Brussels, 06/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - Better governance in Albania and Montenegro, more efficient state machinery in Bosnia Herzegovina, boosting the European perspectives in Serbia - countries in the Western Balkans have their work cut out for them if they are to move in the direction of more modern democracies and install a political culture of dialogue and tolerance. This was the main outcome of the European Commission's progress reports published on Tuesday 6 November, examining progress by the above countries along the road to joining the EU. An important stage in drawing closer to the EU, the Association and Stabilisation Agreements (ASAs) should be signed or come into force with all Western Balkans states by the end of 2008 if the situation permits, explained EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn at a press conference. He said he would be initialling an ASA with Serbia in Brussels on Wednesday 7 November 2007. Early next year, the European Commission will publish a progress report on the launch of the Thessalonica and Salzburg Agendas on European integration in the Balkans. A summary of the main conclusion and recommendations of the progress reports for the Western Balkans states follows.
Albania. The ASA with Albania was signed in June 2006 and is currently being ratified by the EU member states. Albania has made some progress in terms of democracy and the rule of law, and also on human rights and the protection of minorities. Albania plays a positive role in regional stability but democratic culture and dialogue among political parties has to be stepped up, observes the Commission, slamming the slow progress in judicial reforms and the extent of corruption in the country.
The Albanian economy is booming (increased privatisations, lower unemployment, etc) but huge effort will be required to counter competitive pressures and market forces.
Albania has also made progress in reforming its legislation to bring it into line with EU rules, although progress remains limited in some areas (energy, transport and intellectual property).
Bosnia Herzegovina. The ASA has been ready since December 2006 and the Commissioner said he was prepared to sign it once tangible progress has been made in four areas - police reform, full cooperation with the ICTY, reforming public broadcasting and reforming the public administration (civil service). On the political criteria, the Commission explains that the pace of reform has slowed down in Bosnia Herzegovina. Limited progress on democracy and the rule of law and virtually no progress on human rights and the protection of minorities. Greater effort is needed in tackling intolerance and ethnic discrimination. Little progress in combatting corruption, which remains a serious problem.
There has been little progress on establishing a market economy either, where huge reforms will be required. Economic growth remains strong, inflation has been reduced but the high levels of unemployment continue to cause concern.
In terms of moving towards the EU legal system, progress has been made in the fields of competition, transport and energy but little has been achieved in terms of social policy or employment.
Montenegro. The ASA was signed very recently but now has to be effectively implemented (see EUROPE 9523). The country has made progress in terms of respecting the political criteria (establishing a legal and institutional framework after independence; democracy and the rule of law; human rights and minority rights) but has to do more to boost its administrative capacity (the public administration remains weak and ineffective) and fight corruption (an extremely serious problem).
Although slow, there has been some progress in moving towards a viable market economy. Montenegro's macroeconomic stability has improved but risks remain.
Satisfactory progress has been made in aligning national legislation with EU rules on customs, taxation, competition, public tendering, the free circulation of capital and agriculture, but little progress has been made in terms of social policy, employment, energy, the environment, justice, freedom or security.
Serbia. The technical negotiations were concluded in June 2007 but did not lead to the signing of an ASA. In order for the ASA to be signed, unreserved cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague will be required but there has been sufficient progress in Serbia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to allow the ASA to be initialled on Wednesday 7 November. In her meetings with Olli Rehn, ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said there had been improvements in terms of Serbia's search for suspected war criminals and access to records and there was now a political desire and more intensive measures by the government to lead to arrests, explained Rehn. There may be greater cooperation but cooperation is still not full and unreserved and the ASA can therefore not be fully signed because this is incumbent on full cooperation with the ICTY. Of the twenty-four war criminals initially sought, twenty have been handed in and are being detained in The Hague but four are still at large. Rehn said Serbia had to carry out the final step and arrest Mladic, Karadzic and the two others and send them to The Hague. By initialling the ASA (and ultimately signing it), the aim is to change the terms of political debate in Serbia, turning the page on nationalism, said Rehn, refusing to make connections with the Kosovo issue. In general, Serbia has made progress in its efforts to meet the political criteria (new constitution and new government) but judicial reform has lagged behind and corruption is widespread. Respect for human rights has to be stepped up and ethnic tension continues, explains the report.
Serbia has made progress in terms of moving towards a viable market economy, but further reforms are needed. The strong expansion of the economy has continued but unemployment remains high and further progress has to be made in terms of privatisation.
Serbia has the administrative capacity required to align itself with the EU and satisfactory progress has been made in domains like the free circulation of goods, customs and taxation but less progress has been made on the media, information society, financial controls and money laundering.
Kosovo. The future of Kosovo's relations with the EU depends on settlement of the question of its status and talks are continuing in this connection under the auspices of the international troika. It is essential that the EU speaks with one voice on this issue, said Rehn. Boosting the rule of law, fighting corruption, effective application of human rights and combatting organised crime are the main challenges facing the province, which has also failed to make much progress in terms of becoming a market economy.
Progress achieved in previous years in terms of aligning legislation with the EU rules has been confirmed in some areas like customs and the free circulation of goods but Kosovo has made little progress in terms of actually implementing the legislation.
The reports can all be accessed at: http://www.ec.europa.eu/en/enlargement/index_en.htm (A.B.)