Within the project “Assessing and streamlining the potential of the Open Balkan Initiative”, the Center for Economic Analysis (CEA) from Skopje, published a report on research task 1: Screening of the „Open Balkan“ Initiative – Country Analyses.
The report, in the preparation of which CEVES also participated, states two general observations regarding the practical implementation of regional economic integration in thematic areas. First, OBI (Open Balkan Initiative) overlaps with the operational regional agreement (CEFTA) or regional initiatives (MAP REA and CRM AP), especially in the area of free movement of goods and workers, which is also the area where OBI has gone furthest in terms of implementation.
The second general observation is that the political commitments of the OBI participating countries are vertically oriented and are being implemented slowly. Most of the political promises that are repeated at OBI summits and public appearances of OBI leaders have yet to be operationalized. The ratification process for all OBI agreements is taking a long time, especially in North Macedonia. To date, the labor market agreement and the agreement on the mutual interconnection of electronic identification schemes are the only trilateral agreements ratified by all three OBI participating countries.
Experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia (CEVES) participated in the preparation of the report.
