The leaders of Western Balkans nations met in Tirana on Saturday to resume talks on regional cooperation issues as their countries reach different stages in their quest to join the European Union (EU). 

The talks are aiming to create a so-called "mini-Schengen" that would allow free movement between their countries ahead of their EU integration. 

While Montenegro and Serbia have already opened accession talks, the bids of Albania and North Macedonia to start the membership process were blocked in October by some EU members, led by France.

Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic, Albania's prime minister Edi Rama and North Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev were among those who attended Saturday's talks.

The discussions started last month, when Rama, Zaev and Vucic met to consider setting up a common market by 2021, which would remove administrative barriers for free movement of goods and people between their countries.  

The initiative, launched by Vucic, comes after the EU failed to give North Macedonia and Albania a date to start talks on joining the bloc because France opposed it. Serbia opened membership talks with the bloc in 2014.  

Free movement

Under the initiative, the Western Balkans citizens would be allowed to travel between their countries using only an ID card and would also have a common work permit. The "mini-Schengen" visa-free zone would also allow foreign visitors to move freely within their borders. The countries are also hoping to introduce customs procedures to accelerate the passage of trucks. 

In October, North Macedonia and Albania were hoping to begin negotiations to join the European Union, but were denied it. Following the EU's decision, Zaev called for an early election. 

All countries, except France, backed opening membership talks with North Macedonia, which is judged to have met EU targets for a host of reforms and has ended disputes with its neighbors. France will not support any new countries joining the 28-nation bloc until its enlargement procedures have been improved.  

Enlargement fatigue 

However, the European Commission, which supervises entry talks, insisted North Macedonia and Albania had met all the criteria for admittance. 

Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and the region of Kosovo are trying to join the 28-nation political and trading group following the ethnic wars of the 1990s that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. 

The constant expansion of the EU over the years has complicated decision-making in the world's biggest trade bloc, and "enlargement fatigue," as some have termed it, has set in.