North Macedonian Prime Minister Calls on Others to Join the Open Balkan Initiative

Zoran Zaev

North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has called the Open Balkan initiative a joint display of strong political wills of North Macedonia, Serbia and Albania and “an initiative of the highest public interest.” 

“Our peoples, the Macedonians, the Albanians, and the Serbs, and all the others who live in the countries of this Balkan of ours, have the same path before them. We share the same vision and values – these are European values, and not politics of walls and division. We build bridges, not walls,” Zaev wrote in his article which was published in the Aug. 1 issue of the Politika daily. 

Speaking about the economic benefits that such an alliance was sure to yield soon, he said that was “only the beginning.” 

“[It is] a beginning of our own something, authentic to our three countries, a clear paved European path, open to all those who wish their people well – we are building an open road, [with] open borders, [and an] open economy – an Open Balkan,” Zaev wrote. 

He further explained that the Open Balkan is not an alternative to the European Union, but “the delivery of what the EU should itself deliver.” “The Open Balkan is complementary to and does not stand against the EU. The Open Balkan is an amplifier of the EU agenda, wherein all the countries stay devoted to their own agendas and their individual EU membership obligations,” Zaev concluded.