SARAJEVO – I am very optimistic about the summit in Sofia and I believe that we will agree and start establishing a common regional market based on the “four freedoms” approach, the backbone of the ‘mini-Schengen’ initiative, said Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), FoNet reports.
Bregu said that some experts say in their estimates that the Western Balkans will have the worst recession in the past two decades, and it seems that it has already begun.
“The European Union has done a lot to mitigate the consequences in our region, the Economic and Investment Plan of the EU envisages nine billion euros in grants. Together with the already announced 3.3 billion euros to fight the pandemic, this is an incentive to make faster progress when it comes to economic development,” she pointed out.
EU investment, backed by a guarantee instrument for the Western Balkans, Bregu said, has the potential to attract another 20 billion euros in public and private investment.