Kosovo Loses 43.8 Million Euros From EU Growth Plan
Kosovo's chief negotiator gave the exact figure for the first time before a parliamentary committee: six reform steps missed the June deadline, and 22 remain due by December 31.
Kosovo has lost 43.8 million euros from the European Union’s Growth Plan because of unfulfilled reform steps, Kosovo’s chief negotiator with the EU and national coordinator for the Growth Plan, Jeton Zuljfaj, said on Monday, November 2, 2026. Speaking at a session of the Kosovo Assembly’s Committee on European Integration, he gave the exact amount for the first time. Until now, only estimates of 40 to 60 million euros had circulated.
“The estimate is that more than 40 million euros has been lost, or, more precisely, 43.8 million euros, because of the expiry of the June deadline,” Zuljfaj told lawmakers, in the translation published by the portal Kosovo Online.
How many steps were met, and how many were not?
For the additional period that expired in June 2026, Kosovo had 13 reform steps to complete. According to Zuljfaj, seven were met and six were not. Most of the missed steps required the Assembly to pass laws, and it was dissolved during that period.
The unfulfilled obligations include:
- the law on energy and the law on electricity, together with secondary legislation
- the law on state aid and a state aid control system
- the law on innovation and entrepreneurship, with the National Innovation Council and an Innovation Fund
- framework bankruptcy legislation and a law on late payment interest
- a package of six judicial laws, among them those on the prosecutorial and judicial councils, the Academy of Justice, disciplinary liability, recruitment and integrity checks
- a strategy to fight organized crime
Zuljfaj said the remaining reforms have been returned to the Assembly and are expected to be processed by the end of the year.
What is still due by December 31?
The total value of the Growth Plan for Kosovo is 882.6 million euros. Two thirds of it is loans tied to 111 reform steps that must be completed by the end of August 2027. Pristina submitted its first payment request on July 15, 2026, covering 20 completed steps worth 153.4 million euros. The final amount will depend on the EU’s assessment, which Zuljfaj said is expected in the first days of November. So far Kosovo has drawn 62 million euros in pre-financing, or seven percent of the total.
Another 22 steps worth 131.5 million euros must be completed by December 31 (Kallxo gives 131.4 million in one place). Zuljfaj boiled the deadline down to simple arithmetic, in a translation from Albanian: 59 days remain, and ten acts have to pass through the Assembly.
By the end of November, the government is due to process draft laws on public procurement and on public-private partnership, and the law on innovation is among those returning to procedure. Some of the draft laws are already in the Assembly. Brussels procedure slows them further, as Zuljfaj explained, in our translation from Albanian: “The European Union needs around 90 days to return these comments, and that then causes other delays that slow down the laws.”
Zuljfaj had earlier warned that Kosovo could lose close to 90 million euros from the Growth Plan if the country goes to elections again. The Assembly ratified the Growth Plan agreement on February 13, 2026, after political deadlock delayed ratification by more than a year.
What did he say about the dialogue with Belgrade?
Lawmaker Time Kadrijaj of the Alliance asked the chief negotiator about the Brussels Agreement, the Ohrid Annex and the Association of Serb Municipalities. She also asked whether a change of government in Serbia could give Belgrade an advantage in the Growth Plan.
“Can you tell me whether you have accepted the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex, whether the Association has been accepted, what stage that process is at and how far we have come,” Kadrijaj asked.
Zuljfaj replied that those questions fall outside his remit:
“I believe that for the dialogue you can call the chief negotiator in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. I have no opinion to share with you, even on the elections in Serbia. I will not comment on the strategic dialogue with the US either, because that is not in my remit, nor on the Brussels Agreement.”
The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans is worth six billion euros for 2024 to 2027, and Kosovo is entitled to about 882 million: 253 million in grants and 629 million in loans.
