(16/05/08) Update Note Western Balkans

• 2008-05-16
• Europa in de wereld

ALBANIA

Top Commission's officials, in a recent meeting, said Albanian must still work on reforms in order to fulfil the necessary conditions for entering membership talks with the European bloc. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Brusselsthat he needs to do more if his country wants to start negotiations to join the EU, and offered Brusselshelp on the implementation of reforms. Barroso praised Albaniafor the progress made in the path of reforms and encouraged PM Berisha to implement the promised reforms and consolidate the rule of law but said that it is too early to set a date for Albania's accession negotiations

Before Albaniacan apply for EU membership, all 27 member nations must, anyway, ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). So far 17 of them have done so

BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA

In February the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), the body responsible for ensuring implementation of the Dayton Agreement, set the conditions for closure of the office of the High Representative for the international community in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which must mark the end of the country's transition process. In a declaration adopted unanimously, the PIC considered that, to complete the transition process (initially foreseen in June 2008), the authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina should meet five key objectives. These are: acceptable and sustainable resolution of the issue of apportionment of property between state and other levels of government, resolution of defence property, completion of the Brcko Final Award (administered to date by the international community), fiscal sustainability, and entrenchment of the rule of law. Two other conditions are added to this: - positive assessment of the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina in relation to the Daytonprovisions, on one hand, and the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) on the other. At the end of April the upper house of parliament approved the bill on police laws, after the lower house approved it last week. The country now hopes to sign the SAA in the weeks to come. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Bosnia Herzegovina will be signed on 26 May during the External Relations Council. It could not be signed earlier for technical reasons since the version of the agreement was not available in all the EU languages (!!!!!)

MACEDONIA

The parliament was dissolved (70 of the 120 deputies voting for it) on April 12, at the DUI's (one of the ethnic Albanian parties) initiative, and early elections will be held on June 1. According to the polls the party of the incumbent Prime Minister Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE) should win the elections. His stance on the name issue is rather uncompromising as regards the latest proposals by Greece(Upper Macedoniaor New Macedonia). Macedonia's integration process could be slowed due to the early elections. Although the country has achieved significant progress since 2005 when it was given candidate status, of the three candidate countries it is the only country with which no accession negotiations have taken place to date. In its April resolution the EP (and our group shares this position) considers it desirable that this exceptional situation should end. The Commission has drawn up list of eight benchmarks, derived from the key priorities of the new Accession Partnership, and hopes that the attainment of these by the country will lead to opening of the accession negotiations before the end of 2008, which will further enhance the stability and strengthen the European prospects of the Western Balkans. The EP has also asked the Council to evaluate at the next summit the progress made so far, and if possible to decide on a date for the start of the accession negotiations. Further to this some internal tensions are arising due to the fact that DUI is hinting at a possible claim to federalise the country along ethnic lines if its requests, concerning in particular the use of the Albanian language, are not met. The European Commission presented last week the roadmap for visa liberalization – a document that sets conditions whose fulfillment will lead to visa-free travel for the citizens of the country to the Schengen zone. The roadmap paves the way for visa liberalization to enter into force next year hoping that Greecewill not veto the deal as it did at the Bucharest NATO summit on Macedonia's application for membership.

MONTENEGRO

On 15 October 2007Montenegrosigned the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU.

Filip Vujanovic, of the ruling coalition Democratic Party of Socialists, won, on 6 April 2008, the first presidential election after independence, getting 52.3% of the votes cast. 69.7% of the electorate voted.On April 15 a deal was signed with the EU to support Montenegro's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)

SERBIA

Serge Brammertz, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Prosecutor, has said that Serbiashould be able to arrest four suspected war criminals, including Ratko Mladic. The EU has just signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia, but it will not come into effect until there is unanimous agreement among EU member states that Belgradeis cooperating fully with the ICTY. The Netherlandsand Belgiumhave made the arrest of Mladic a condition for their assent

On Tuesday 29 April, the EU and Serbiasigned the stabilisation and association agreement (SAA), which opens the way to the country's European integration. No provision will be applied, however, unless the Council unanimously decides that Serbiafulfils the criteria of “full cooperation” with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). During the lengthy negotiations, foreign ministers from the member states decided on this compromise, reconciling the position of the Netherlands and Belgium, both of whom have been insisting on Belgrade's strict observance of the conditions, and the concern, shared by all, of sending Serbia a “positive message” and subsequently helping the pro-European forces around President Boris Tadic in the context of the forthcoming parliamentary elections on 11 May. In concrete terms, the “External Relations” Council decided on Tuesday to sign the SAA and interim agreement, while suspending their application until another unanimous decision is reached at the Council concluding that Serbiahas completely satisfied the criteria of full cooperation with the ICTY. The Netherlandsand Belgium, like other member states, are therefore keeping their right of veto on this question. The SAA ratification process can only begin in the member states, and the interim agreement can only enter into force if the Council reaches a positive decision on this issue. This interim agreement will allow for early application of the trade-related aspects of the SAA, without having to wait for the end of the ratification process, which could prove very long. Normally, the interim agreement takes effect immediately after the main agreement is signed (as is the case for SAAs concluded with the other Balkan countries). For Serbia, on the other hand, the signing of the SAA has no immediate legal impact. Diplomats speak of a “political or symbolic gesture”. In its conclusions, the Council describes the signing of agreements as “an important step” by Serbiaon its road towards the EU.

