The EU is to provide EUR 4.5 B in financial aid coming under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) programme for eight southeastern European countries until 2010.
The funding is supposed to enhance the development of official EU candidates Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey, and of potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia.
"The road towards the EU is paved with reforms to improve the everyday lives of citizens and to comply with the strict EU accession criteria," the EC said in a statement on September 29, announcing the adoption of the assistance plan.