On 4. and 5. July meeting in Poznan, the sixth conference on the Western Balkans in the framework of the Berlin process. You should serve the new EU Commission as a guide for Western policy in the Balkans in the next five years.
Western Balkans Summit In Berlin, 29.4. : (v. l. n. R.) Serbia’s President Vucic and Prime Minister Brnabic with Merkel and Macron
The most prominent guest at the Western Balkans conference, which meets since 2014, every year in a different European city, is the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She is also the founder of the diplomatic Initiative which is under the name of “Berlin-process” known. The goal is, the six Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North of Macedonia and Serbia, with the help of some EU States on the path to the European Union.
“Rocky Road”
In a video message in the run-up to the summit, the Chancellor referred to this path as anything other than slightly: “There is a need to overcome a variety of tensions and there are a number of conditions must be met in order for all the countries of the Western Balkans meet the conditions for accession to the European Union. The path is still rocky.”
Especially the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo impacted the further Integration. Until now, the Merkel-Macron Initiative by April 2019 could show no result. A for the 1. July-planned high-level Meeting in Paris was postponed because Kosovo was not ready, the 100-percent tariff premiums for Serbian products. This had raised Kosovo as a reaction on the part of the successful diplomacy of the Serbian government against the membership of Kosovo in international institutions, such as Interpol or UNESCO.
Youth connect
The Berlin process is trying to direct the Focus on the practical cooperation among the six Balkan countries and the European Union. So he supports with a lot of money under the heading of “connectivity” to the exchange on social, economic, and government level among the countries and with the countries of the EU.
Road blockades in September 2018 prior to the visit of the President of Serbia, Vucic in Kosovo
The flagship project is the establishment of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), with headquarters in Tirana. The Youth co-operation network was set up in 2016 at the Paris-Western Balkans conference and has since received 1.9 million euros of the project money is made available, in order to promote the exchange of youth among themselves. With the first 900,000 euros, more than 1,300 partnerships were created. But this project also got recently the impact of the latest tensions between Serbia and Kosovo to feel. The March planned RYCO Meeting in Prishtina could not take place, because Serbia refused, a messenger there, to send it to. To send someone in fact would mean the recognition of Kosovo, the reasoning of the Serbian government.
Build roads
Another important Element of the Berlin process, the economic cooperation. Almost 700 million euros issued by the EU for 2015 for infrastructure and energy projects. Added to this are 2.4 million in the Form of loans. They are intended to facilitate the Connections between people and facilitate trade. “The assistance to the Western Balkans countries in the course of the EU enlargement process is visible, because the people benefit directly,” says Ardian Hackaj, coordinator of the Connectivity Agenda in Tirana. As a major breakthrough since the 1 was recently. July, which came into force reducing roaming charges. Now it is hoped to achieve the recognition of diplomas.
Nevertheless, there are still a number of problems to solve. For example, the abolition of double customs control, the transport time of Goods to extend enormously, so an economic expert of the German government. Here the political will is lacking still.
Litmus test for the extension
In view of the restructuring of the EU Commission in the autumn, is expected to float no breakthrough. “It is much more will give an assessment of the first cycle (2015-2018), which could serve the new Commission as a guide for its policy towards the countries of the Western Balkans,” said Hakaj.
Serbs from Northern Kosovo are protesting against the sharp increase in Customs duties on Serbian products
The Berlin conference is supposed to last only four years, from 2014 to 2018. It was extended, because the interest on the working level was great. However, the number of participating countries is increasing and the ideas of many. Even if the political support at the highest level is becoming less and less visible. Shortly before the Balkan conference, the French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that “he will fight to ensure that there should be no extension before the reform of the EU”. The Chancellor wants to support until the end of their term of office, the project actively, according to German government circles. Whether it remains on their term of office, the is uncertain.
For Hakaj of the Berlin process is to bind the most important Instrument of the EU to the Western Balkans, and on a later extension to prepare for all of these projects will also serve “as a litmus test for the functionality of the respective States and their EU-suitability.”