Among more than 70 regional cooperation initiatives, the so-called “mini-Schengen” stood out from its appearance in the second half of 2019. Even if this subject was topical from October, it practically did not been mentioned. of this over the last two months. Why is the common economic development strategy of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, aimed at further eliminating various trade barriers in their three countries, no longer in focus?
After the meetings of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in Novi Sad in October and Ohrid in November, the next meeting of the initiative is expected to take place in Belgrade at the end of January. or early February 2020, but did not materialize.
European Western Balkans spoke with the research director of the Institute of Cooperation and Development in Tirana Ardian Hackaj and president of the European Movement in Serbia Jelica Minic who recognized that external factors and other developments stood in the way of “mini-Schengen”.
“First, public attention focused on practical and concrete connectivity measures such as the agreements on rail and air links signed between Serbia and Kosovo. Second, as no technical document on what the “mini-Schengen” could look like has yet been produced or distributed, all arguments available to its supporters beyond this “great Balkan initiative” have been exhausted,” explained Hackaj and added that in the EBRD summit in London two weeks ago, what made headlines was a figure of speech that “mini-Schengen” is not the term appropriate to designate the great peoples of the Balkans. “That tells you something,” Hackaj says.
Minić agrees, adding that there are also many open crises in the region.
“We are in a situation in Montenegro where great polarization has occurred. We are experiencing a situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina where relations between the two entities are tense. Besides the pre-election atmosphere in Serbia and North Macedonia, it seems that now is not the right time to further force the ‘mini-Schengen’ story,” Minić emphasizes.
“Mini-Schengen” and regional economic area
However, even if the initiators announced the idea of a “mini-Schengen”, it has not gone unnoticed that this initiative resembles the Regional Economic Area (REA) already in motion with the help of the Council of regional cooperation (RCC), since the 2017 Trieste Summit as part of the Berlin process. The question that arises is what differentiates the “mini-Schengen” from the REA.
Minić explains that the REA actually received the support of the six Western Balkan partners, which is not the case for the “mini-Schengen”. Kosovo refuses to join the initiative and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are still making their decision.
Thanks to the coordination and monitoring by the RCC of the implementation of the Multi-annual Action Plan, all the measures of the CEFTA are reflected in the economic dimension, but more than that, the REA has the social dimension and the agenda digital which confer additional credits to the REA compared to CEFTA, which is explicitly an economic agreement.
RCC explained that for them, regional cooperation is a developing story.
“Regional cooperation takes on its full meaning once the final objective is European integration. As enlargement aims to connect markets and people, we believe that any initiative to decisively break down barriers within our region must be taken into consideration. SO. we keep our eyes and ears open to every proposal from every economy in the region and will continue to do so,” the RCC said.
CEFTA and “mini-Schengen”
However, since Kosovo introduced 100 percent tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, regional cooperation has declined, knowing that although all World Bank countries, including the Kosovo, are part of the CEFTA agreement, it does not have the capacity to impose taxes. This is why a “mini-Schengen” appeared, Minić emphasized.
“Mini-Schengen emerged after the slowdown in regional cooperation, as the introduction of 100 percent taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina largely blocked regional cooperation, not only in the commercial domain, but as a whole. Sanctions are impossible because UNMIK represents Kosovo in CEFTA and the mechanism simply does not work when it comes to Kosovo and the trade measures it entails,” Minić said, but she stressed that this could also be interpreted as an attempt, in the given circumstances, to give new life to all the initiatives launched previously.
Learn more: Mini-Schengen: hand in hand with the European integration process, or its replacement?
Yet at the Munich Security Conference in February, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that “mini-Schengen” should develop under the Berlin process. Minić considers this a position in which the Berlin process would have given greater authority to the “mini-Schengens” if they had provided their support.
“However, there are also some reservations about some overproduction and the proliferation of various overlapping and coinciding regional initiatives, which is true in this case. But the question arises why this happened, if there was a reason? Is this an attempt to revitalize the regional economic space, in this regard this initiative makes sense, because we have had the demonstration from the leaders of the three members of the BM6 that they are ready to intensify again the process,” explained Minić.
Hackaj points out that Kurti is not alone in saying that “mini-Schengen” should be part of the Berlin process.
