Dritan Abazovic (Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro)
Albin Kurti (Prime Minister of Kosovo)
Zef Mazi (Albania's Chief Negotiator with The European Union)
Bujar Osmani (Minister of Foreign Affairs, North Macedonia)
Discussant: Jessie Barton Hronešová (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill)
Co-Chairs: Othon Anastasakis (St Antony's College, Oxford); Belina Budini (European University of Tirana)

The Open Balkan Initiative is a regional integration agreement between countries of the Western Balkans, presented as a reaction to the slowing down of the process of European Integration for the six aspiring countries: Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Montenegro - confirmed as candidates for membership - and Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo - potential candidates. Three of them - Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia - have signed agreements to open their national borders to each other's citizens and products from 1 January 2023, without restrictions. These three countries believe that this economic zone will both prepare them for membership of the European Union and also offer an active way forward in response to the delay in obtaining EU membership. Although the Open Balkan initiative is meant to encourage EU integration of its member states through a common market with neighbours first, the inter-governmental cooperation initiative has also attracted some disagreement and scepticism from within the region and beyond. In particular, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has accused the project of making the region more vulnerable to Russian and Chinese influence. He has also argued that the main problem in the Western Balkans, a failure to deal with the past, should be tackled in parallel with the initiative, alongside democratization and the rule of law. This panel brings together some key protagonists to look at the issues in greater depth.  

In cooperation with the European University in Tirana.

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