Albania's infrastructure, in focus of EU investments - The more reforms our country implements, the more funds are released by the Union
Once again, infrastructure is the main focus of EU investments in Albania. Most of the money being provided to our country from the European Union's Growth Plan, where the latest funding amounts to 100 million euros, will be dedicated to infrastructure projects.
In March this year, Albania received €64.5 million in pre-financing from the European Union's Growth Plan, around €30 million in concessional loans for the implementation of the National Reform Agenda reforms, and €34.5 million in grants and concessional loans for infrastructure investments. Starting now, around €54 million more will be channeled through the EU's Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) to support infrastructure development.
The European Commission has not provided details on what these investments are, but it may be Albania that will channel them according to the projects that need the most money.
The Economic Growth Plan foresees the distribution of a fund of 6 billion euros to the 6 countries of the Western Balkans, to support the latter in implementing the reforms necessary to achieve European Union standards. Albania will benefit in total from this Plan until 2027, which is how much is considered necessary by the EU for Albania to implement all the reforms foreseen by the National Agenda 2024-2027, which was submitted to and approved by the EU last year. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the two countries that will benefit the most.
The more reforms our country implements, the more funds are released by the European Union. So, the funds are being provided gradually depending on the progress of the implementation of the reforms. What are the reforms implemented so far by Albania?
As foreseen in the National Reform Agenda, the Ministry of Interior drafted a draft law in March to establish the Asset Recovery Office, which will be responsible for the process of tracing and identifying income, assets or other material benefits arising from a criminal offense or criminal activity, which may be subject to temporary freezing, sequestration or confiscation by the competent authorities.
Also, the Long-Term Building Renovation Strategy has been approved, with funding identified for 2025 and 2026 to meet the 3% annual renovation target for existing government public buildings.
A new National Strategy for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and its Action Plan 2024-2030, as well as the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy have also been drafted within the framework of the objectives set in the National Reform Agenda.
By 2027, Albania has a number of other reforms to implement.
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