In 2014, German Chancellor Angela Merkel initiated an intergovernmental process with the countries of the Western Balkans (the so-called Berlin Process), a number of EU Member States as well as EU institutions. Its aim, now like then, is to boost economic as well as human connectivity in the region, reinvigorate European integration and thereby further the enlargement policy agenda of the EU in the region.

This initiative unfolds in challenging times. Internally, the EU experiences a burgeoning “integration fatigue”, most emblematically seen with Brexit. At the same time, it signals ambiguous prospects of differentiated integration in enlargement matters, while realising the limitations of its transformative power: twenty years of EU engagement in the region have been no panacea – the situation there remains “fragile”, according to the Council, for lack of economic convergence, democratic consolidation and reconciliation.

These limitations make the Western Balkans more pervious to alternative development models. In the past few years, non-Western powers increased their engagement in the region and have become more influential. This is in particular the case of China through its 16+1 Framework, the One Belt, One Road Initiative and its €10 billion investment fund set up tofinance large infrastructure projects.

China’s engagement in the Western Balkans, in many respects, intersect with the EU’s approach: although Chinese investments are often directed towards projects included in the EU’s Connectivity Agenda, their modalities differ from EU standards and practices. However, for a region struggling to attract European foreign direct investments (FDI), these Chinese investments may represent an alternative to the EU’s development policy scheme.

Keeping this in mind, what assessment can be made of the Berlin process, four years after its launch, in view of the enlargement challenges lingering on a Brexiting EU? Can it still help the EU competing with upcoming approaches from non-Western powers? What are the intersecting and overlapping elements in the European and the Chinese approaches towards infrastructure connectivity? What are their advancements concerning transport and energy connectivity in the region? What are, in general, the geopolitical and geo-economic implications of China’s growing presence in the Western Balkans?

The seminar will reflect and discuss these issues and questions, bringing together experts from South Eastern Europe, China, Brussels and European Union institutions. It is part of the “Reflection Forum: The Western Balkans in the European Union”, a Europe-wide think tank and dialogue initiative launched in 2014 as an expert component related to the Berlin process dynamics. This seminar is organised by the Centre Franco-Autrichien pour le Rapprochement en Europe (CFA/ÖFZ) in Vienna, the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE) in Nice, the Institut français des relations internationales (ifri) in Paris, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin and the Cooperation and Development Institute (CDI) in Tirana, in cooperation with the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome and the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso – Transeuropa (OBCT) in Rovereto.

The seminar on 15 November 2017 in Brussels is also supported by the Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU and the German Federal Foreign Office (Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe).