Kosovo’s requests for 4 projects from the EU WBIF program are approved, Bislimi: We applied last year even though we were under measures

Kosovo’s requests for 4 projects from the EU WBIF program are approved, Bislimi: We applied last year even though we were under measures

Kosovo’s acting Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, said on Saturday that Kosovo’s applications to the European Union’s Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) have been approved and that the country will benefit from over 2 million euros.

The EU Investment Framework for the Western Balkans aims at the socio-economic development and European perspective of the Balkan countries.

“Despite the fact that our country was under unfair EU measures, last year we applied to the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) calls with four projects in the fields of energy and digitalization,” Bislimi wrote on Facebook, in reference to the measures the European bloc imposed on Kosovo in June 2023.

According to Bislim, for energy projects, the amount of technical assistance grants will amount to over 800 thousand euros, while for digitalization projects, it will amount to over 1 million 200 thousand euros.

The measures were imposed in response to the escalation of the security situation in northern Kosovo, when Albanian mayors – emerging from elections boycotted by local Serbs – began their duties in municipalities in the north.

In addition to the funds blocked from the Investment Framework, Kosovo was also suspended from the IPA 2024 (Pre-Accession Funds) funding program, as well as from meetings of teams engaged in opposition to the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) – the first contractual pact between Kosovo and the European bloc.

Kosovo began to have some punitive measures lifted by the European Union in May of this year. According to experts on these issues, the damages amount to hundreds of millions of euros.

According to the GAP Institute report, the measures over the two years have affected around 395 million euros of funds within the WBIF, and around 218 million euros within the IPA program – a program that provides financial and technical assistance to countries aiming for the EU.

According to the report, the environmental sector has suffered the most from the EU’s punitive measures for Kosovo, when considering the value of suspended projects – around 350 million.

Kosovo has been supported by the Investment Framework since 2009. By 2021, 30 projects worth 1.8 billion euros had been supported in Kosovo. The projects include road construction, railway rehabilitation, district heating systems and wastewater system improvements.

For the years 2023-2030, within the framework of this mechanism, other projects are also foreseen in Kosovo, such as: the Pristina – Niš Peace Highway, the Belgrade – Pristina railway, solar heating for Pristina, the wastewater treatment plant for Pristina, and others. /REL/