Western Balkans Conference

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The Western Balkans Conference (officially: Conference on the Western Balkans ) has been an annual conference since 2013. In the area of ​​the Western Balkans are the countries that want to join the European Union next ; it is therefore of particular importance for EU enlargement policy . The heads of state and government, the foreign and economic ministers of the successor states of Yugoslavia ( Slovenia and Croatia have been EU members since 2004 and 2013 respectively), Albania , the respective host country and representatives of the EU are invited .

In 2003 there had already been a Western Balkans summit in Porto Carras in Greece , which ended in the promise of Thessaloniki to "unconditionally support the Western Balkans in their European orientation".

history

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considered to be the founder of the diplomatic initiative, which is also known as the “Berlin Process” . The aim is to support the six Western Balkan countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia and Serbia on their way to the European Union. As a concrete measure on this path, the establishment of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) based in the Albanian capital Tirana was decided at the 2016 Paris Conference , which is intended to promote the exchange and networking of young people in the Western Balkans. There is also support for infrastructure projects. From 2015 to 2019, 700 million euros were invested in road construction and a further 2.4 billion euros were granted as loans.

One of the reasons for the initiative is China's increasing engagement in the Balkans, which launched the China-Central-East-Europe Summit in 2012 and has since invested specifically in the Balkans. So - also in the context of the “ New Silk Road ” - around 10 billion euros are being invested in infrastructure projects and company shares in Serbia alone. Last but not least, the Greek port of Piraeus, which China acquired in 2009, should be better connected to the European rail network and trade with China will be promoted. The billion-dollar expansion of the Budapest – Belgrade – Skopje – Athens railway line is a long-term lighthouse project of the Chinese initiative in the Balkans and thus directly challenges the EU's infrastructure program, the Trans-European Networks .

The Berlin process was actually only scheduled until 2018, but will continue due to the interest of the participating states.

Conferences

November 2013 - Vienna (Frontex Western Balkans Conference)

In 2013, the European Agency for Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, Frontex, organized a conference in Vienna to discuss problem areas in migration management in the Balkans. On November 13 and 14, 2013, representatives of international organizations, the Western Balkans, the European Commission and other EU member states met in the Austrian Ministry of the Interior to discuss how to proceed in the area.

Attendees:

While the Western Mediterranean region had long been the focus of measures during the refugee crisis in Europe , attention has now come to the Balkan route . In 2010/11, Frontex carried out the RABIT / Poseidon operation on the Greek-Turkish border . Due to the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya in 2011 , without a stable state being established there, immigration increasingly shifted to Greece . Then there was the civil war and the IS conflict in Syria . The flow of refugees from there and from Central Asia had shifted from the Eastern Balkans to the Aegean Sea and across the Western Balkans since the border fences were erected on the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish borders . This was followed in 2012/13 by the Aspida and Poseidon Land / Sea operations in Greece and, from July 2013, Neptune in Hungary and Croatia .

June 2014 - Vienna

The Western Balkans Conference was repeated on June 3, 2014 as part of an international conference.

Attendees:

The conference was purely a meeting of foreign ministers with the participation of other high-ranking representatives. The Central European Initiative (ZEI, 25th anniversary under Austrian Presidency) also met on June 2nd .

In addition to the deliberations on the situation in the Balkans, six EU participants wrote a letter to the other EU countries demanding that Albania be granted candidate status , after Germany, Great Britain and Denmark in particular had opposed it in December 2013. Serbia's participation in a meeting at which Kosovo is also represented was seen as a step towards rapprochement.

August 2014 - Berlin

The next conference took place on August 28, 2014 in Berlin , where Germany received the Balkans. It is considered the 1st EU-Western Balkans Conference in the narrower sense.

