The Berlin Process: Prospects and Deliverables

The Berlin Process provides a framework for “resolving outstanding bilateral and internal issues” (Fouere and Blockmans. 2017) in the Western Balkans. The initiative was seen as a series of pre-emptive requirements for these states, prior to the enlargement of, and their inclusion in, the European Union (Jozwiak, 2014). These “prospects” were recently restated (Radosavljevic, 2017) by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. The nature of the issues that are in the process of resolution is not easily identified. Details are far from transparent. This paper considers the issues of the deliverables. The prospects for satisfying the accession requirements are part of the review. This analysis of the ongoing process should provide encouragement to those who see a promising future for the current population of the Western Balkans. Continuous efforts at judicial reform by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the Norwegian Courts Administration (Reuters, 2018) are noted as they come to fruition in May 2018. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) identifies the need to reform bankruptcy and insolvency laws (Reuters, 2017). The United States Agency for International Development continues to sponsor commercial reform (USAID, 2018). Other non-government agencies like Friedrich Ebert Stiftung are also active in embracing the Western Balkans (Weber 2018) as future members of the European Union. Some concerns are considered. Depopulation “is ravaging much of Eastern Europe” (Charlemagne, 2018). Certainly, Western Balkan countries still “share problems related to widespread corruption” and the presence of organized crime (Lange 2016). Indeed, the demographics in the Western Balkans suggest “a rich-country problem, but we’re not rich countries” (Angelov, 2017). The Balkans do have unusually “diverse and attractive” tourist resources” (Vasileva, 2017). Transport improvements are on track as are prospects for a future integrated energy market for energy renewables (BEO, 2017). The Berlin Process has focused attention on progress made and the coming individual approaches and accession to the European Union.