Albania and North Macedonia are the first countries to benefit this week from the European Union's pre-financing payments, under the so-called Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

Albania has been allocated 64.5 million euros, of which 30 million are as loans to support reforms, and 34.5 million euros will be allocated through the Balkan Investment Fund for infrastructure, writes Radio Free Europe.

A day earlier, the EU also released funds for North Macedonia worth 52.2 million euros, of which 24.5 million will go to the state budget for reforms, and 28 million for infrastructure projects.

The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans is an EU fund worth 6 billion euros, planned for Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia for the period 2024-2027, to accelerate the European integration of this region.

Among the main goals of this project is to strengthen a common regional market, gradually integrated with that of the EU.

It was introduced in November 2023, and foresees that two billion euros will be non-refundable funds, while the other four billion will be provided in the form of soft loans.

Kosovo cannot receive these funds without ratifying the loan agreement in the Assembly.

This country is awaiting the certification of the results of the February 9 parliamentary elections, in order to constitute the new Assembly.

Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, had said that Kosovo is expected to benefit from 950 million euros from this plan - the largest fund ever allocated by the bloc for it, in a relatively short period.

In addition to the criteria that apply to all countries, a specific prerequisite for Kosovo and Serbia is to make progress on the path towards normalization of relations, by implementing all agreements reached in the past.

Kosovo has requested several times that the dialogue process with Serbia not have an impact on its path towards European integration.

But the EU has said that there is no more time to wait for the countries of the region to normalize relations, and has ordered them to act quickly in this direction.

Kosovo applied for EU membership in 2022 and currently only has a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the bloc.

Other Western Balkan countries have the status of candidate country for EU membership.