Attendees:

Jean-Claude Juncker and Angela Merkel had already made comments in 2012 that were understood to mean that after Croatia's accession to the EU, no further efforts should be made towards the accession of the remaining Balkan states, which caused certain irritations there, as did Germany's rejection of the aspirations of Albania. Sigmar Gabriel renewed the promise made in Thessaloniki by emphasizing the European perspective of the participating countries : “The future of the Balkans lies in Europe.” José Manuel Barroso , the new President of the Commission, and Angela Merkel pointed out the need for reform in the countries. However, Barroso pledged further financial support of € 12 billion to the region for the period from 2014 to 2020. Serbia's participation at the highest level was seen as a diplomatic success of rapprochement, although Kosovo had also appeared. With the conference, the EU wanted to exercise its influence on the Balkan region against Russia during the crisis in Ukraine .

The measures of practical cooperation formulated by Merkel together with the Commission and some other EU governments, for example in infrastructure expansion or youth work, became known as the Berlin Process .

August 2015 - Vienna

The conference opened in 2015
Group photo on August 27, 2015

Werner Faymann had invited to Austria on August 28, 2014 for a follow-up conference (2nd EU Western Balkans Conference) for 2015; this was originally planned in Salzburg, but was moved to Vienna .

Attendees:

There was a prime ministerial conference. The foreign and economic ministers met at the same time. Non-governmental organizations were also invited.

The conference on August 27, 2015 was dominated by the daily politics of the escalating situation of the European refugee problem on the Balkan route. Greece, which had to deal with 100,000 asylum applications by the middle of 2015 alone, is completely overwhelmed , not least because of the protracted economic crisis . A total of 80,000 people had already passed the Balkan route in the first half of 2015. Hungary, which is repeatedly criticized for its uncontrolled transmigration to Austria, Germany and Sweden - the main targets in the inner EU - erected a border fence with Serbia during the summer . In August the number of refugees at the respective borders of all transit countries reached up to 3,000 people a day. Montenegro declared a state of emergency at the end of 2015. In Hungary there were massive police operations against refugees who refused to register. In Austria, the initial reception center in Traiskirchen was completely overcrowded. Because of the heat wave , the conditions from the Middle East to Central Europe were sometimes catastrophic along the entire route. In 2015 there were a number of attacks on asylum seekers' homes in Germany. The EU had not yet managed to agree on a distribution key for all member states . In view of these Europe-wide humanitarian grievances, a joint approach was discussed in Vienna.

As planned in advance, an energy, road and rail infrastructure package worth EUR 600 million was agreed. These include the motorway from Niš via Prishtina to Durrës on the Albanian coast, a priority expansion target for the pan-European transport corridors , and the modernization of the Belgrade – Sarajevo railway line . In addition, Austria and Germany reaffirmed their demand for a common EU approach to refugee issues.

The most important political achievement was a declaration by the representatives of the Western Balkans that they would not block each other on their way to the EU. This was a diplomatic success especially for the negotiations with Serbia. In the course of the summit, for example, an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo on the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Northern Kosovo was concluded. An EU coordinator for open bilateral conflicts was suggested about reservations with EU countries, such as the dispute between Macedonia and Greece over its country name . The border dispute between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro over Sutorina was also settled in advance with a final border treaty . A minor dispute between Montenegro and Kosovo was also contractually resolved.

The conference was overshadowed by the finding of a truck with over 70 dead refugees not far from Vienna, an event that was later considered the milestone that the crisis in Central Europe, which had been ignored for so long and which had gradually built up from 2011, now "arrived" here too. be.

A conference at EU level on the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans Route followed on October 8th . But it did not go beyond declarations of intent.

February 2016 - Vienna

This conference took place on February 24, 2016 and was again dominated by the Europe-wide refugee crisis since 2015 . The motto of the conference was: "Managing Migration Together". At this conference, the Western Balkan countries agreed on how to proceed with the refugee issue.

Participating states were represented by the interior and foreign ministers:

The central issue was to control the flow of migrants. There were border fences on the Balkan route at the end of February 2016 on the Hungarian-Serbian / Croatian border , on the Slovenian-Croatian border and on the Greek-North Macedonian border . The migration figures in the countries on the Balkan route fell slightly in the winter of 2015/16, but remained high, and it was foreseeable that the autumn conditions of 2015 would soon be reached. Austria, which no longer hoped for a joint EU solution, but was striving for immediate measures, decided in January 2016 a daily limit of 80 applications for asylum and named a maximum daily quota of 3,200 refugees for transit to Germany as a guideline. Before the conference, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos had reiterated his criticism of the Austrian refugee ceiling , which he considered incompatible with EU law. Human rights organizations warned of further humanitarian disasters in advance.

Germany , Greece and representatives of the European Union were not invited . All three reacted to the conference itself and the decisions made were disgruntled. On the part of Greece, there was talk of a “one-sided and by no means amicable action”, which led to the Greek ambassador from Vienna being recalled - an already very violent resentment in diplomacy. Serbia's Interior Minister Nebojasa Stefanovic pointed out that he believed that solutions to the refugee crisis without including Greece would be impossible.

During the conference it was criticized that, as a result of pan-European policy, neither the pan-European distribution of migrants nor the securing of the EU's external borders by Greece had been ensured.

As a result of the conference, the further bilateral deployment of police contingents to support in particularly badly affected border areas was agreed. In addition, the criteria for the rejection of refugees and their registration are to be standardized.

That with the measures - contrary to the ideas of Germany, the refugee question u. a. wanted to solve it through payments to Turkey - the humanitarian problems were fully passed on to Greece, which was responsible under the Dublin III regulation but was completely overwhelmed, was clear to all involved. The position of the Austrian government was that a pan-European solution would be desirable, but not foreseeable, and that Austria would rely on a national solution that was coordinated regionally with the countries concerned. Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner spoke of a “desired chain reaction of reason”. This should reinstate the Schengen Agreement or the Schengen Borders Code, which Germany de facto expired in September, by examining it directly at the border and thus forcing the EU to adopt a more rapid joint solution through national measures.

Events on the Balkan route after the conference:
Shortly after the conference, tear gas was used against migrants who had started to break through the border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border. Two days later, on February 26, 2016, Slovenia, in coordination with the police chiefs of the countries along the Balkan route , following Austria's example, introduced an upper limit for the entry of refugees. From this point onwards, only around 580 refugees were allowed to travel through each day, in order to ensure that asylum seekers entered the EU in a controlled manner in accordance with the Schengen rules . From March 2nd, Macedonia only allowed a maximum of 250 Syrians and Iraqis per day with complete personal documents to cross the Greek-Macedonian border at Idomeni. Since March 9, 2016, only people with valid passports and visas are allowed to cross the border. Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia only allow refugees to enter the country who want to apply for asylum in the respective countries. In Greece 2016 20.000 people gathered because of the sealed-off Balkan route around the end of February. More came from Turkey every day. The reception center near Idomeni at the border crossing to Macedonia took in between 12,000 and 14,000 people in mid-March 2016.

Despite initial criticism, the EU officially recognized the closure of the Balkan route just three weeks after the conference. Shortly afterwards, the EU-Turkey Agreement of March 18, 2016 was concluded, which was intended to curb the flow of refugees outside the EU. However, relief could only be created here for a short time; the flow of migrants to Greece began to increase again as early as September 2016.

July 2016 - Paris

The 3rd Western Balkans Conference took place on July 4th, 2016 in Paris. It was under the impression of the referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union ( Brexit ) in June and the general impression that the EU was “tired of enlargement”.

Attendees:

Concrete goals were the coupling of the region to European energy lines and the creation of a regional youth organization based on the German-French model, the Regional Youth Cooperation Office  (RYCO).

July 2017 - Trieste

In July 2017 the 4th Western Balkans Conference took place in Trieste . The aim of the meeting was to network the areas of infrastructure, traffic and energy as well as to improve economic cooperation in the region.

Attendees:

The central success was an action plan for the development of a regional economic area (Western Balkans Regional Economic Area) . In addition, € 700 million subsidies were agreed (€ 194 million subsidies as a connectivity package , € 500 million mobilization of investments for regional projects). These measures are related to China's increasing investments in the area.

May 2018 - Sofia

A meeting of the heads of state and government of the EU member states and the leaders of the Western Balkans took place in Bulgaria on May 17, 2018. The strategy presented by the European Commission in February for a credible enlargement perspective for and increased engagement of the EU in relation to the Western Balkans was implemented here. It was emphasized once again that "the door of the EU is open for further accessions if - and only on this condition - the individual countries meet the accession criteria," and six new flagship initiatives and some specific measures were formulated. The meeting unanimously adopted the Sofia Declaration , which affirmed the common interests (such as core values ​​and current problem areas).

July 2018 - London

The 5th Western Balkans Conference took place in London on July 10, 2018. Here, too, the contents of the EU Western Balkans Strategy and the Sofia Declaration were reaffirmed.

April 2019 - Berlin

April 29, 2019 Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron invited the heads of state and government from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia to Berlin. This "mini-summit" meeting specifically dealt with solutions to the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo.

Current previous disputes were that Serbia had prevented Kosovo from joining international organizations such as UNESCO and Interpol , whereupon Kosovo introduced punitive tariffs on Serbian goods. In addition, Serbia's head of state Aleksandar Vučić had brought an area swap into discussion, which Hashim Thaci , President of Kosovo, vehemently rejected.

This conference was only able to achieve declarations of intent by both states to "constructively" re-enter the dialogue with the mediation of the EU. A high-level meeting scheduled for July 1 in Paris has also been postponed.

July 2019 - Poznan

In 2019, the 6th Western Balkans Conference took place from July 4th to 5th in Poznan, Poland. After the previous Berlin conference had largely failed, the Berlin Process , which was planned for 2014–2018, was evaluated and its extension confirmed. In addition to the six Western Balkan countries, the EU members Bulgaria, Germany, France, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Poland and Slovenia also took part in the conference. On the EU side, the EU foreign affairs representative Federica Mogherini and the EU commissioners Johannes Hahn and Violeta Bulc took part in the conference.

July 2020 - Skopje and Sofia

The 7th Western Balkans Conference will be held jointly by Bulgaria and North Macedonia in July 2020. A Western Balkans summit was to be held in Zagreb from 5 to 7 May 2020 as the highlight of the Croatian EU Council Presidency. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the meeting was limited to a video conference on May 6th.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d dw.com: No breakthrough in sight: Western Balkans Conference in Poznan , July 3, 2019 (accessed on July 4, 2019)
  2. ↑ industriemagazin.at: Billions in investments in Serbia: China is building another springboard to Central Europe , April 15, 2019 (accessed on July 4, 2019)
  3. ↑ a b International Cooperation: “Frontex Western Balkans Conference” in Vienna . Press release, Federal Ministry of the Interior, bmi.gv.at, November 14, 2013.
  4. ↑ Homepage of ICMPD (English)
  5. ↑ MARRI homepage ( Memento of the original from September 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / marri-rc.org
  6. ^ A b c d Press invitation: Vienna Western Balkans Conference 2014 and ZEI ministerial meeting on June 2nd and 3rd in Vienna . APA, OTS0025, May 28, 2014.
  7. ↑ a b Western Balkans Conference in Vienna . APA. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . March 14, 2014 ( article archive ).
  8. ↑ a b Merkel calls - and everyone comes to the Western Balkans Conference . diepresse.com, August 27, 2014.
  9. ^ Final declaration of the German Federal Government on the Conference on the Western Balkans, August 28, 2014 . bundesregierung.de, August 28, 2014
  10. ↑ Michael Martens: Obituary for Thessaloniki: The Balkan states fear a lifting of the EU promise from 2003 . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 19, 2012, page 8. online
  11. ↑ Merkel: “European Perspective” for the Balkan States. heute.de (Article no longer available)
  12. ↑ What Ukraine means for the Balkans . berliner-zeitung.de, August 27, 2014.
  13. ↑ a b c d e No breakthrough in sight: Western Balkans Conference in Poznan. In: Deutsche Welle online, July 3, 2019.
  14. ↑ a b five-point plan on the asylum question; . and Austria insists on other distribution . ORF, August 26, 2015.
  15. ^ Western Balkans Conference: NGOs with proposals for cooperation . APA. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . August 14, 2015 ( article archive ).
  16. ↑ cf. on the refugee crisis - Kurz wants more EU engagement in regions of origin . In: OÖ Nachrichten online, 23 August 2015
  17. ^ Western Balkans Conference on August 27, 2015 in Vienna. Aviso to the editorial offices . Press release, APA OTS0103, August 19, 2015.
  18. ^ High-level Western Balkans Conference on August 27 in Vienna . APA. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . August 18, 2015 ( article archive ).
  19. ↑ a b c d Western Balkans Summit: A push for the Balkans, then only the asylum issue / asylum policy dominates the Western Balkans Conference. In: der Standard online, August 27, 2015.
  20. ↑ Education as the key against migration . ORF.at, August 27, 2015.
  21. ↑ a b Faymann and Merkel: Forcing the EU solution . Kurier.at, August 27, 2015.
  22. ^ A b Western Balkans Conference - Border Agreement between Bosnia and Montenegro . In: Tiroler Tageszeitung online, 23 August 2015.
  23. ↑ Kosovo Solves Border Demarcation Issue with Montenegro. ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.independent.mk archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. independent.mk, August 27, 2015.
  24. ^ Conference on the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkans Route, October 8, 2015 . Eastern Mediterranean - Western Balkans Route conference . both consilium.europa.eu
  25. ↑ a b c Managing Migration Together. Declaration . (PDF) Vienna, February 24, 2016 (on bmi.gv.at).
  26. ↑ a b c d Western Balkans Conference closes borders and divides Europe . Martin Kreickenbaum in: World Socialist Web Site online, February 26, 2016.
  27. ↑ a b c Western Balkans Conference: “Stopping the flow of refugees together” . In: Oberösterreichische Nachrichten online, February 24, 2016.
  28. ↑ a b EU Commission reiterates criticism of Austria's upper limit . In: Salzburger Nachrichten online, February 23, 2016.
  29. ↑ a b Austria and the Balkan countries want a “chain reaction of reason” . In: Die Presse online, February 24, 2016 (sections “support Macedonia fully”, Doctors Without Borders warns of humanitarian consequences ).
