We remain even more committed to our EU path and to our regional cooperation. Our countries are part of Europe and will always be. The Western Balkans need the EU as much as the EU needs them, reads the tripartite statement by PM Zoran Zaev and his Serbian and Albanian counterparts, Aleksandar Vučić and Edi Rama, following their meeting via video conference on Tuesday.
“We met today to discuss the further steps forward on our regional cooperation as a vital way forward for our countries, for the Western Balkans, for Europe and the European path as a whole. Our countries are part of Europe and will always be. The Western Balkans need the EU as much as the EU needs them,” reads the statement.
The repeated failure of the EU to deliver on its promises, and its inability to move forward with the opening of the first intergovernmental conferences with Albania and North Macedonia, goes against the European will of our countries and against EU interests as well.
“Our history and our future are European, and we live in a region surrounded by the borders of the European Union. In the challenging context created by an already long-standing status quo of the Union vis-a-vis our EU integration process, we remain even more committed to our EU path and to our regional cooperation. We want to see sooner rather than later that the four freedoms of the EU – movement of people, goods, services, and capital – are implemented across the region. And we will do everything in our hands to lead towards this goal with the power of our example. In this spirit we will express our full support for the regional common market at the Berlin Process Summit of July 5th,” the tripartite statement reads.
“We know that only by working jointly and fostering regional cooperation in the framework of various regional initiatives—Common Regional Market, Regional Schengen, Green Lanes or more broadly, the Berlin Process— can we can bring tangible results to our citizens. As a region of approximately 18 million people, we can boost together our economies, increase the welfare of our people and bring in its major investments that otherwise would not be possible for any one of us alone,” it reads.
“On July 29th we will meet in person in Skopje to review progress and to sign agreements implementing Berlin Summit commitments further among our three countries, on cooperation and assistance in the case of natural disasters, and on facilitation of trade, exports and imports in our countries. We invite and encourage our colleagues in the region to sign and implement similar agreements so that the vision of shared political and economic space across the Western Balkans becomes soon through the Single Market an important part of our citizens’ everyday lives. In that spirit, we hope to invigorate the process of cooperation among us, within the whole region, and we will continue to do our best to make it happen,” the statement reads.
As we look at the difficulties caused by delays in the enlargement process, we believe that we can still identify new ways, policy areas, and financial instruments and strengthen the existing ones so that we enhance our contribution to Europe, our relationship with the EU and integrate the region gradually to the European Single Market.
“So, we decided today to ask the European Union, with the United States, to take a step with us, and our colleagues across the region. We aim to develop investable, near-term projects to improve our environment and increase our large-scale use of renewables. This would be part of the implementation of the EU Economic and Investment Plan and of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. Our countries have enormous potential for sustainable growth and development of this sector. We will ask for practical support in discovering which projects can, at scale, make our region a source of renewable energy for our citizens and for the EU’s green energy future. We hope that we can report progress on specific projects by the EU-Western Balkans Summit this fall,” the tripartite statement reads.
We, it reads, fully recognize and reiterate the importance of the resources of our region for Europe’s green transition. We therefore ask for the European Union, in close partnership with the United States, to be part of developing those resources in ways that help the EU achieve its plans while attracting more investment across our region, making it part of the European green transition. Our peoples’ welfare and economic ties with the EU will grow as we become more integrated in European supply chains and contribute to EU’s strategic autonomy.
“To this end, we are prepared to do our part together and we will do all we can to turn this shared effort into a common strength for facing the challenges of the future as a whole region of six actors. Albania is Europe. North Macedonia is Europe. Serbia is Europe. The Western Balkans are Europe. We will do the difficult work to make this a part of everyday life,” reads the tripartite statement.
