EU Hopes for Western Balkan Common Market by Mid-2018
The European Union hopes six Balkan countries will agree at a summit on July 12 in Italy to create a regional common market that could be working within a year, a top EU official said Tuesday, in the bloc’s latest step to re-engage the region. The EU is eager to show it remains committed to the Balkan region despite public hostility at home to further eastern enlargement of the bloc following years of economic crisis, high unemployment and the rise of euroskeptic and populist parties. The Western Balkan common market, which would remove barriers to trade, introduce standardized rules for …