  30. ↑ Vienna Conference arouses concern and criticism . In: Kurier online, February 23, 2016.
  31. ↑ Tsipras announces blockade of EU resolutions . In: Salzburger Nachrichten online, February 23, 2016.
  32. ↑ Chryssoula Aliferi has to go back to Athens for a "consultation" . In: Der Standard online, February 25, 2016.
  33. ↑ Thomas Roser, SZ correspondent in Belgrade: All roads lead to Vienna In: Sächsische Zeitung (Online), February 25, 2016.
  34. ↑ Tsipras: Western Balkans Conference in Vienna is "shame" . In: Die Presse online, February 24, 2016.
  35. ^ A b Western Balkans Conference on Refugees - "We want a chain reaction of reason" . ARD, February 24, 2016.
  36. ^ Meeting in Vienna - Balkan Conference: Limits of Solidarity. , heute.de , February 24, 2016.
  37. ↑ "We are heading into an anarchy". In: Sächsische Zeitung (Online), February 26, 2016.
  38. ↑ Mikl-Leitner: “Massively reduce migration”. In: derStandard 'online, February 24, 2016.
  39. ↑ Border with Greece: Macedonia's police use tear gas against refugees . In: Spiegel Online , February 29, 2016.
  40. ↑ Slovenia introduces upper limit for refugees . Spiegel Online , February 26, 2016:
  41. ^ Gregor Mayer: Compulsory stop at the border: Refugees in Idomeni want clarity In: EU-Info. Germany / dpa, March 7, 2016.
  42. ↑ Macedonia also closes the Balkan route for refugees. In: Ostsee-Zeitung / dpa, March 9, 2016.
  43. ↑ Greece is increasingly deporting to Turkey In: Der Standard , March 2, 2016 (section: Backwater in Idomeni ).
  44. ↑ Hungary declares a state of crisis . FAZ.net
  45. ↑ Balkan route closes. In: Sächsische Zeitung , 27./28. February 2016, p. 4 (with reference to dpa )
  46. ↑ Aleksandar Dimishkovski: Migrants Who Forded River to Reach Macedonia Are Returned to Greece. The New York Times, March 15, 2016.
  47. ↑ EU: "This route is closed" . In: The press . ( diepresse.com [accessed on September 21, 2017]).
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  50. ↑ Western Balkans Summit 2017: Action for the Region. Press release, European Commission, Brussels, July 12, 2017 (online at europa.eu).
  51. ↑ Western Balkans Conference in the Brexit shadow . derStandard.at, July 4, 2016, accessed on July 4, 2016.
  52. ^ Kern and Kurz at the Western Balkans Conference in Trieste . ORF.at, July 11, 2017, accessed on July 12, 2017.
  53. ^ Western Balkans: Regional Economic Area. Fact Sheet, European Commission (European Commission), Brussels, July 12, 2017 (online at europa.eu).
  54. ↑ cf. New Silk Road: China Comes to the Western Balkans - a Problem? In: Deutsche Welle online, September 25, 2018.
  55. ^ EU-Western Balkans meeting in Sofia, May 17, 2018; and Sofia Declaration of the EU-Western Balkans Meeting, 17 May 2018. Press release European Council, both 17 May 2018 (on consilium.europa.eu).
  56. ↑ a b The Strategy for the Western Balkans: EU presents flagship initiatives and support for the reform-oriented region. Press release, European Commission, Strasbourg, 6 February 2018 (online at europa.eu).
  57. ↑ a b c Andrea Hofer, Oesterreichische Nationalbank: EU Western Balkans Strategy and EU Western Balkans Summit in Sofia, May 17, 2018. Series of special short analyzes , in Konjektiven_aktuell. 6, 2018, pp. 39–44, especially the key messages of the new strategy , p. 40 f (article pdf, on oenb.at, accessed on August 21, 2019).
  58. ↑ Sofia Declaration, May 17, 2018 (pdf, on consilium.europa.eu).
  59. ^ Western Balkans Summit in London - Building stronger links in the region and with the EU. Press release, European Commission, London, 10 July 2018 (online at europa.eu).
  60. ^ Western Balkans meeting in Berlin: mini summit with potential for controversy. In Tagesschau online, April 29, 2019.
  61. ↑ a b c Merkel and Macron mediate at Western Balkans summit. In ORF online, April 29, 2019.
  62. ↑ Kosovo refuses to swap territory: Merkel and Macron are looking for conflict solutions for the Western Balkans. In Zeit online , April 29, 2019.
  63. ↑ a b bundesregierung.de: Western Balkans Conference in Poznan: Progress in the Western Balkans Region , July 5, 2019 (accessed on February 7, 2020)
  64. ↑ European Council Council of the European Union: EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb, 5-7 May 2020 (accessed on 7 February 2020)
  65. ↑ https://eu2020.hr/Home/OneNews?id=272
  66. ↑ https://m.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/wenig-perspektiven-fuer-die-staat-beim-westbalkan-gipfel-16757394.html