Page 15 - bne IntelliNews newspaper 14 July 2017

Southeast Europe
July 14, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 15
skilled labour, making the region more attractive for investment and commerce, accelerating con- vergence with the EU, thus bringing prosperity to Western Balkans citizens,” the RCC added.
However, while the agreement covers a range of areas such as trade integration, introducing a dynamic regional investment space, facilitating regional mobility, and creating a digital integra- tion programme, it falls well short of the common market previously envisaged.
In the last few months, divisions have emerged between countries from the region on the desir- ability of a regional customs union, even though Hahn previously claimed it would create up to 80,000 jobs in a region plagued by extremely high levels of unemployment.
The idea was pushed by Serbia’s then prime minister, now president, Aleksandar Vucic, back in February. At the time he stressed that the richer all countries in the region are “the better it will be for us”. Vucic said at the time that he had already discussed the idea with the prime ministers of Albania and Bosnia.
There is a strong case for economic integra-
tion — or reintegration in the case of the former Yugoslavian countries. All the Western Balkans countries face the same challenges, such as weak economies and a prolonged transition period, and share the same goals, such as EU membership. Regional coexistence and collaboration are crucial for stability, since the countries are too small to develop economically except in partnership with their neighbours.
Despite this, lingering ethnic and political ten- sions in the region have ensured that pan-regional integration initiatives are relatively rare; the RCC is one of the few examples, although there are an increasing number of bilateral efforts.
But the idea of a common market now seems to have fallen flat. One of the sceptics is Isa Mustafa, Kosovo’s acting prime minister. Mustafa wrote
on his Facebook page that there would be little advantage for Kosovo to join a common market with fellow Western Balkan countries, saying that countries in the region do not reap equal benefits from joint trade. “We don't view this proposal with enthusiasm ... and we don't want past experiences under a new wrapper." Mustafa wrote in March. Montenegro is also understood to have some reservations.
Moreover, there are fears among local politi- cians that a regional common market could serve to slow their progress towards EU accession by becoming a substitute for entry to the European common market, even though Hahn and other European officials have sought to allay such fears.
There was also frustration from Brussels when domestic political rifts kept Bosnia from signing up to the transport community treaty endorsed by other countries from the region.
“#TransportCommunity Treaty: #BiH failed to sign due to domestic problems.Very discouraging sig- nal for their further European perspective,” Hahn tweeted.
Nonetheless, Brussels is set to extend more funding for transport projects in the region. Hahn said on the sidelines of the Trieste summit that the EU will finance the construction of a railway link alongside Corridor VIII to connect the Adri- atic Sea in Albania and the Black Sea in Bul- garia via Macedonia, Macedonian news agency MIA said. In total, the EU will finance six trans- port corridors in the Western Balkans, including four motorways and two railway lines, Hahn told Deutsche Welle.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to provide an additional €3.5bn for infrastructure projects in the Western Balkans in the next three years, of which 50% will be aimed at Serbia, EIB regional representative for the Western Balkans Dubravka Negre told Serbian news agency Tanjug on July 12. The finance will be aimed at road and railway infrastructure projects.