They will share excess energy and food

Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia have agreed to form a joint commission to help each other deal with the threat of energy and food shortages this winter due to the war in Ukraine.

At the summit of the Open Balkans initiative in Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama and Dimitar Kovačevski, agreed to establish a body that will help the three governments share excess energy and food, Reuters reported.

Officials said the agreements signed at the summit included a pledge not to restrict food exports between the three countries and to cooperate on energy imports as prices have risen across Europe.

The President of Serbia stated that the countries of the Open Balkans will be exempted from the ban on the export of certain products from Serbia.

"Everything that is available to Serbia will be available to North Macedonia and Albania and vice versa," said Vučić.

Serbia is almost entirely dependent on the import of Russian gas and about 70 percent of its electricity needs are produced in old coal-fired thermal power plants.

North Macedonia relies on fossil fuels and hydropower, and also depends on imported electricity. Albania produces most of its electricity in hydropower plants.

Rama called on the EU not to "repeat shameful behavior" during the energy crisis in the Western Balkans, as during the covid-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister of Albania said that the prospects are "worrying" and that the upcoming winter could be the worst since World War II. He added that energy prices will put a lot of pressure on the budgets of the Balkan countries, which will need additional support from the EU to buy energy, AP reported.

"The best scenario for Albania would be half a billion euros (additional spending) for ... continuous supply of electricity," said Rama.

He called on the EU not to "repeat shameful behavior" during the energy crisis in the Western Balkans, as during the covid-19 pandemic.

"We well remember how, at the beginning of the pandemic, the countries of the Western Balkans were forced to turn to China, Russia, Turkey... because the European Union was only looking out for itself," said Rama.

He announced that the leaders of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania would write to Brussels and that they would be "very satisfied" if the leaders of the other three countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo) joined them.

"To together ask for financial support for the purchase of energy sources," said Rama.

The Open Balkans regional initiative was formalized in 2019 when Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia agreed to form an economic zone of 12 million people with the idea of ​​free flow of goods and people between member states.

"We are facing a difficult winter and anyone who says otherwise would not be fair and would not be telling the truth," said Vučić.

EU and US officials welcomed the Open Balkans initiative as a way to strengthen regional cooperation and free trade by easing border procedures and taxes.

"This was the right step at the right moment," said the Prime Minister of North Macedonia. "We gathered here to send a message of solidarity between our countries and governments and readiness to jointly solve the crisis and the difficult winter we are facing," said Kovačevski.

Rama said that the Open Balkans also brings together countries that are in the neighborhood of that region, such as Greece, Turkey, Italy and Hungary, and that they will be invited to the summit next year in Tirana.

The summit was attended by Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović, Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltija, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Sijarto and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Abazović expressed the expectation that Montenegro will also be part of the agreement of the countries of the Open Balkans to help each other in crisis situations in the supply of food and energy, Beta reported.

He pointed out that the countries of the region must follow the path of cooperation and stick together.

"Everything else can be petty calculation and politicking. I thank the hosts and friends who came from the EU, and all the ambassadors who are here. I hope that we will meet soon in Montenegro", said Abazović.

Vučić assessed that the extent to which peace and stability in the region will be strengthened depends on the success of the Open Balkans. In the end, he praised Abazović for making "many difficult decisions" and for doing more for his people and country in 100 days than many prime ministers in a whole decade.

Tegeltija said that it is necessary for Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the "Open Balkans" initiative.

"I am here on behalf of the business community, which needs unity, space and economic freedoms that are also valid in the EU. I'm just a guest here. It is quite certain that Bosnia and Herzegovina will join this process, it will not bring anything bad to anyone. Today, that process is blocked by only two people. But that too will pass, the elections are coming. It was wonderful at dinner yesterday, but we couldn't try wines and food from Bosnia and Herzegovina, because we are not members. That's what makes me unhappy,” he said.

The heads of diplomacy of Turkey and Hungary promised their countries' support to the region and called on the EU to speed up the program of admission of new members.