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The European Commission is set to redistribute funding under the tool designed to financially incentivise Western Balkan countries to carry out the reforms required for EU accession in favour of ‘frontrunner’ countries, two EU officials told Euronews.
The Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans was set up in 2024 to give candidate countries in the region financial support tied to strict conditions, chiefly the implementation of reforms needed to join the bloc.
The tool covers the 2024-2027 period, with the ambition of doubling the size of Western Balkan economies within the next decade.
However, according to the Commission’s own data, only around €673 million has been released under the facility, out of €6 billion available. Almost all of that funding has gone to just three of the six candidate countries.
Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia are the most advanced in the accession process, thanks to their domestic reform agendas. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia, by contrast, are generally regarded as lagging.
The facility requires reforms to be completed within agreed deadlines — miss one, and the Commission can withhold part or the entire funds corresponding to that condition.
Beneficiaries have one year to fulfil the conditions before the funds are reallocated, except for the first year when the deadline is extended to two years. That means that the end of June was the first such deadline.
“As the regulation underlines, where reform steps are not fulfilled and have expired under the grace period, the corresponding funds can be redistributed among other beneficiaries,” a Commission spokesperson told Euronews.
“Regarding the steps that were due on 30 June 2026, the Commission will now carry out a comprehensive and objective assessment across all beneficiaries,” the spokesperson added.
In other words, the Commission will redistribute the unspent money to the countries judged to be making the most reform progress — the so-called frontrunners.
The biggest loser is set to be Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has not received any funding under the facility so far, having failed to deliver any of the required reforms — largely because of its complex institutional set-up. Kosovo and Serbia are also set to be disadvantaged.
This situation was already certified in April, when Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos wrote to all Western Balkan countries, urging them to accelerate reforms or risk losing the money on offer under the instrument.
EU officials stress that the facility provides incentive funding: the Commission is not taking money away, they say, since countries were never entitled to it unless they delivered the reforms in question.
“It’s like working by the hour,” an EU official said, asking to remain anonymous to speak openly. “You only get paid for the work you actually do.”
The Commission is expected to give member states more details on the matter later this month, including how much funding will be reallocated.
“Reforms must remain a priority for the beneficiaries, so they make the most of what the Growth Plan offers,” the Commission spokesperson said.