Serge Brammertz, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Prosecutor, has said that Serbiashould be able to arrest four suspected war criminals, including Ratko Mladic. The EU has just signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia, but it will not come into effect until there is unanimous agreement among EU member states that Belgradeis cooperating fully with the ICTY. The Netherlandsand Belgiumhave made the arrest of Mladic a condition for their assent.

Taking advantage of the anti-European atmosphere caused by the EU's position on Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence (all Serbs considered the sending of the EULEX mission was “illegal” - it should be left up to member states to decide whether to recognise the new state or not), the Serb Democratic Party (DSS) of the outgoing prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, and the Radical Party transformed the legislative elections on 11 May into a “referendum on the question of whether Serbia should keep or lose Kosovo". However this agreement in no way affects the question of the status of Kosovo. Urging the EU to sign the SAA by the 11 May elections, President Tadic's side pointed out that “in no way he wished to bring into question the conditionality” imposed by the EU with regard to total cooperation with the ICTY. A similar approach was followed for Croatia, which signed the SAA in 2001 but which had to wait until October 2005 to open membership talks due to the lack of cooperation with the ICTY for arresting General Gotovina. Tadic stressed that Serbiawanted to be treated like Croatia.

According to the preliminary results Serbia's pro-European Union forces lead by president Boris Tadic are the winners at Sunday's early parliamentary elections. Tough negotiations are announced, though, between partners and rivals on who is to form the next government which would lead the country either toward the EU or closer ties with Russia.

Tadic's coalition, the “Coalition for European Serbia,” held about 38 percent of the vote, for about 103 seats in the parliament, Tomislav Nikolic's ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party held about 29 percent of the vote, or about 77 seats, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia held about 11.3 percent, or about 30 seats. Voters' turnout was about 60.7 percent of registered voters. "This is a great victory for Serbia," Tadic said Sunday night. "This is a great victory for Serbia's democracy. This is a great victory for Serbia's European future," hoping that he will be able to gather around him sufficient seats with other moderate parties to form the government. But at in other elections the key word of the future coalition government belongs once again prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, who has been accusing Tadic of betrayal because of his pro-EU convictions despite the independence of Kosovo.

The European Union has welcomed the results of the votes and welcomed "the clear victory" of "pro-European forces" in a statement. Radical leaders, though, announced they will not concede and are hoping for a government ruled by them. Nikolic suggested that the nationalist groups could partner together with Kostunica against Tadic to pull a simple 126-seat majority in the 250-seat parliament in order to govern Serbia. He said there is "a great chance" for creating a coalition government that excludes Tadic's Democratic Party.

CROATIA

On 13 March 2008the Croatian Parliament adopted the decision not to apply the Ecological and Fishing Protection Zone to EU Member States until a common agreement in the EU spirit is reached, which was the main obstacle to the opening of new chapters.After this decision the EU/Croatia Association Council, which met on 28 April, in Luxembourg, has drawn up a positive intermediary assessment of membership talks underway with this candidate country since October 2005. Negotiations are advancing well and seem to continue on the right track with 18 of the 35 chapters already opened, of which two are already provisionally closed. Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn confirmed that the Commission was ready to present a calendar for concluding talks during 2009 (before expiry of the mandate of the current European Commission, on 31 October 2009) on condition that Croatiais able to meet criteria for “opening benchmarks” by the end of June this year. The EU also called on the Croatian authorities to rapidly bring some order to their internal system for the management of EU pre-accession aid. Due to a number of irregularities, the Commission has already taken “prudential measures” concerning the PHARE 2006 programme (suspension of certain contracts) and the new single pre-accession aid instrument (PAI), which has been reduced by €5 million. These measures are temporary and will be lifted as soon as the Commission is satisfied with the improvements that the Croatian government has brought to its management of Community funds. In its April resolution the EP stated that with increased efforts on the part of Croatiaand continuous support by the EU institutions, accession negotiations should, in any event, be concluded in 2009.

Paolo Bergamaschi - Advisor Foreign Affairs Committee (Greens/EFA)