The Berlin Process was launched in Germany's capital in 2014 with the aim of bringing Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia closer to the EU. This year, the Summit will be hosted in London on October 22. What has been achieved in just over a decade?

Berlin

The Berlin Process, launched in 2014, is an initiative designed to enhance cooperation among Western Balkan countries—Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Serbia—and with the European Union. The process includes annual summits hosted in various European cities, bringing together government officials, civil society, and business leaders to promote economic development, social inclusion, and security as pathways to EU accession.

While the Berlin Process has led to some progress, such as mutual recognition of educational qualifications and improved border processing for goods in certain cases, implementation remains inconsistent. Critics highlight that the initiative is hampered by insufficient political will for reforms and ongoing bilateral disputes. The most recent summit in London focuses on cooperation to address irregular migration, alongside forums on business, civil society, youth, and gender equality.

London 2025: The Berlin Process for the Western Balkans explained

This footage shows the Western Balkan leaders gathering for the Berlin Process Summit in Germany's capital in October 2024. This year's Berlin Process Summit is hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on October 22. But what is the Berlin Process? In August 2014, the Berlin Process Platform was set up in the German capital, with the aim of improving not only regional cooperation between the countries of the Western Balkans, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia, but also their cooperation with the European Union. At the time, Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany. High-ranking representatives of all six Western Balkan countries attended the first Berlin Process Summit in 2014. Since then, the Berlin Process Summit has been held once a year in different European cities. The aim is to pave the way for these six countries to join the EU through economic development, social inclusion, security, meetings and agreements. The Berlin Process has brought forward some key initiatives when it comes to regional cooperation in the so-called Western Balkan countries. Their annual summits bring together a wide range of actors from governments to civil society, business sector, parliaments. But at the same time, these initiatives cannot make up for a lack of political will for reforms, as well as a lack of willingness to foster the enlargement process to a meaningful degree on the EU level. So how much progress has actually been made over the past decade? Some Western Balkan countries now recognise educational qualifications obtained in other Western Balkan countries. Others don't. The processing of some goods has been accelerated at the border between some Western Balkan countries, but not others. The Central European Free Trade Agreement, or CEFTA, which covers the six Western Balkan countries and Moldova, has not yet been fully implemented. Critics say that the Berlin Process has stalled because of dysfunctional bilateral relations. One of the main topics at this year's summit in London is the cooperation on combating irregular migration along key transit routes in the Balkans. But in the run-up to the summit, several adjacent events took place including forums on business, civil society, youth engagement and gender equality. For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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