French media: Berlin Process Summit in Tirana, again just empty talk?

Politiko 2023-10-16 09:25:46

The Berlin Process was initiated in 2014 as a platform for high-level cooperation between the six countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – and the governments of EU member states. of.

The goal: to strengthen the integration between the countries of the Western Balkans and, eventually, to achieve full membership in the EU.

Brussels' push for EU enlargement gained new momentum after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

During the Bled 2023 Strategic Forum in Slovenia last August, EU Council President Charles Michels called for 2030 to be the deadline for a new EU enlargement, in which the Berlin Process would play an essential role.

Stalled progress

But according to the German institute Stiftung Wissenshaft und Politik (SWP), the implementation of the agreements by the Western Balkan states "has often stalled".

In a December 2022 document, the SWP urged: "Germany and the EU must insist more firmly on the implementation of the agreed agreements, because the Berlin Process has the potential to restore credibility to the declining prospects of the Western Balkan states for membership EU".

All members of the Western Balkans – the former Yugoslav republics, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro, as well as Albania – have ambitions for the EU.

Only Croatia has so far become a member of the EU, in 2013. The others are official candidates for membership, with the exception of Kosovo, which is still claimed by Serbia and is not officially recognized as an independent state by EU member states. , Cyprus, Greece, Romania. , Slovakia and Spain.

Despite this, Prishtina applied in December 2022.

Economic questions

Meanwhile, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, host of Monday's Berlin Process Summit, is not at all optimistic.

"There should not only be reforms and criticism that are necessary, but also more consistent support, and I'm not just talking from a financial point of view," he said, quoted by Euractiv. in August.

He added that while the EU has been discussing infrastructure for many years, tangible investment in the region has come from China, Arab countries and the United States.

"What is happening all these years in these countries is that on the one hand, through the Berlin process, we talked about the infrastructure and the way to finance the projects, on the other hand, the infrastructure is being built by the Americans, the Chinese and the Arabs," said Rama.

In 2021, the European Commission announced the Global Gateway, a plan to mobilize €300 billion in public and private investment in infrastructure worldwide, a move seen as a response to China's Belt and Road strategy.

The strategy would also benefit the Western Balkans. But so far it has not resulted in concrete projects.

Meanwhile, closer cooperation between the Western Balkans and the EU would fit in with French President Emmanuel Macron's "European Political Community" initiative.

Proposed in May 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, during the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, its aim was to strengthen ties between EU member states and non-EU European states "that share the same values" - along the lines of the berlin process.

Macron will attend the meeting in Tirana, giving him the opportunity to make an official state visit to Albania - the first ever by a sitting French president.

Idle talk?

For now, it is unclear whether the summit will be just another episode of empty talk.

Earlier this month, European Union leaders declared support for adding new members to the bloc, but did not set a target date.

At that summit, held in the Spanish city of Granada, the leaders of the 27-nation bloc declared that EU enlargement is an "investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity".

But they also said the EU and potential members - which include Ukraine, Moldova and Western Balkan states - would need to make major changes to be ready for an enlarged union. Adapted from RFI (Radio France Internationale)