The EU Single Market in Bits and Pieces: Limits of the ‘Growth Plan for the Western Balkans’

This 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.