The EU single market in bits and pieces : limits of the 'Growth Plan for the Western Balkans'

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dc.contributor.authorBONOMI, Matteo
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-22T16:48:21Z
dc.date.available2025-07-22T16:48:21Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.description.abstractThis paper critically assesses the European Commission’s new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and its core instrument, the Reform and Growth Facility, introduced in the context of renewed enlargement momentum following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While the plan presents itself as a step toward gradual integration, it largely reproduces existing frameworks without offering meaningful new pathways to EU membership. The analysis highlights structural limitations in market access provisions, overreliance on regional cooperation mechanisms, and the modest financial scope of the Facility, especially in comparison to support received by EU member states. Despite some innovations – such as conditional funding and procedural alignment with NextGenerationEU – implementation challenges and political preconditions risk undermining its impact. Although similar instruments for Ukraine and Moldova aim to signal EU commitment, their structure raises concerns about replicating the same weaknesses. The paper concludes that the Growth Plan constitutes a limited recalibration rather than a transformative shift in the EU’s enlargement strategy.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.issn1028-3625
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/93022
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherEuropean University Institute
dc.relation.ispartofseriesEUI
dc.relation.ispartofseriesRSC
dc.relation.ispartofseriesWorking Paper
dc.relation.ispartofseries2025/29
dc.relation.ispartofseries[Global Governance Programme]
dc.relation.ispartofseriesSoutheastern Europe
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.licenseAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectGrowth Plan
dc.subjectWestern Balkans
dc.subjectEU enlargement
dc.subjectNextGenerationEU
dc.titleThe EU single market in bits and pieces : limits of the 'Growth Plan for the Western Balkans'
dc.typeWorking Paper
dspace.entity.typePublication
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