Introduction by Programme Manager and Editor

Many initiatives have been launched to develop and integrate the region so that it can enjoy levels of freedom, stability and prosperity similar to those in Western Europe: The EU’s record has proven that freedom of movement of people, goods and services has the potential to reduce many of the tensions, imbalances and prejudices that can lead to conflict. It has encouraged cooperation in the fight against deprivation and injustice. However, these ideals still evade many people and areas of life in Southeast Europe.

One visible sign of the continuing isolation of the Western Balkans is the queues outside EU countries’ embassies throughout the region. Eleonora Veninova, from Macedonia, highlights the paradoxes inherent in the visa regime that the EU and and its member states have imposed on the region. She contrasts the demand for workers in the EU with the dangers befalling those who attempt to supply that demand from Europe’s southeast. She shows how the visa system depends on the way that “source” countries police immigration, rather than on how EU-based firms employ foreigners. The result is that ordinary people, seeking to travel for legitimate reasons, struggle to obtain permits, while illegal workers reach their destinations through whichever channels they can find.

Altin Raxhimi, from Albania, examines the EU’s recent moves to relax this regime and allow workers to enter the EU through legal channels. But his research shows that the new rules will benefit only a privileged few and may strengthen the emerging class divides in the region, making travel easiest for those who need it least.

There are more positive stories. Bogdan Asaftei from Bucharest shows how countries that traditionally exported much of their adult workforces have recently experienced a turn-around. The competitive advantages now to be gained from working in Bulgaria and Romania, in parallel with their membership of the continent’s free trade area, have prompted Western European-based businesses to relocate to these former communist countries, bringing jobs and new prosperity.

At the same time, many sections of society in these countries remain excluded. Bulgaria’s recent boom has created a particularly strong need for workers. But, as Nikoleta Popkostadinova recounts, instead of tapping the surplus labour among the thousands of unemployed Roma, the authorities prefer to import foreign workers, leaving the country’s largest minority to languish.

Mobility implies not only the freedom to travel, but, more generally, the freedom of individuals and societies to advance and fulfill their potential. The lack of such opportunities remains stark in many parts of the Western Balkans, forcing the brightest and most “mobile” youngsters to leave home in order to advance their careers. Milorad Ivanović shows how pressure has grown on Serbia’s sporting talents to take up foreign citizenships and leave, adding an extra dimension to the more well-known phenomenon of “brain drain”.

Sokol Ferizi addresses the problem of brain drain in Kosovo, where uncertainty over the territory’s political future has added to the economic plight. The very limited opportunities to earn a living there, aggravated by poor educational facilities, compel many young people to abandon their homeland. Those who remain all too often fall prey to apathy and the more negative influences of crime, drug abuse and religious zealotry.

While the international stalemate over Kosovo’s future status underlies most of its chronic problems, the two articles that follow show how complex Balkan geopolitics influence mobility throughout the region.

Polina Slavcheva from Botevgrad looks at the trade routes that criss-cross Southeast Europe, connecting countries to one another and to the continent. She shows how conflicts and rivalries, old and new, mostly driven by nationalism, continue to override economic criteria when it comes to the development of road and rail routes, damaging trade and impeding the region’s integration.

The conflicts of the 1990s still cast a long shadow over the former Yugoslav countries. Nenad Radičević from Belgrade addresses the way in which this phenomenon limits regional mobility, looking at refugees who fear to return home to neighbouring countries because of unresolved war crimes. He shows how the failure of the region’s courts to cooperate over the war-crimes issue leaves people reluctant to cross borders.

As Bojana Stanišić points out, the poor level of inter-governmental cooperation in the region also explains why the former Yugoslav republics are not working together effectively to combat the grave environmental threats to the wellbeing of the Adriatic sea.

While the politicians lag behind, a growing number of individuals are already cooperating with counterparts in other countries, however. Scientists from the Adriatic states are working across borders to address the problems facing the sea, for example. Davor Konjikušić describes how artists, musicians and filmmakers are also putting painful past conflicts between their respective countries aside in order to maximise commercial opportunities.

The future progress of the Balkans relies on this dynamic; an increasing willingness on the part of people to overcome nationalist divisions for their own economic good.

Journalism is one medium with the potential to cross all manner of divisions and open up societies to one another, be it for the purposes of communicating ideas, business opportunities, policies or threats. This is why mobility is an appropriate topic for the 2007 launch of this Fellowship programme. By nurturing journalistic talent and the production of high-quality inquisitive reporting, and by making the results available to audiences throughout the Balkans and the rest of Europe, it can help to open up more space for the exchange of experience and ideas, encouraging tolerance, diversity and positive change.

Anna McTaggart, Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Programme Manager & Editor