EUR 96 million for railroad projects in Serbia and Albania

(Photo: Oleksiy Mark/shutterstock.com)

Hahn estimated at the Paris business summit on the Western Balkans that, despite their obvious advantages, “there's a lot of room for improvement” in the reforms in the transport and energy sectors regarding which the agreement had been reached at the previous summit in Vienna, the European Commission announced.

- We have decided to provide EUR 96 million for three railroad infrastructural projects in Serbia and Albania. We will also provide EUR 50 million for measures such as energy efficiency in residential buildings and small hydro projects – Hahn said and added that this showed the seriousness of the EU's intention to invest up to a million euros in the transport and energy infrastructure in the Western Balkans countries within the Interconnection Plan before 2020.

Hahn also stated that the interconnection plan had the potential to improve the competitiveness of the region by reducing the cost of operations, but that this could only be done after the reforms had been fully carried out.

- In order to facilitate this, we might have to hold regular political meetings, including those with the Prime Minister's advisers. All these measures should lead to a unified Western Balkans market, long before the accession – Hahn said.