Open Balkans initiative could have negative repercussions for Western Balkans

A study by the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation has drawn attention to the negative impact that the Open Balkans initiative could have on regional stability and cooperation between the Western Balkan States and the European Union

The initiative, the study notes, could have consequences on the symbolic and real character of the cooperation, undermining the objective of the Regional Common Market launched by the Berlin Process. The reason, according to the study, is that the Open Balkans initiative would allow member countries to progress faster in economic cooperation, bypassing bilateral disputes that block decisions at the regional level.

The study highlights not only economic asynchrony, but also political asynchrony.

The initiative, in fact, could exacerbate the regional divisions between its Member States - Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania - and the remaining states that are not part of it - Kosovo, Montengro, Bosnia and Herzegovina- , since the project is misunderstood both by the Kosovo government, which does not share its objectives, both from the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which sees the initiative as a threat to its independence.

The Open Balkan initiative was launched in 2019 by the leaders of Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia to facilitate the free movement of people, goods, services and capital in the region. Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina refused to join, arguing that such an initiative would create an overlap with the regional economic cooperation provided for in the European Integration Agenda and the Berlin Process - established in 2014 as a platform for cooperation between the six Western Balkan countries and States EU members and institutions.

Photo credit: Влада на Република Северна Македонија, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons