Kosovo expects progress on regional agreements at the Berlin Process summit in Montenegro

On October 22, Montenegro will host the Berlin Process summit, attended by leaders and senior officials from European countries and international institutions. Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, is also expected to take part, along with other regional leaders. Kosovo hopes the meeting will help unblock regional agreements and encourage economic and political cooperation among the Western Balkan countries.

Liza Gashi, a member of parliament from the Vetëvendosje Movement, told KosovaPress that the Berlin Process is important for Kosovo because it aims to foster good-neighborly relations and address the region’s concrete problems.

Gashi said Kosovo has processed all the Berlin Process agreements. She also mentioned the approval of three CEFTA protocols concerning trade facilitation and the expansion of trade in services.

“Kosovo has moved forward with the five Berlin Process agreements and has also approved the three CEFTA protocols, including those on free trade and trade in services. It will also continue processing the Berlin Process agreements and several decisions that have been suspended within CEFTA. This process is welcome in Kosovo because through it we aim to build good-neighborly relations and address the real challenges on the ground. The next summit should help advance agreements blocked by other states, as well as contribute to possible new agreements that could benefit the region,” she said.

The governing-party MP noted that implementing regional agreements still faces difficulties. According to her, Serbia is not implementing some of them, while the process of recognizing identity cards and enabling free movement with Bosnia and Herzegovina has stalled.

“As for the obstacles that continue to hamper the implementation of the agreements, you know that some countries in the region, particularly Serbia, are not implementing some of them. The Bosnian side is also refusing to move forward with the recognition of identity cards and the free movement process,” Gashi stressed.

In a response to KosovaPress, the German Embassy in Kosovo emphasized that the Berlin Process is important for strengthening regional cooperation and supporting the European integration of the six Western Balkan countries.

The embassy said Germany aims to bring all the region’s partners closer to membership in the European Union. It said this can be achieved through stronger regional ties, freer movement and closer practical cooperation.

“The Berlin Process is an important political platform for deepening regional cooperation in the Western Balkans and supporting its integration into the European Union. Germany has a clear goal of bringing the six Western Balkan partners closer to EU membership. The process aims to deliver tangible improvements for citizens, for example through stronger ties between countries, freer movement and closer practical cooperation,” the embassy said in its response.

KosovaPress asked the Kosovo government whether new agreements were expected to be reached at tomorrow’s summit, but received no response from government institutions.

The meeting is taking place at a time when the implementation of existing agreements, free movement and the expansion of economic cooperation remain key issues for the European integration of the Western Balkans.

Last year’s summit was held in London under the chairmanship of the United Kingdom. Its official conclusions showed that the main topics were economic and regional integration, security, good-neighborly relations and closer ties with the EU.

Germany launched the Berlin Process in 2014 as an initiative to strengthen cooperation among the six Western Balkan countries: Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first meeting of the process was held in Berlin on August 28, 2014.