By: ZORAN BOJAROVSKI
Open Balkan has acted as a defibrillator for the Berlin Process. It has revived it and brought it back to life after two years of “controlled coma”. The “miracle” encouraged Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, together with Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia, to put signatures on three important documents for productive regional cooperation: The Agreement on freedom of movement and residence of citizens, that is, mutual recognition of identity cards; the Agreement on recognition of academic qualifications and the Agreement on mutual recognition of professional qualifications of doctors, dentists and architects.
This in Berlin yesterday was no problem for Sarajevo, Pristina and Podgorica, even though the benefits from the same agreements have already been to a large extent determined, and already applied in the form of agreements within the framework of the Open Balkan.
Nonetheless, the Summit in Berlin should be seem from the perspective of the benefits for the citizens of the region. That is much more important than which actors in these two processes will be credited, or will credit themselves for this achievement.
It has shown that the Open Balkan and the Berlin Process are complementary processes that complement each other, or, if you like, even more so help each other’s vitality.
This means that neither one of these two processes threatens the other and that the two initiatives should continue to exist, work and initiate as many as possible initiatives for regional cooperation. This should be since the Open Balkan has shown that the citizens of the region also demand this.
Why shouldn’t CEFTA, the Regional Cooperation Council, the Berlin Process, the Regional Youth Office, the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Western Balkans undertake and provide what the Open Balkan will not be able to do so, and certainly vice versa.
Instead of monopoly in regional connectivity that will not bring any good to anyone, the initiatives should help each other, compete with ideas and with efficiency in a positive sense.
We need to accept without skepticism that the Western Balkans are a region with inexhaustible opportunities and that is why any well-intentioned regional initiative is welcome.
In relation to the topics of reconciliation in the Balkans, whether the Brussels agreement with Serbia and Kosovo will find its implementation through the Open Balkan or through the Berlin process is irrelevant. Much more relevant is that such initiatives are a fertile ground for historical shifts forward, for which in the region there is a dire need also for the creation of such an environment and both the Open Balkan and the Berlin Process have serious potentials.
This in Berlin yesterday was also confirmed by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Scholz expressed his confidence that “it’s time to overcome internal conflicts” and that the “Berlin Process can not only free the potential of the region, but can also accelerate its path to the European Union”, while von der Leyen said that it’s good to see all partners of the Western Balkans in Berlin and that “we are here to deepen the economic cooperation starting with energy”.
Scholz sent another strong message from Berlin, which some of our diplomats need to hear, who, unbelievably, like parakeets are still chanting that the Open Balkan and the Berlin Process are “just a replacement for EU membership of the Western Balkan countries”.
As opposed to this disinformation, Scholz said that the citizens of the region can count on Germany and that “a common future without borders is key for the Western Balkans”.
What the Berlin Process advocates for, according to the words of Scholz, as an urgent response because of the threats to the security and freedom of Europe due to Russia’s aggression, has been in several occasions warned in previous summits of the Open Balkan.
Open Balkan, as well as the Berlin Process, is a commitment for a stable region, for the rule of peace, for cooperation and for economic development and an indigenous initiative for Europeanization of the region, with the one and only goal for the Western Balkans to become part of the European Union, now already as a strategic and security issue as well.
Hence, the goal for North Macedonia to become a member of the EU in 2030 is no longer such an impossible mission.
Source: Civil Media
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
