French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Albania on Monday to attend the latest summit of the Berlin Process, focused on closer cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkan countries. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brussels has wanted to strengthen its ranks, but significant obstacles remain.
THE Berlin Process was launched in 2014 as a high-level cooperation platform between six Western Balkan countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – and member state governments of the EU.
The goal: to strengthen integration between the Western Balkan countries and, ultimately, achieve full membership in the EU.
After years of stagnation, Brussels’ efforts to enlarge the EU gained new momentum following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During the year 2023 Bled Strategic Forum Last August in Slovenia, EU Council President Charles Michels called for 2030 to be the deadline for further EU enlargement, in which the Berlin process would play a substantial role.
So far, the Berlin process has resulted in a series of joint projects in the areas of economy, security, social cooperation and ecology which, according to the Berlin Process website“brought the region closer to the EU”.
Progress blocked
But according to the German think tank Stiftung Wissenshaft und Politik (SWP), the implementation of agreements by Western Balkan countries “is often at a standstill”.
In a December 2022 document, the SWP urged: “Germany and the EU should place greater emphasis on implementing the adopted agreements, as the Berlin process has the potential to restore the declining credibility of membership prospects to the EU from the Western Balkan States.
All members of the Western Balkans – the former Yugoslav republics of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro as well as Albania – have European ambitions.
Only Croatia has so far become a member of the EU in 2013. The others are officially candidates for membership, with the exception of Kosovo, which is still claimed by Serbia and is not officially recognized as a Independent state by EU member states. Cyprus, Greece and Romania. , Slovakia and Spain.
Despite this, Pristina applied in December 2022.
Kosovo-Serbia dispute
But Serbia and Kosovo remain the terrible children among potential EU members.
Brussels demands that Kosovo and Serbia first resolve their strained relations. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last month there would be no European future for either country unless they reached an agreement as soon as possible .
But said BalkanInsighta publication that monitors the region, the September 24 assassination of a police officer in Kosovo by a group of heavily armed Serbs, three of whom also died in the shooting, “the failure of negotiations led by the European Union to resolve relations between Serbia and Kosovo”.
“Kosovo and Serbia risk being left behind as other regional partners move more quickly toward Europe,” Borrell said in September.
Economic issues
Meanwhile, Albanian President Edi Rama, host of the Berlin Process summit on Monday, is far from optimistic.
“We need not only the necessary reforms and criticism, but also the most consistent support, and I am not only talking about the financial point of view, but also about market access for our companies,” he said. he declares. cited by Euractiv in August.
He added that although the EU has been discussing infrastructure for many years, concrete investments in the region have come from China, Arab countries and the United States.
“What has been happening all these years in these countries is that on the one hand, through the Berlin process, we have talked about infrastructure and how to finance projects, on the other hand, infrastructure are built by Americans, Chinese and Arabs,” Rama said.
In 2021, the European Commission announced the “Global Gateway“, a plan to mobilize 300 billion euros of investment in public and private infrastructure around the world, a measure seen as a response to Chinese policy Belt and Road strategy.
This strategy would also benefit the Western Balkans. But so far, this has not led to concrete projects.
At the same time, closer cooperation between the Western Balkans and the EU would be in line with the wishes of French President Emmanuel Macron.European political community” initiative.
Proposed in May 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, during the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, its objective was to strengthen ties between EU member states and third European states “which share the same values” – modeled on the Berlin process.
Macron will be present at the Tirana meeting, which will give him the opportunity to pay an official state visit to Albania – the first ever carried out by a French president in office.
A meaningless speech?
For now, it is unclear whether the summit will simply be another venue for discussion.
Earlier this month, European Union leaders declared their support for adding new members to the bloc, but set no target date, and warned candidates like Ukraine that it would not There would be no “shortcuts”.
At the summit, held in the Spanish city of Granada, leaders of the 27-nation bloc proclaimed that EU enlargement is an “investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity.”
But they also said the EU and its potential members – which include Ukraine, Moldova and Western Balkan states – would have to make big changes to be ready for an enlarged union.
