Connectivity in the Western Balkans Region - Difficulties, Challenges and Alternatives

University of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski, Department of Management and Quantitative Methods in Economics, 24 Tsar Asen Str., Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria

^* Corresponding author: st.stanev@advokat.bz

Abstract

The countries of the Western Balkans have declared their foreign policy priority membership not only in NATO but also in the European Union. Achieving these goals is associated with overcoming many challenges of different nature. Although not directly related to the country's de facto membership of the EU, its infrastructure and the level of its connection with its neighbors raises many of the issues important to society and forms many of its immediate priorities. Difficulties in interconnectedness between countries can have both a political and a geographical basis. In this regard, a serious challenge for the Republic of Northern Macedonia is the level of connection with its eastern and western neighbors. Almost 30 years after the declaration of independence, the infrastructure continues to follow the realities set and realized by Socialist Yugoslavia. This in turn poses many difficulties for the economic development of the whole region. A significant part of the reasons for the lack of progress are also due to purely geographical reasons, but alternative solutions can be sought to overcome the backlog in connectivity.