Assessing Western Balkans regional integration efforts: A comparative study of the berlin process and the Open Balkan initiative

In terms of politics and economy, the European Union and other Western powers have become more involved with the Western Balkan countries over the past ten years. The goal of the August 2014 Berlin Conference, which marked the beginning of the Berlin Process, was to strengthen multilateral ties between the EU member states and candidate and prospective candidate countries from the former Yugoslav countries and Albania. The goal of this effort is to promote better regional cooperation among these nations, with an emphasis on issues related to infrastructure and economic development. Although they were involved in the process, the presidents of North Macedonia, Serbia, and Albania put out their own proposal for regional cooperation in 2019—the Mini Schengen initiative, also known as the Open Balkan initiative—to promote regional trade among other things. Although there are potential benefits concerning OBI, such as improved regional cooperation and trade, it poses a high threat of creating political and economic rifts in the region, undermining broader regional stability. It is argued that the OBI could divide the Western Balkans, with countries like Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina expressing concerns about their exclusion and the initiative’s alignment with their EU ambitions. Furthermore, there are fears that the OBI may consolidate Serbia’s political dominance in the region, potentially fostering economic imbalances and threatening democratic governance. The objective of this paper is to analyze the distinctions between the Berlin Process and OB Initiative, as well as the possible adverse effects of OBI on the area and whether it could succeed. One argument against the OB Initiative is that it is unlikely to be beneficial given that half of the states that could join it are against the idea.