Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia keep kicking the board and, in the absence of solid progress towards their entry into the European Union (EU), they are advancing, with increasing momentum, towards creation of a Balkan ‘mini-Schengen’. The last step has been in these days the signing of six new agreements that intend to pave the way towards the creation of this zone of free movement of goods, capital and people in 2023, according to the plan already announced last summer.
The agreements signed, in fact, ratify measures such as the implementation of a integrated electronic identification system for the 10 million citizens who will have to make up the club, and the lifting of double sanitary controls for agricultural products (a measure that is expected to come into force this month) that cross the borders of the three countries. Said in the words of the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama: “Our aim is that there are no more borders between our people.”
The claim of the current members of the club, who have the political support of Germany, is that the negotiations with the EU are not progressing at the expected pace and they cannot wait any longer. In this frame, Serbia, albeit Albania to a similar extent, has led the way on the initiative. This plan is one of the “biggest ideas in Europe today”, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. With this, the date has also been set for the next meeting of the group, which will be in February in Skopje, the Norman capital.
The regional fracture
“We have never gotten this far, and also we are receiving positive signals that increase the possibility that the next country to join is Montenegro, “Albanian government sources tell El Periódico.” Recently, the Montenegrin prime minister participated in a dinner with the other leaders in which the issue was addressed, “they add, emphasizing in which the non-possibility of applying vetoes to the decisions of the group by the member countries is helping to advance in the negotiation.
In fact, a major stumbling block remains the refusal of the other Balkan countries that are waiting to join the EU, such as Kosovo or Bosnia, which have been skeptical and have opted for not be part -at least for now- of Open Balkan (Open Balkans), the name that the initiative has recently received. Added to this is the unknown of what will happen now that North Macedonia has just experienced a political crisis that in December culminated in the resignation of the former prime minister, Zoran Zaev, and the appointment of a new government.
Hence, Rama himself has repeatedly insisted on his invitation for the rest of the Balkan countries to also join. It is a “totally inclusive” project, said the Albanian, underlining that the pact will make the states involved borderless. Vucic, for his part, denied that Belgrade will hinder possible entry into the Kosovo club, the country that until 2008 was part of Serbia and with which it still maintains an open dispute over the status of Pristina.
Ambiguous UE
For its part, the EU seems for the moment to maintain an ambiguous position. He has not opposed the initiative, and has even allocated funds, but has also warned that an area without customs controls might facilitate illegal traffic, and has been skeptical regarding the regional rupture that implies that three countries have decided not to join the club. There is also no consensus among analysts on whether or not the initiative will help these countries to join the EU in the future.
In the most immediate, yes, the three countries might be directly benefited by your project. For starters, according to World Bank estimates, regarding 2.7 billion euros a year would be saved. Still, other analysts insist that Vucic and Rama’s move is to demonstrate their influence in the region, at a time when the EU seems powerless, as Toby Vogel of the Democratization Policy Council think tank has said.
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