Zulfaj: Kosovo lost €43.8 million from the Growth Plan over unmet reforms

Kosovo has lost €43.8 million from the Growth Plan after failing to complete six reform steps by the June 2026 deadline. Jeton Zulfaj, Kosovo’s chief negotiator with the European Union and national coordinator for the Growth Plan, announced this while reporting to the Committee on European Integration.

According to Zulfaj, the plan is worth a total of €882.6 million for Kosovo, two-thirds of it in loans. Access to the funds depends on completing 111 reform steps by the end of August next year. He said the first payment request was submitted on July 15 this year for 20 completed steps worth €153.4 million. The final amount will be determined by an EU assessment, which he expects to receive in the first days of November.

Of the 13 steps given an extended deadline of June 2026, seven have been completed and six remain outstanding. Zulfaj explained that most of the remaining reforms required the Kosovo Assembly to pass draft laws during a period when it had been dissolved.

Among the reforms not completed on time, he cited the Energy Law, the Bankruptcy Law, the legislative package on justice and the Strategy against Organized Crime. He said they would continue toward adoption, first by the government and then by the Assembly, even though the funds tied to the June deadline have been lost. He stressed that EU integration is a process of reform and that the aim is to leave none of the reforms unimplemented.

Another 22 steps, worth €131.5 million, must be completed by December 31. Zulfaj said 59 days remain and that 10 acts must be passed by the Assembly. The draft Law on Innovation and Entrepreneurship is already before it, while the government is expected to submit the other acts. He also noted potential delays from consulting the European Commission on draft laws: in addition to public consultations, the Commission takes around 90 days to return its comments.

Two of the steps due by December 31 are the Assembly’s direct responsibility: establishing the State Aid Commission and adopting measures or sanctions related to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure. Given the limited time, Zulfaj called for institutions to mobilize and said the vast majority of the reforms must be passed through an expedited procedure.

He added that work alongside the Growth Plan also includes the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the European integration agenda. Following visa liberalization, he said, the next step is to advance Kosovo’s application for candidate status. Zulfaj said they had met with Commissioner Koss and European parliamentarians and expressed hope that committee members would hold similar meetings. He said Kosovo’s progress was not reflected in the current stage of its European integration process: in his view, Kosovo meets the conditions for candidate status and the opening of negotiations, but the lack of unity within the EU remains an obstacle.

During the discussion, Time Kadrijaj, a member of parliament from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, asked Zulfaj whether the government had secured the votes to pass the Civil Code. Referring to what she called the 17th of 18 steps, she mentioned provisions on marriage, family unions and the rights of people with different sexual orientations.

Kadrijaj also sought clarification on the possibility of opening EU accession negotiations and on the impact of political developments in Serbia on Kosovo’s European path and the Growth Plan. She mentioned the latest elections in Serbia, Vuçiq’s result and that of the student list, asking whether Serbia’s approach to Kosovo or the priority it receives on European agendas might change. Her questions also covered the US suspension of the strategic dialogue, the conditions for resuming it, the Brussels Agreement, the Ohrid Annex and the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

Zulfaj replied that 22 steps, not 18, are due by December 31 and that the Civil Code is among them. Passing it, he said, is the Assembly’s responsibility. He expressed hope for a social consensus around the values the code represents and for unity on the reform agenda. On accession negotiations, he reiterated that Kosovo has no unmet criteria and described the decision as a matter of political will and unity within the EU. Compared with countries in the region when they received candidate status or opened negotiations, he said, Kosovo is more advanced in every aspect of development.

He did not comment on the elections in Serbia, the Kosovo–Serbia dialogue, the Brussels Agreement or the strategic dialogue with the US, saying these matters fall outside his responsibilities. On the dialogue with Serbia, he suggested that the committee invite the chief negotiator responsible.