Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic will attend the Berlin Process Summit today.
Source: Tanjug
For the first time this year, the Berlin Process Summit is being held outside the framework of the European Union and Balkan and EU leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the President of the European Council Charles Michel will be welcomed by the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
One of the main topics should be the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, after the conflict in Banjska.
As previously announced, Pristina will be represented at the Summit by Albin Kurti and Belgrade by Ana Brnabic.
Before the start of the summit, Prime Minister Brnabic will hold a bilateral meeting with Hungarian President Katalin Novak, and during the summit break she will meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, James Cleverly.
The Berlin Process Summit will begin at 11 a.m. During the two sessions, leaders will discuss the region’s prospects, its economic empowerment and step-by-step integration, and the EU will once again present its views on the West’s European path. Balkans.
The first session is titled “Integration of the region into the single market and improving convergence with the EU”, while leaders will discuss the theme “Good neighborly relations and bilateral issues: towards a new European paradigm” during lunch of work.
The second session is “Supporting the green and digital transition in the Western Balkans: challenges and opportunities for investment and growth”.
It was announced that an agreement on the recognition of professional qualifications between the countries of the region would be signed within the framework of the Summit and that the inauguration of the College of Europe, whose rector is Federica Mogherini, would take place.
As noted in the Summit agenda, Edi Rama, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel will speak at the joint press conference.
The Berlin Process was initiated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on August 28, 2014 and the first conference was held in Berlin and aims to unite the Western Balkan countries (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania ) with nine EU members and Britain, European Union institutions, international financial institutions and regional cooperation initiatives.
Heads of government meet at summits in various European cities, relevant ministers discuss specific topics, and regional cooperation initiatives aim to harmonize details.
The Berlin Process is an intergovernmental initiative whose aim is to connect the Western Balkan countries and the European Union on the path to EU membership and to help them build mutual relations on the basis of values European.
Under the Berlin Process, the emphasis is on standards consistent with the EU acquis.
It brings together all the Western Balkan countries which are not members of the European Union and are part of the Berlin process: Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, which represents a market of 18 million people.
Agreements on the mutual recognition of identity cards, academic degrees and professional qualifications have been signed at previous summits.
The previously agreed cooperation encompassed the areas of transport, energy, ecology, digitalization and roaming.
The main achievements of the Berlin Process are: the creation of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RICO), the Chamber Investment Forum, the Regional Homelessness Agreement (implementation started on July 1, 2021), the termination of the agreement on lowering data roaming prices between Western countries. Balkans and European Union Member States (entered into force on October 1, 2023), the three mobility agreements are important achievements of regional cooperation under the Berlin process.
The Berlin Process is taking place under the auspices of the European Union and, in addition to the Western Balkan countries, Germany, France, Austria, the United Kingdom and Italy, Greece, Italy, Poland, Croatia and Slovenia are also members.