In the era of EU enlargement and integration, skepticism, slow or slow progress in EU accession negotiations as well as internal reforms and, finally, missed opportunities for To speed up the process for those who deserved to be assessed, the Poznań summit was held in Berlin. Process” in July 2019, and since 2014 in continuity, the representatives of the European Union and their counterparts from the Member States, so that civil society “meets” the decision-makers of the WB and the EU, and so that the Businesses and civil society continue and deepen a regional network that is still happening even if sometimes under the radar.
Let us also recall that the initial objective of the process was not to replace enlargement but to complement it, to support reforms and to strengthen regional cooperation. Countries in the region continue to have many open bilateral and regional issues and issues awaiting resolution and projects ready for further development.
It is also an opportunity for the Western Balkans to engage more with countries that are not geographically or economically close to the region, but that does not mean they are not welcome partners in integration. European.
This is also true for Poland, which has been a strong supporter of EU enlargement but for whom the WB as a whole represents only 26th commercial partner! Even if it is better than Canada, as Minister Emilewicz optimistically remarked during the opening panel of the Poznań summit.
The Polish hosts of this year’s Summit really invested considerable effort in the preparation and planning of the Summit, enriched it with the Forum of Cities and Regions held a month before in Rzeszow and carried out extensive and lengthy consultations with the governments and civil society in the region. The result was the summit program which included a think tank forum, a civil society forum, a business forum, leaders and ministerial meetings as well as a series of debates and presentations from the OECD on the potential and Export Trade of the World Bank.
Besides connectivity, which is the buzzword in the context of enlargement and the Berlin process, economic development and growth, the Poznań summit ended with a declaration on the integration of Roma and an attempt to address environmental and climate challenges with a joint declaration on the “Clean Energy Transition in the Western Balkans”. The European Commission is also committed to supporting the development of the WB’s Green Agenda. This is long overdue and hopefully it will contribute to the inclusion of these exceptionally important topics in the agendas of WB political actors as well as certain actions.
Connectivity has many facets. In addition to infrastructure, digital and economic, social connectivity is an important dimension for the unfortunately divided societies and countries of the Balkans. The facilitation of youth cooperation and exchanges and thus dialogue and understanding via RYCO is often cited as one of the achievements of the Berlin Process. But there are many other needs and aspects that deserve more attention.
I was therefore happy to be able to present a paper on the role of local communities of the WB in the European integration process. The brief, developed thanks to LCR of the European Fund for the Balkans, examines the role and capacities of local authorities in terms of implementing EU legislation, absorption of EU funds and the social/human dimension of integration European Union which must start, as well as at local level. such as regional cooperation.
It provides a number of recommendations for European and Balkan policy makers, but also builds on the ASB recommendations. Social Dimension Initiative in European integration for the WB which managed to bring together for the first time in 2018 all social protection ministers, to organize mentoring support to 65 municipalities of the WB to develop a portfolio of regional social projects of 200 projects and to show that there is a real need to refocus Europe. approach of regional integration and cooperation towards local actors confronted with concrete issues and people’s problems.
This is crucial for the transformation of our societies, but also for understanding and supporting European integration, which is becoming an increasingly difficult task.
The three-day agenda of the forum and summit in Poznań resulted in the Presidency conclusions which encompass everything already mentioned, as well as social entrepreneurship, regional reconciliation, smart specialization, youth, science, disinformation, the fight against corruption, to name a few. This means that the conclusions reflect the complexity and diversity of the debates and the participants present.
This is a good thing to a certain extent and it would be advisable to focus on a few outstanding issues and try to make progress on them, while other topics should be highlighted in future summits. It would also be good if difficult issues were among those few – like the rule of law and media freedom in the World Bank or the EU enlargement strategy versus EU consolidation.
Of course, neither World Bank leaders think there is anything wrong with the rule of law in their countries, nor EU leaders think there is anything wrong with their approach and messages regarding enlargement. Civil society generally disagrees with both. On the latter – some thoughts and proposals are available. On the rule of law, much has been said and will continue to dominate the European outlook for the Balkans until it is understood that it is the backbone of any prosperous and democratic future in the region, and not just European integration.
Difficult political issues were of course not resolved or discussed in depth in Poznań, but were once again used to national public opinion at the summit. The format of the meetings and the intention are also not intended for these solutions, but it is always regrettable not to take the opportunity to relax relations and start discussing outstanding issues.
