The Berlin Process: Gender equality key to the Western Balkans’ EU integration

As the Western Balkans is choosing it’s future path, towards or away from European integration, the Berlin Process, celebrating 10 years in 2024, remains vital. The Process was set up to promote regional cooperation and integration among Western Balkan countries, and as the region faces enlargement fatigue and an increasingly complex security situation, the need for tangible results, regional development and improved cohesion is crucial, for the region as well as for the EU and the prospect of EU enlargement. However, despite the Process’ ambitious goals, a new report reveals that it has been gender blind, thereby missing opportunities to address the challenges that the Western Balkans face, at this key point in time for the region and for Europe.

Marking the 10-year anniversary of the Process, European governments will once again meet in Berlin under Germany’s leadership. Meanwhile, the countries of the Western Balkans remain fragile democracies, and it is imperative for any process seeking to promote the region’s development to engage all parts of the population. Women in the Western Balkans are still underrepresented in political decision-making and face sustained barriers to political and economic participation. Gender-based violence remains wide-spread and women human rights defenders are increasingly being targeted by far-right anti-gender movements. As gender equality is now at the core of German foreign policy, expectations are high that Germany will lead by example, ensuring that the Berlin Process also takes gender into account.

So far, this has not been the case. A new report from The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation shows that gender perspectives have been systematically missing from the Berlin Process. The report shows that there are no guidelines for gender mainstreaming, and as a result gender perspectives are rarely applied to the topics discussed at the intergovernmental meetings of the Process. For instance, regional economic development is consistently a core focus of the Berlin Process—despite this, and despite women making up 50% of the potential work force in the region—women and gender are rarely mentioned. When mentioned, it is done in a way insufficient to address the full challenges to women’s economic rights and equal opportunities. Without tackling the root causes of inequality in the economy, women’s economic inclusion and ultimately economic development of the region overall, will not be sustainable nor equal.

Within areas like reconciliation and digital development, including the Connectivity agenda lauded as a success of the Berlin Process, the gender perspective is nearly entirely absent. Meanwhile, democratic decline has featured prominently as a topic of discussion in the Berlin Process, however the impact of anti-gender narratives, gaining traction across the region and intimately tied to anti-democratic and anti-EU sentiments, has been largely discounted. Given the detrimental impact of these movements on the very aims of the Berlin Process, it is clear they need to be comprehensively addressed, which necessitates a gender perspective.

In order to address the democratic deficit and the challenges faced by the region and Europe, The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, in partnership with civil society organisations across the Western Balkans, urge the actors of the Berlin Process to pursue four key actions.

First, it is essential to develop a systematic approach to include gender perspectives through gender mainstreaming guidelines, which should be created in close consultation with civil society actors and gender equality experts. Second, anti-gender and populist movements, along with their detrimental impact on the aims of the Berlin Process, must be considered when developing policies and strategies. Third, there is an urgent need to address the high levels of violence, particularly gender-based violence to tackle the lack of access to justice and the threat that this poses to the security and wellbeing of women in the Western Balkans, and of society at large. Finally, future host countries of the Berlin Summit should continue Germany’s best practice of organising a gender side event annually while also ensuring that gender perspectives are not confined to siloed working groups and events.

This 10-year anniversary of the Berlin Process requires a renewed commitment to a European perspective for the Western Balkans. We urge the actors of the Berlin Process to use this opportunity to work for a democratic transition and regional development that encompasses all of the region’s citizens. Just and equal societies are pre-conditions for democratic and prosperous states and as such, gender equality should be a priority for anyone seriously interested in transformative change, and the Berlin Process needs to do better.

—The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation