Bussels, 23/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Heads of State and Government from the EU 15 and the Western Balkans and the President of the European Commission will gather, Friday 24 November in Zagreb for the first EU-Balkans Summit. This Summit is aimed at marking the support of the EU 15 Europe to the Western Balkans, underlines the French Presidency of the EU Council, which is organising the Summit. The future accession to the EU and this support - political, economic and commercial - will be emphasised in the Joint Declaration that will be adopted following the Summit, Declaration that should also underline the need for political and economic reform in the countries concerned. This Declaration will be accompanied, in annex, with indications on each of these five countries - Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Slovenia, the former Yugoslav Republic and candidate for EU accession will also take part in the Summit. Called before the accession of Vojislav Kostunica to power in Serbia, the Summit will be obviously placed under the sign of the return of democracy in Serbia.
The European Union will present to the Zagreb Summit the various policies and instruments it has given itself to help this region. On Monday the Fifteen adopted the new framework regulation for technical assistance to the Western Balkans (CARDS regulations), with an indicative budget of EUR 4.65 million for 2000-2006. The European Commission had proposed nearly one billion more (EUR 5.5 billion) and maintains that the amount indicated by the Council is insufficient. "We maintain our judgement", stated on Tuesday the spokesperson for Commissioner Patten, when recalling on the one hand that this amount is indicative and does not prejudge the vote of the Community vote each year, and adding on the other hand that the Commission will return at full speed when it has a more precise assessment of the needs in Serbia, with the upcoming reports by the World Bank and the Commission.
The Summit will also enable to support the "stabilisation and association" process lead by the EU in South Eastern Europe with the signing of specific bilateral agreements, which complement the very favourable trade provisions granted by the EU to the region as a whole. The stabilisation and association agreement with the FYROM will be initialled during the Summit, which will also mark the launch of the negotiations with Croatia, though this process is less advanced with the other countries. Thus, the Commission recently concluded that Albania does not fulfil the criteria to start the negotiations; however, the final Declaration of the Summit should call on the Commission to draft a new report next year in order to prepare the negotiation of such an agreement, underline diplomatic sources on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council, last Monday. The European Commission declared on its behalf that it is "determined to help Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to prepare to fulfil the conditions for the stabilisation and association agreements. The Commission recognises the progress accomplished by Bosnia and Albania and starts to discuss with the FRY that way in which it could better benefit from this process.
The holding of the EU-Balkans Summit also gives rise to some diplomatic friction. Such as Montenegro is not recognised as an independent State, its President was invited, but in the Yugoslav delegation, which does not please its leaders. "It is out of the question for us to sit behind Vojislav Kostunica" indicated on Tuesday an advisor to the Montenegrin President, Milo Djukanovic, to a Croat daily. For Montenegrin leaders, Kostunica is the President of Serbia, as Djukanovic is the President of Montenegro, without hierarchy, he indicated. The French Presidency assures that it "will find that solution" suitable for all.
The non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch also called on the EU to put pressure on Serbia to achieve an improvement of the protection of human rights. Human Rights Watch reveals that in Yugoslavia there are "encouraging signs that the authorities want to put an end to the violations of human rights perpetuated by the former government", but feel it "extremely important that the international community, and the EU in particular, place pressure on Belgrade for the continuation of these initial positive steps".