The Commission approved the Reform Agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia ahead of President Ursula von der Leyen's tour of the countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina's Reform Agenda has not been approved because, due to difficulties in internal coordination, it has not yet been formally submitted.

The Commission said it “is looking forward to Bosnia and Herzegovina formally submitting their Reform Agenda to proceed with its assessment and continues supporting the authorities to finalise it, for the benefit of all citizens.”

The Commission adopted the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans to help the countries’ EU integration. By 2027, this Plan envisages a financial envelope of €6 billion, including €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in highly concessional loans.

“I'm impressed by the work of our Western Balkan partners on their Reform Agendas,” von der Leyen said, adding that the goal is “to bring the economies of the Western Balkans closer to ours” so they can “compete on our Single Market” and that “it's a big leap forward towards the European Union”.

On Thursday, she is embarking on a four-day tour of Albania, North Macedonia, BiH, Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro, where she will meet their leaders. In BiH, besides Sarajevo, she will also visit Jablanica, which was hit by disastrous floods recently.

After the Commission adopts the reform agendas of the five countries, it will “proceed to signing loan and facility agreements with the beneficiaries, which will include obligations for beneficiaries to undertake appropriate measures to prevent, detect and correct fraud, corruption, conflicts of interests and irregularities affecting the financial interests of the Union.”

After the signing, beneficiaries can request the release of a pre-financing of up to 7% of their total indicative allocation foreseen under the Reform and Growth Facility.