About this learning event

Ensuring safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transport across road, rail, aviation, maritime, and inland waterways in candidate and potential candidate countries is a crucial element of the EU integration process. These requirements are covered under Chapter 14 - Transport Policy, part of the Cluster: Green Agenda & Sustainable Connectivity. The same priorities are reflected in the Reform Agendas (RAs) and Economic Reform Programmes (ERPs), which outline how sustainable transport and improved connectivity function as key multipliers for social and economic development, as well as how reforms and investments in the transport sector under the Reform and Growth Facility for Western Balkans support regional economic integration and enhance integration with the Union single market.

To translate these strategic priorities into tangible progress, it is essential to understand how current reforms are being implemented and where the main bottlenecks persist. Through a comprehensive comparative analysis, in this workshop, we will show how the reforms outlined in the Reform Agenda (RA) and ERPs adequately address these obstacles. We will: 

• Review progress in implementing reforms and their alignment with EU accession processes and requirements,
• Examine how transport reforms relate to Public Investment Management (PIM), ensuring that planned investments are well-prioritized, cost-effective, and fiscally sustainable,
• Focus on practical steps for developing and financing sustainable, low-emission transport infrastructure - especially railways - that deepen regional integration and support the green and digital transitions,
• Discuss challenges encountered in budgeting and fiscal planning of reforms,
• Perform economic impact assessment of selected reforms,
• Reflect on emerging EU transport trends and strategic priorities - such as digitalization, decarbonization, and sustainable connectivity.

Eventually, participants will examine the role of structural reforms and investments in aligning national transport systems with the EU’s trans-European transport network (TEN-T), including the newly proposed Western Balkans–Eastern Mediterranean Corridor.

Who should attend

This workshop is designed for public officials involved in preparing, designing, or implementing transport reforms under the Reform Agenda (RA) and the Economic Reform Programme (ERP). Participants may include representatives from line ministries (such as the Ministry of Transport), Ministries of Finance, PIM units, and other institutions engaged in the transport sector. Participants should be coming from EU Candidate or Potential Candidate Countries.

Practical Information

Travel, accommodation, meals and full participation for selected participants coming from Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Turkiye, Moldova and Ukraine is covered by the CEF.

Partners

This event is delivered as part of the EU-funded multi-beneficiary project “Structural Reforms Better Integrated Within Fiscal Frameworks” (FISR 2) implemented by the CEF.