European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, confirmed that Serbia will not receive financial funds from the European Union's Growth Plan as long as the controversial laws on the judiciary remain in force. "For the time being, we have suspended all payments from the Growth Plan because Serbia has regressed in the field of justice, and until it improves this, it will not be able to receive financial support from the EU," Kos said during a speech at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
The controversial laws, the so-called "Mrdic laws", adopted in January of this year, represent a step back in the EU's integration process into the bloc.
Kos has warned in the past, on several occasions, that these laws limit the independence of the judiciary. On April 24, the Venice Commission assessed that with the recent changes to the package of laws on the judiciary in Serbia, existing protections for the autonomy of the prosecutorial office have been removed.
This Council of Europe expert body gave Serbia nine recommendations on how to eliminate the shortcomings.
The European Union calls on Serbia to fully implement all recommendations of the Venice Commission regarding the laws on the judiciary and at the same time to suspend the implementation of these laws until they are amended.
From the Growth Plan funds, Serbia is entitled to a total of 1.588 billion euros for the period 2024-2027.
This amount includes grants and loans intended to support reforms, with the funds disbursed twice a year, based on progress made. In January, Serbia received just over half of the funds allocated from the first tranche of the Growth Plan, after it was revealed that it had only fulfilled three of the seven planned reforms.
Instead of the planned 112 million euros, it received 61.1 million euros.
Together with pre-financing funds – 7% of the total allocated amount – the total amount Serbia has received so far from the Growth Plan is 167.59 million euros.
The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans is a European Union initiative, adopted at the end of 2023, with the aim of accelerating the region's economic rapprochement with the EU and enabling its gradual access to parts of the common market, before full membership.
European institutions have allocated a total of six billion euros for this program, for the period 2024-2027.
