I still can not understand the repulsive attitude caused by the “Open Balkans” project in some Balkan communities, with commentators and politicians, parties and statesmen м I understand that there are many, for various reasons, rightly or wrongly, who love them, they hate or are indifferent to the three current holders of that initiative – Vucic, Rama and, outgoing, Zaev – but their very “sum”, the political differences they nurture with each other, and the interests of the states and governments they represent, would it should have been an additional “guarantee” that this could not be any, in fact, any conspiracy against the interests of the better Balkans.

In particular, one can not understand the propaganda nonsense that it is an idea that threatens and even calls into question the integration perspective of Macedonia, Albania and Serbia in the European Union… There is no rational analysis that would show that perspective is stalled or is endangered by this project, and it could be argued at length that the Open Balkans is, in fact, complementary to the essential European integration efforts. Even if NOTHING arises, in fact, from the concrete agreements for cooperation and for facilitating that cooperation between the Balkan countries that are part of the project, it does not question, nor devalues ​​the Balkan dream for Europeanization of the region. On the contrary.

And, of course, the doubts, objections and “fallacy” of the approach to the “Open Balkans” are the result of the petty, daily political clashes between the vanities and the party mathematics of the current set of politicians throughout the Western Balkans. The criticism of this project, in fact, illustrates the bitterness produced by the unfulfilled promises and obligations of the European Union itself to the countries here and their European compatriots. That European failure – yes, despite the failures in other areas of the ruling elite – has become one of the main tools in domestic politics of who falls and who comes to power, because both “sides” in those democratic races (towards ” bottom “) are victims of the EU’s unfulfilled promises.

It is difficult to compare the strategies of each country individually as they deal with that European failure. In Albania, for example, a Berisha returns “from the dead” to the political scene whose supporters, by burning Serbian flags, want to advance in winning sympathy in the local society; in Serbia, on the other hand, in completely different historical and political circumstances, Vuќiќ builds all his long-standing state credibility on the irony and cynicism with which he treats Brussels; Zaev, on the other hand, tried to “flatter” the EU in all possible ways, sometimes on the border of political decency and national dignity, so the result is what we know. Here, even, a growing opinion is created that projects such as “Open Balkans” or good neighborly agreements with EU members distance us, and do not bring us closer to that Union! Is there anything that could be more contradictory than that ?!

In other words, it seems that if the “Open Balkans” project fails, the closed Balkans project will continue to function by inertia. We know him, he has been tested and has been giving the expected results for years. To whom does it suit?