“There is an inflation of regional cooperation initiatives of which the SEE6 countries are members – currently we have 71. For an idea to become reality, it needs a strategy, an action plan , detailed objectives, measures, indicators, references, available financial resources and qualified resources. staff. We have all these elements in CEFTA and RCC. The Berlin process since 2014 provides the political support while the European Commission offers the financial support,” says Hackaj and adds that he agrees that the Berlin process and enlargement need to be revised to adapt to the context on the ground , but at least the resources they provide are available now.
How does Kosovo fit into the “mini-Schengen”?
However, Kurti is not the only one who opposes the idea of joining the “mini-Schengen”. Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi wrote on Facebook that the initiative would be meaningless until Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina recognize Kosovo and added that Kosovo does not want to exchange its Euro-Atlantic perspective against a regional perspective. “Kosovo was deliberately neglected by Serbia during the first summit of this new regional initiative. Second, the only vision for Kosovo remains membership in the EU and NATO. Therefore, we in no way want to replace our Euro-Atlantic perspective with any regional initiative,” Hashim Thaçi said on Facebook.
On the contrary, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the initiative was inclusive, did not exclude anyone and that any conditionality would be considered unacceptable. “If Kosovo needs respect, integration and economic development, this is the way to go,” Rama said.
Hackaj explains that beyond any political context behind his decision, referring to the Albanian Prime Minister, Kurti said he wanted to understand what went wrong bilaterally before embarking on a new multilateral agreement.
“It should also be added that the way this initiative started in Niš, it was perceived by the uninvited SEE6 countries as a Three + Three initiative, even though it was perfectly clear that they were welcome at any time,” says Hackaj.
Minić believes that Kurti just needs to be given some time and that some harsh positions towards Serbia are gradually changed, such as the attitude regarding 100 percent customs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“There is clearly a change. It is possible that if the climate in the region improved and the attitude towards the “mini-Schengen” changed, because some of the first reactions were that this initiative “restores Yugoslavia again”, and that “Serbia again has claims through the “mini-Schengen”, which, in my opinion, is not the case, because it only gives new life to the regional economic space,” emphasizes Minić .
Some say that the “mini-Schengen” is a way to get around the Serbia-Kosovo issue when it comes to economic cooperation. Minić claims that it is quite the opposite:
“I don’t think this circumvents the Kosovo issue, but gives the possibility of resolving some outstanding issues with Kosovo through the ‘mini-Schengen’, not only in Serbia but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because if Kosovo and BiH joined the “mini-Schengen” initiative, the visa problem between Kosovo and BiH would automatically be resolved. Furthermore, under a multilateral agreement, Kosovo would also be able to overcome the visa waiver and all the political consequences of this decision. Thus, the much sought-after reciprocity would be ensured, because all “mini-Schengen” countries would have the same mutual obligations,” explains Minić and adds that this could solve many problems more easily than in a situation where there was no “mini-Schengen”. -Schengen.
Can we expect to see the whole of WB6 in a “mini-Schengen”?
Although the “mini-Schengen” is supposed to consist of a set of measures that will contribute to the growth and development of countries in the region by introducing freer movement of goods, people and services, the most important measures including a system that would allow travel between countries using only personal ID, as well as work permits giving the opportunity to work in Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia, the other three WB6 countries do not did not join it. The question therefore arises as to how likely it is that they will eventually join the process.
Hackaj points out that given their initial reaction to the idea, they would have to be convinced.
“We should explain to them the advantages they get from the ‘mini-Schengen’. Then I assume they will calculate the costs, once new details of how it works become available. Ultimately, the decision to join or not will be a cost-benefit analysis,” Hackaj emphasizes.
Even though Montenegro President Milo Đukanovic said in December that Montenegro was committed to regional initiatives and would participate in “mini-Schengen negotiations” in the coming period, there has been a dispute between Montenegro and Serbia since the introduction of the law on Religious Freedoms in Montenegro.
“Signals came from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro that there was some willingness to consider participation in a “mini-Schengen”, but unfortunately the circumstances over a very short period over the 2- The last 3 months have meant that the story has been delayed or even abandoned,” concludes Minić.