Balkan nations unite in anger at EU rejection

SERBIA, North Macedonia and Albania have unveiled plans for a “mini Schengen zone” in the Balkans in a rebuke to European governments blocking their path to full EU membership.

The “Open Balkans” zone will see the end of borders between the countries by 2023 for goods, services, capital and people, their leaders said yesterday.

“All countries in the region should be part of this process, because it is a benefit for them and their citizens,” said Edi Rama, the Albanian prime minister, at a launch ceremony in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.

“We should not turn our backs on each other, as we have done for the past 500 years.”

Zoran Zaev, the prime minister of North Macedonia, and Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, also attended the ceremony.

The zone will mirror the four freedoms enjoyed by the 26 countries in the European Schengen area, where people can live, work and move their money and goods through all the other countries without visas and checks.

The former Yugoslav republics of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have also been invited to join.

Mr Zaev said Balkan governments “cannot wait for all of the EU’S internal problems to be solved”, a reference to mounting frustration in Balkan capitals over stalled EU membership talks.

Serbia formally began accession talks with the EU in 2014 but Belgrade has struggled to meet the reform demands from Brussels.

North Macedonia even changed its name in order to placate a dispute with Greece, only to see Bulgaria veto the beginning of its accession talks over a battle around language and culture.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Ana Pisonero, a European Commission spokesman, said: “We understand the wish to move forward. At the same time, a process involving the entire western Balkan region is essential.”