The Western Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia - are set to miss the 2030 deadline to complete the core trans-European transport network in the region due to implementation delays and operational difficulties, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said.

To address the infrastructure gap and extend the core EU trans-European transport network in the Western Balkans by 2030, the European Commission funds transport infrastructure in the region through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) manage donor contributions via the European Western Balkans Joint Fund, with the Commission providing most of the funding - Euro 899 million since 2015, or 86% of the total, the ECA said in a report published on Tuesday.

Following the examination of 12 transport projects funded through WBIF in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, worth a total of 341.6 million euros, the ECA found that the Commission ensured that the WBIF contributes to extending the core European transport network, but that weaknesses in project selection, particularly regarding project maturity, have led to significant implementation delays.

The Commission was only partially effective at ensuring adequate supervision by the financial institutions and at setting up effective monitoring and reporting arrangements, which limited its ability to tackle implementation risks, delays, and sustainability issues, the ECA said.

The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance, which was the EU funding source for the sampled 12 projects, requires the Commission to prioritize projects according to several criteria, including their contribution to mobility, sustainable transport, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and relevance to the European transport network. The ECA found that all the sampled projects were related to the core European transport network.

However, until 2022, the Commission did not focus sufficiently on selecting sustainable transport projects that help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the Commission did not pay sufficient attention to the maturity of project applications that were selected, which resulted in the projects typically starting with a 17-month delay.

In its response to the ECA report, the Commission acknowledged the delays in implementing the projects and accepted ECA's recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the WBIF by selecting mature projects, followed by effective supervision and monitoring, and by ensuring the sustainability of the investments and visibility of the EU support, the ECA said.

Some of the issues identified by ECA have already been addressed or are being addressed by the Commission.