Leaders of Western Balkans countries met in London with British and European officials for a summit with a strong focus on migration and other security-related threats.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the leaders of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, the European Commission’s Foreign Chief Kaja Kallas and ministers from Italy, France and Greece.
The summit is part of the Berlin Process, established in 2014, to promote the integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union. So far, only Croatia has managed to enter the European Union and has even adopted the euro. The other countries have all struggled with their accession process. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo continue to put a dent in their application. Belgrade still does not recognise Kosovo’s independence. Meanwhile, North Macedonia’s application stalled due to issues with Greece and, more recently, with Bulgaria.
In his opening speech, Starmer said that “the region has been described as the crossroads of Europe, but so often it has also been Europe’s crucible – the place where the security of our continent is put to the test.” He went on saying that the summit will also talk about Russia’s “malign influence“ on the region – Serbia is considered one of the closest European allies of Moscow.
However, the main point of the summit is migration. In particular, the region is generally considered a hotbed of smuggling gangs, with hundreds of thousands of people entering the EU and eventually the UK coming from the area. The UK collaborates with the EU’s frontier agency Frontex and, in recent years, created a task force with Albania to tackle illegal immigration coming from there. It vastly reduced Albanians’ illegal immigration to the UK.
The UK is interested in creating return hubs for migrants in the region. However, leaders of the region are resisting this proposal. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told British think tank Chentam House: “I’ve said it, and I repeat — never in Albania.“ Also, Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajic turned down the proposal unless the UK is willing to “invest 10 billion euros into building railways“ in the country.
