Minisengen, how the idea of Western Balkan countries emerged

The initiative to establish the mine was concrete in the month of October this year, following the European Union's refusal to open the negotiations process for Albania and the Republic of Northern Macedonia.

In Tirana today, the third meeting is held under the initiative of leaders of the region to create the so-called Balkan Mini Schengen.

The idea of closer co-operation of Western Balkan states was initiated at a Regional Samit in Trieste in 2017, where participating countries agreed to a action plan towards a regional economic zone.

The initiative to establish the mine was concrete in the month of October this year, following the European Union's refusal to open the negotiations process for Albania and the Republic of Northern Macedonia.

The initiative remains open to remaining Balkan six members, Zaev, Vuciq and Rama have stressed, thus inviting Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo to join the minister.

The initiative aims at free movement of people, goods and services, as well as strengthening economic trends in the region. Finalisation of these regional goals is expected to be 2021.

However, such an initiative has been met with debate and criticism in public opinion, and one of the main reasons is the non-recognition of Kosovo's independence from Serbia, while Kosovo keeps an active 100 % tax on Serbian goods.

Meanwhile, Kosovo has rejected the invitation to become part of the next meeting. These tensions are not only challenging in a bi-latheral sense, but essentially affect the idea of regional co-operation.

To date, two meetings have been held between leaders of Albania, Serbia and Northern Macedonia, respectively, in Novi Sad, where the initiative of the minister was announced and in Ohrid, where the meeting served for further deepening the mode of operation and purpose of this initiative.