Honorable Ministers,
Deputy Ministers,
Honorable Heads of Independent Institutions,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Honorable Journalists,
We are opening the next meeting of the Ministerial Council for European Integration, which is the first meeting in its function as the Steering Committee for the Reform and Growth Instrument, namely the European Union Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
Kosovo is among the first countries in the region to have concluded negotiations with the European Union on the Growth Plan reforms and we, as the Government, have approved the Reform Agenda on 9 October 2024. Then, after a considerable delay due to the political blockade, on 13 February this year, the Parliament finally ratified the two agreements with the European Union: the Facility Agreement and the Loan Agreement.
Meanwhile, on 19 March this year, the decision on the implementation system was taken, and the appointment of the National Coordinator was made, thus fulfilling the legal acts for the implementation of the Growth Plan agreements. After the approval of this decision, on 16 April, approximately a month ago, we started receiving pre-financing funds from the Growth Plan, in the amount of 61.8 million euros.
The decision designates the Office of the Prime Minister as the main institution responsible for European integration and the coordinator of this instrument. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has been assigned key functions, which are related to the preconditions for financing and the coordination of the internal control and audit component.
Through this decision, we have designated the coordination structures, namely the joint structures with the European Union and the local ones. The joint structure with the European Union is the EU-Kosovo Monitoring Committee, while at the national level the structures are divided into two levels: political and technical. At the political level we have the Ministerial Council for European Integration, which exercises the function of the Steering Committee for the Growth Plan, while at the technical level, the Working Committee for European Integration, which also has the function of the Implementation Committee for this plan.
These coordination structures for the Growth Plan have started functioning immediately after we approved the Government decision and within their framework, intensive work is being done on the implementation of the Reform Agenda.
The Growth Plan Package for Kosovo includes reforms and European Union funds foreseen for Kosovo, in a total amount of 882.6 million euros. These funds, which we have already started to receive, will bring tangible benefits to citizens in the form of investment projects, which will be implemented by the Government itself. So, the reimbursements that come to us from the European Commission as a result of the reforms carried out, we use to implement more projects.
Part of the Growth Plan package are also the opportunities that the European Union offers for economic integration and convergence with its Common Market, starting from membership in SEPA, or the Single Euro Payments Area.
It is worth mentioning here that the blockage, which was made to the law against money laundering in the Assembly of our Republic, has also blocked the implementation of the SEPA Agreement. Nearly 60 million euros per year are estimated to be transaction losses due to not being part of SEPA.
Many actions of the executive depend on the legislature, as the sub-legal acts that are foreseen as the responsibility of ministers, derive from laws, which must be approved by the Assembly of the Republic. However, the Growth Plan is for Kosovo and consequently many institutions are involved. In fact, 1 in 4 reforms are the direct responsibility of independent institutions.
Despite the blockade, by the end of last year we had implemented 6 reforms, from which we benefitted from 46.9 million euros. And by the next reporting, which is in mid-July, we expect to implement other reforms, thus increasing the amount we will receive to 53.2 million euros.
Of the implemented reforms, it is worth highlighting several concrete steps: the membership of the Kosovo Accreditation Agency in EQAR, which brings Kosovo’s higher education closer to the European Higher Education Area; increasing the inclusion of children from 0 to 2 years old in early education; linking the electronic procurement system with the Public Finance Management System, which increases transparency and budgetary discipline; preventing administrative burden in 100% of draft laws approved by the Government; digitizing hundreds of public services for citizens and businesses; as well as the further approximation of Kosovo’s visa policy with that of the European Union.
A greater number of reforms would be reported as completed by the end of June, if, in addition to the great and good will and serious work of our Government, we would also have a serious parliamentary opposition that takes responsibility, which belongs to the assembly. We are in a situation where we have an opposition that is elected not to come to the assembly, and when it does come, it looks at which laws to block. This is a real challenge for us as a government and a waste of time and resources for us as a state.
Precisely for this reason that we do not have an assembly and we have elections, a considerable number of reforms from the Growth Plan will not be successfully completed within the foreseen and announced deadline. Specifically, we have 10 reforms that expire on June 30, 9 of which are already at risk, causing losses of millions of euros.
Its matter of 12 draft laws, for the drafting of which the relevant ministries have done extraordinary work, aligning them with the laws of the European Union and with European standards. We have already approved three of them in the Government: we are talking about the draft law on energy, we approved it on April 10; the draft law on electricity, on April 14; and the draft law on innovation and entrepreneurship, on April 20. Other draft laws, such as the 6 draft laws of the justice reform package, on state aid, on interest-delays in banking transactions, on the management of seized and confiscated property, are in the finalization stage and could be approved this month if we had a functional Assembly. So, if the assembly were to do the work that the citizens of the Republic voted for, not a single step would be lost.
Honorable ministers,
Deputy ministers,
Honorable representatives of the independent institutions of the Republic of Kosovo,
The elections were unnecessary, because we offered numerous solutions. Today we would have a president proposed by the opposition. They did not want to because they clearly wanted elections at all costs.
This unreasonable action is costing us not only in the loss of millions of euros from the European Union, but also in the loss of time and the slowing down of the integration process.
The reforms from the Growth Plan are to accelerate the process of Kosovo’s membership in the European Union, but unfortunately the blockade we are facing is to slow it down.
But, as always, the citizens will unblock the assembly and accelerate the reforms.
We are working to ensure that every step that can be taken by the government is carried out. So, we are on top of the task. And, every step that requires approval in the assembly, is ready for the next session after the elections, so that the December deadline does not result in further losses.
There are a total of 79 reform steps that include the period 2024 – 2026 with a financial value of over 579 million euros. So, the reforms that must be carried out by December constitute 2/3 of the Growth Plan or exactly 65.65%. It is essential that the new elections bring deputies who participate in the assembly, so that institutions and laws are voted on, constituted, and functionalized in a democratic way for high efficiency and their implementation.
Thank you very much for your good attention, see you at the next meeting!