EU to improve efficiency of aid for Western Balkans

(BRDO PRI KRANJU) - EU finance ministers agreed on Friday to streamline the way the bloc distributes financial assistance to the western Balkans, Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk said.

"We hope by May financial assistance (to the western Balkans) will be harmonized and more efficient," Bajuk told journalists on the sidelines of a two-day meetinig at Brdo pri Kranju, near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.

The European Union's assistence to the western Balkan states is currently funnelled through over 20 financial channels supervised by the European Commission, the European Bank for Research and Development, the European Investment Bank and other EU institutions, Bajuk said.

He added that by harmonizing the EU's financial aid to the region and creating a so-called "one-stop-shop" the EU wants to help the Balkan states to be able to "more efficently use the funds that are their disposal."

"The reaction (of all finance ministers) was very positive, they supported the initiative and we will try to have concrete results by May," Bajuk told journalists.

Slovenia, a former Yugoslav state that joined the EU in 2004, is the first newcomer to hold the bloc's rotating presidency.

Informal Meeting of Ministers for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)