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The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the solution for the Western Balkans is the European Union and that the Berlin Process 2.0, as he called it, is needed to achieve this goal.
Kurti participated in the panel with the theme: “Southeastern Europe: Can there be stability and prosperity in the region?”, organized by the Government of Greece and “The Economist”, which was held in Greece.
He has said that he has great hopes that the Berlin Process will be restarted by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
“I believe that with the president [e Shteteve të Bashkuara, Joe] Biden in the White House and with Chancellor Scholz in Berlin we can revive the transatlantic bridge, which in the 21st century is even more important than in the 20th. The Berlin 2.0 process, if we can call it that, can bring a wave that can push forward all the ships in the Western Balkans, mainly some initiatives, programs modeled after the EFTA EEA, something similar like Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Iceland have with the EU, joint committees and councils, observation mechanisms, joint court with the EU as a value and mechanism, not outside the EU”, Kurti said during the discussion in this panel.
The Berlin Process is an initiative initiated in 2014 by the then Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. This process focuses on the free movement of people, services, goods and capital.
The process includes all six countries of the Western Balkans: Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The participating EU states are: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Italy.
Chancellor Scholz has previously announced that he intends to revive this process by calling a meeting in Berlin later this year.
Kosovo has welcomed this warning from Germany, as it opposes the “Open Balkans” regional initiative, which currently includes Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia.
During the panel in Greece, Kurti reiterated the position that during this year Kosovo will apply for the status of a candidate country for EU membership, saying that if all six Western Balkan countries enter the EU, this would be a burden the smallest for the European bloc.
“If the Western Balkans continue to stay outside the EU, it will become very attractive to become a battleground for different superpowers, and nobody wants that. I have hope that things will change for the better”, said Kurti.
Of the six Western Balkan states, Serbia and Montenegro have opened several chapters for EU membership, while North Macedonia and Albania are still waiting to open membership negotiations. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are the last of the countries in the region, as far as their path towards EU membership is concerned./REL
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