MEĐUNARODNI PROBLEMI

Pursuing the National Interest of Serbia through Interpresidentialism of the Open Balkan Initiative

Hrnjaz Miloš (University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia), milos.hrnjaz@fpn.bg.ac.rs
Milošević Aleksandar (University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia), aleksandar.milosevic@fpn.bg.ac.rs

This article attempts to answer the question of the relationship between Serbia’s perceived national interests and the Open Balkan Initiative. It starts with a theoretical framework and concepts of national interests and regional integrations of the Western Balkans. It then proceeds with a concise history of these integrations and their relationship with the EU accession process of Balkan countries. The article’s central part focuses on the economic, institutional, and legal aspects of the Open Balkan Initiative and how the perceived national interests of Serbia determine these aspects. The main conclusions are that political leaders of Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia have used interpresidentialism as a form of regional integration, deliberately avoiding institutionalisation, and decided to almost exclusively use non-binding instruments of international law in the Open Balkan Initiative. Additionally, the economic results of the initiative are limited so far.

Keywords: regional integrations, Western Balkans, Open Balkan Initiative, international law, European Union, national interests