TIRANA, Albania –
Leaders of the six Western Balkan countries met informally on Monday in the Albanian capital, Tirana, to prepare for a summit on progress toward European Union integration, known as the Berlin Process.
At an informal lunch, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed his counterparts from Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia, as well as the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi.
On October 16, Albania will host the summit on the Berlin Process, an initiative by Germany and France aimed at encouraging Balkan countries in their approach to joining the European Union.
The six Western Balkan countries – Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania – are at different stages of integration into the bloc.
Rama said he hoped that “the summit will produce a significant outcome for the Western Balkans and constitute a further step” to facilitate interactions between countries in the region and the EU.
“Alongside the negotiation process, (we) expect additional financial and economic support for the Western Balkan countries,” he said.
They also discussed with the commissioner “how to pave the way for integration (for countries in the region) into the European single market without hoping for EU membership.”
Serbia and Montenegro were the first Western Balkan countries to launch accession negotiations a few years ago, followed by Albania and Macedonia last year, with Bosnia and Kosovo only just beginning the first step in the integration process.
“What is important right now is to see the region as one, because that is how the EU sees us, even if some countries are ahead and others are behind,” Rama said .
The war in Ukraine has put the integration of the Western Balkans at the top of the agenda for the bloc, which is trying to reinvigorate the entire enlargement process.
In 2013, Croatia, also a Balkan country, became the newest member state of the EU. Since then, progress has stalled.
The EU did not judge that the economies and political institutions of the Western Balkan countries were ready to be integrated into the European single market of borderless trade and Western democratic ideals.
A bitter conflict between Serbia and Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, remains a big concern for Western powers as the summit approaches.