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OP-ED

From Open Process: So many openings and so many Balkans again

Politiko 2022-06-09 18:48:20
From Open Process: So many openings and so many Balkans again

Alfred Lela

A number of international analysts, such as Kurt Bausanner and Toby Vogel, have a problem with Open Balkans. The first considers the initiative as 'a children's table' (in the sense - do not leave us in the EU, but we have our game), while the second is a 'publicity stunt' of President Vucic and Prime Minister Rama. Both are Germans, citizens of the country that created the Berlin Process and the perspectives that came with it, an initiative that had the same goals, at least on paper, as the Open Balkans, but with management from Berlin and EU support.

Even some American analysts, Daniel Server, Ed Joseph, and Janusz Bugajski, have become chronic opponents of the Open Balkan idea. The reflection of these acquaintances of the Balkans, and the fact that they come from outside the official lines, should be some consolation for the internal opponents of the Vuçcc--Rama initiative, especially if they are from Albania, where criticism of Open Balkans is bombarded by pro-government media with anger and force.

What makes the Open Balkan initiative and process bizarre, and perhaps even somewhat ridiculous, is the overlap. While the Western Balkan countries are part of the CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement), they are also part of the RCC (Regional Cooperation Council). Not forgetting CRM (Common Regional Market), established on November 10, 2020, is a Regional Common Market initiative, structured around four freedoms (free movement of goods, services, capital, and people) while also covering aspects of digital policies, investments, and innovation and industry. These freedoms are the same as those promoted by the Open Balkans initiative which was presented in Durrës in November 2019. The Berlin process, meanwhile, always with the same goals, was a German initiative of 2014.

The curious question may arise: why does this initiative traffic and why do they duplicate each other? One hypothesis has to do with the fact that the EU itself is insecure about the integration process and seeks to keep the Western Balkan countries engaged, even in simulations similar to European initiatives, which may not bear fruit, but how time does not spoil work, are not harmful.

The second hypothesis is that an 'Open Balkans' automatically creates a Serb-Albanian-Croatian primacy by softening the acceptance of the 'exchange of border territories in the region, the idea of ​​which has recklessly raised its head in some nonpaper, but was supported, albeit quietly, by some bands of the American administration, at least in Trump's time.

With the departure of Merkel and the Christian Democrats from power and the arrival of Scholz's left in Germany, it seems that Berlin has softened its 'Process', despite strong initial opposition, as evidenced by the presence of EU officials in the last Open Balkan summit. In which there is more and more room for Alex Soros, the son of the Open Society billionaire.

In the final, Open Balkan is no more than another trial, in a region where there has been a lot of testing and very little change. Faced with a Europe that has gone from its 'two famous speeds', north and south, to general stagnation, and an America that seems a little remorseful of the 'new world order of the 1990s, and has been put in search of a brave new world, the character of which even he himself is not clear.

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