The Open Balkan initiative: A step forward towards European integration or running on empty?

ABSTRACT

Regional cooperation has become paramount in the modern interdependent and globalized world, especially for smaller states. Facing the EU enlargement fatigue, several local initiatives have been launched to bridge the wide gap between the realities and the expectations for the European future of the Western Balkans. In 2019, three Western Balkans countries – Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia launched an indigenous regional cooperation project – the Open Balkan initiative (OBI), to expand and expedite regional cooperation in several areas. This study analyzes the main themes and actors embedded in the official declarations of the initiative and assesses their conformity and interrelatedness with the processes of regional European integration. The findings show that the OBI represents a partial upgrade of existing regional initiatives, whose contents mostly emulate the activities of EU-led projects and where economic dimensions dominate. As such, it largely conforms to the goals and objectives of regional European integration. Nevertheless, the OBI does not represent anything revolutionary or at least fundamentally new regarding its ideas, proclaimed goals, and actors involved. Even if wholly implemented, its effects will only be marginal, given that it presently encompasses only three Western Balkans countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Open Balkan
• Western Balkans
• regional cooperation
• Berlin Process
• EU enlargement

Acknowledgment

“The article draws in part on thesis of Edis Kulo, Regional Cooperation in the Western Balkans: The Case of the Open Balkan Initiative, submitted to the International University of Sarajevo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in International Relations. The authors thank three anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that helped to improve the earlier version of this article.”

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.