Stiplija: Allocation of funds from the Growth Plan will depend on the implementation of the agreements from Brussels and Ohrid

The allocation of funds that the EU has earmarked for the countries of the Western Balkans through the Growth Plan will be conditioned by various mechanisms, and in the case of Serbia and Kosovo, by the implementation of the agreements from Brussels and Ohrid, believes Nemanja Todorovic Stiplija, Director of the Center for Contemporary Politics and Editor of the European Western Balkans portal.

Stiplija emphasizes that the Growth Plan will also depend on the state of democracy and the rule of law in the Western Balkan countries.

"Therefore, certainly some Western Balkan countries will be left without funds due to the state of democracy in the country and the rule of law, and Serbia and Kosovo due to the non-implementation of the achieved agreements," Stiplija told Kosovo Online.

As he says, the contentious point regarding the implementation of obligations from the agreements reached in Brussels and Ohrid in the case of Pristina concerns the formation of the CSM, while for Serbia it is Article 4, which pertains to Belgrade's opposition to Pristina's membership in international organizations where it is possible.

He adds that the allocation of funds within the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans in the case of Serbia will ultimately depend on the state of democracy and the rule of law.

"We expect the European Commission's report on the state of the rule of law in candidate and potential candidate countries, and I believe that this report will show whether Serbia, but also other Western Balkan countries, deserve funds from the Growth Plan," he concludes.