 elections, the Assembly has not yet been constituted and the new government has not been formed.

Kosovo is expected to benefit from around 880 million euros from the EU's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

In total, this plan for the region is worth 6 billion euros, of which 2 billion are non-repayable grants from the EU, while the rest is in the form of favorable loans.