Belgrade’s ‘Serbian World’ Fantasies Jeopardise Balkan Cooperation

For their part, Marusic and Haddad are decidedly optimistic about the project's significance, writing: "Coming on the heels of the breakthrough Prespa agreement between North Macedonia and Greece, initiatives like Open Balkan signal that something important, and indeed healthy, is happening on the ground: Local leaders are taking ownership of their fate and showing creativity."

The trouble with this narrative, however, is that it is not borne out by the facts of what is - as the authors put it - happening on the ground.

As Marusic and Haddad themselves acknowledge, the fact that only three of the 'Western Balkan Six' states have joined the plan is significant. But the absence of Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro is not, as the authors argue, because the "three holdouts remain sceptical, arguing that the new initiative duplicates the development of a Common Regional Market that was agreed to by all six in Sofia, Bulgaria, last year as part of the Berlin Process".

For one thing, the EU-backed Berlin Process regional cooperation initiative for the Balkans, much like the EU enlargement project, is moribund. It is no more than a discussion format at this juncture, and in the seven years since the inaugural Berlin Process summit, it has produced little of any political consequence. Indeed, the fact that a Common Regional Market was already agreed to, and is now being supplanted by this trilateral initiative, speaks to how insignificant the Berlin Process has become.

The reason why Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro have not signed up to the Open Balkan idea is not because they continue to hold out hope for an EU-initiated Common Regional Market. They have not signed up for the same reason that the Common Regional Market...