The “Open Balkan” Initiative: An Outward-Directed Populism

Abstract

This paper analyses the "Open Balkan" initiative, using some of the theoretical assumptions of economic and, consequently, political populism in order to show that the economic benefits of this initiative do not differ too much from the existing economic benefits of the CEFTA ( 2006) agreement, of which all three countries (signatories of the "Open Balkan" initiative) are members. However, unlike the economic ones, the political benefits of this initiative can be seen much more clearly. Specifically, the "Open Balkan" initiative can be seen as a mechanism for "bridging" the waiting period for these countries to join the EU, overcoming some of the obstacles of the existing bilateral trade agreements that the countries from this region have with the EU. We will show, using quantitative content analysis, that the "Open Balkan" initiative is a political populist concept directed outward, i.e., toward EU leaders, and not an initiative that can bring something completely new and different compared to all previous bilateral and multilateral initiatives of this type.