IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU (SCHENGEN) ACQUES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS AND ABOLISHING THE BORDER CONTROLS BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

The European perspective of the Western Balkans, i.e. the joining of the countries of the region to the European Union, was promoted at the Summit of the European Council in Thessaloniki exactly 20 years ago. From then until today, the European perspective for this region is often emphasized by the EU institutions and the leaders of the member states of the Union, so that the end of the negotiations and the full membership in the EU actually seem more and more distant every day. Citizens of most countries from the Western Balkans perceive EU membership as a distant, uncertain future, which increasingly generates dissatisfaction, growth of Euroscepticism and doubts about the sincere intentions of all participants in the European integration processes. This slow, long frozen and often blocked accession process has been followed by various initiatives, by the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans as intermediate stages, until the Union implements its own reform and starts the enlargement process again in full capacity. The initiatives relate to improving economic cooperation, establishing a common market and achieving greater economic growth in the region, and as such the most prominent are the Berlin Process and the Open Balkans. One of the basic postulates embedded in the two initiatives, which are perceived as rivals, is the freedom of movement, that is, the enjoyment of the four basic freedoms on which the EU itself is built. The functioning of the EU single market required the abolition of all barriers and border controls themselves in support of the freedom of movement of goods, goods, capital and services which was supported by a special integration process known as Schengen integration. Freedom of movement is the focus of the authors of this paper, who through analysis and research of a part of the EU acquis will point out the possibility of its direct applicability as a basis for abolishing the internal borders of the Western Balkans, i.e. for a start between two countries Republic of North Macedonia and Republic of Serbia. These are countries in different stages of accession negotiations with the EU, but still with sufficiently harmonized national legislation with the Schengen acquis, without mutual disputes, with a relatively high degree of mutual trust that can quickly and efficiently significantly support the functioning of the common market by abolishing border controls so that later in the process all the countries of the Western Balkans are gradually included.