Berlin Process

The Foreign Ministry has said it "warmly welcomes the decision of the European Council to start the accession negotiations of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the European Union."

SKOPJE - In an 11-point joint statement adopted on Monday at a Skopje summit titled The Growth Plan: Western Balkans Meets EU, Western Balkan leaders underscore the "paramount significance of cooperation within the region" and note that an EU Growth Plan represents a "new opportunity to promote the economic and social convergence of our region with the European Union."

TIRANA - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic attended an informal meeting of Western Balkan leaders in Tirana on Monday.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Brnabic said initiatives as part of Open Balkan and a Berlin Process summit to be hosted by Albania had been discussed at the meeting.

Rama is visiting the region as part of preparations for the Berlin Process, which Tirana will preside over in October.

Belgrade – The impact of the war in Ukraine on the Western Balkans and the region’s European perspective topped the agenda as President Borut Pahor met his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade on Saturday. Pahor hopes the region’s leaders will muster enough political wisdom to solve all bilateral issues through dialogue.

Ljubljana – Slovenian President Borut Pahor will host the leaders of the Brdo-Brijuni initiative of regional cooperation for a summit at Brdo estate on 12 September which is to call on the EU to step up enlargement to the Western Balkans.

Yet, despite overwhelming support for Ukraine in its fight for survival against Russian aggression, many of the 27 member states are leery of diminishing the accession process just to make a symbolic gesture to a country in need.

Cooperation Conflicts

The West Balkan countries' flags at a Western Balkan Conference in the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, April 29, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/MIKA SCHMIDT / POOL

Brdo pri Kranju – Parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič hosted a meeting of parliamentary speakers from the Western Balkans on Monday, saying that the EU must give the region a clear signal on when it could expect EU accession. The speakers of the Serbian and Montenegrin parliaments also called for more clarity regarding the EU enlargement.

Angela Merkel visited the Albanian capital Tirana on Tuesday, the last stop on a brief farewell Balkan tour which saw the German chancellor encourage the countries in the region to push ahead with reforms to improve their chances of joining the European Union.