This first RGF monitoring report covering the period October 2024 – June 2025 marks a pivotal stage in Albania’s implementation of the Reform and Growth Facility. The country is shifting from designing reforms to delivering results that make a tangible difference for citizens.
The progress recorded in the period shows determination and consistent effort across institutions. Yet, it also reveals challenges in the administrative capacity and the need for a more transparent, participatory, and result-oriented reform process.
The report notes steady progress in establishing governance and monitoring frameworks and advancing reforms in the period covered. However, it also highlights challenges in administrative capacity, transparency, and stakeholder engagement, which are essential for sustaining reform momentum.
Most payment conditions under Albania’s Reform Agenda are qualitative, meaning that RGF disbursements follow an all-or-nothing approach. Limited clarity in payment conditions and reporting criteria may slow early fund absorption. The report calls for clear and public guidance on assessing “satisfactory fulfilment” of reform steps, to ensure predictability and accountability in the process.
It also underscores the need for stronger monitoring of RGF-financed investments, particularly those implemented through the Western Balkans Investment Framework, and for greater public access to information on funded projects.
Albania’s accession journey is, above all, a reform journey. This report covers the first miles of that journey.
This report is prepared under the framework of the initiative “Increasing Albanian civic engagement footprint in the Growth Plan” implemented by CDI in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Albania.
CDI will continue to monitor the progress of the RGF and contribute to its good governance – by drawing on EU standards with Recovery and Resilience Facility, best participatory governance standards, and risk mitigation practices in performance-based funding instruments. How Albania performs today under RGF will determine how quickly the country advances in accession reforms and how ready it will be tomorrow to seize the benefits of EU membership.
