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Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

28.04.09: EU urges Slovenia and Croatia to end border dispute - 0 views

euobserver.com/28022

enlargement enlargementpolicy_eu enlargementpolicymemberstates slovenia enlargementpolicy_candidates croatia border_dispute westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 28 Apr 09 - Cached
  • The EU on Monday (27 April) called on Slovenia and Croatia to accept a European Commission proposal for international arbitration in order to solve their long-standing border dispute, warning that if the quarrel drags on it could have repercussions on other countries in the region.
  • "We recall the urgency attached to this issue," Czech deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg where Croatia's EU progress was discussed. "Many member states feel a certain sense of urgency, that the stalemate cannot last forever, that very much is at stake ... the whole strategic concept towards the Western Balkans, as well as other disputes," Mr Vondra added.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

22.04.09: Time running out for Croatia's EU reforms - 0 views

euobserver.com/27976

enlargement enlargementpolicy_eu enlargementpolicymemberstates enlargementpolicy_candidates croatia slovenia westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 22 Apr 09 - Cached
  • The structural reforms Croatia still needs to carry out are more likely to hold up its EU membership bid than the current border dispute with Slovenia, a senior EU official has warned. "I would be more concerned about structural reforms [in Croatia]" than about the border dispute, Vincent Degert, head of the European Commission's delegation in Croatia told a group of journalists in Zagreb on Monday (20 April).
  • Mr Degert spoke about justice reform, as well as the need to restructure Croatia's shipyards and the agriculture sector, as some of the key areas where progress is still needed. "These are the hardcore reforms," he said, with Croatia hoping to finish membership negotiations within the next eight months and enter the EU by 2011.
  • Meanwhile, the 18-year-old dispute on the delimitation of the sea border between Slovenia and Croatia has been escalating in the last months, after Ljubljana blocked Zagreb's EU accession talks in December. The blockage is now threatening to delay the EU entry timetable targeted by Croatia. An intergovernmental EU-Croatia conference planned for the end of March was postponed and is now scheduled to take place on Friday.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

24.06.09: EU officials tire of Croatia-Slovenia dispute - 0 views

euobserver.com/28366

enlargement enlargementpolicy_eu enlargementpolicymemberstates slovenia enlargementpolicy_candidates croatia border_dispute westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 24 Jun 09 - Cached
  • In a new setback to Croatia's EU bid, the Czech EU presidency on Wednesday (24 June) cancelled an EU-Croatia intergovernmental conference planned for 26 June due to a lack of progress in Croatia and Slovenia's border dispute which has been blocking Zagreb's EU accession talks for six months.
  • "Despite substantial efforts to facilitate a solution to the country's border dispute with Slovenia, Croatia's accession talks remain blocked and no new chapters can be formally opened or closed," the Czech presidency said in a statement.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

11.09.09: Slovenia, Croatia Reach Deal on Border, EU Talks - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...al-uk-croatia-slovenia-eu.html

enlargement enlargementpolicymemberstates slovenia enlargementpolicy_candidates croatia border_dispute westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 12 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Slovenia said Friday it was ready to lift its veto on neighbour Croatia's European Union accession talks immediately, after the two prime ministers agreed on how to solve an 18-year old border dispute."The government will immediately propose (to parliamentary committees) that Slovenia removes restraints for Croatia's EU negotiating process," Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor said after talks with his Croat counterpart Jadranka Kosor.The two committees met later Friday but said they needed more time to consider the issue. They are expected to decide on whether to allow Slovenia to lift the veto early next week.The news comes as a boost to Zagreb -- whose EU bid has been on ice for almost 10 months -- and other EU hopefuls in the Western Balkans, where bilateral disputes abound.Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU, welcomed the agreement and said Croatia can now continue EU accession talks.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

19.06.09: Croatia, Slovenia dash hopes for quick end to dispute | EU - European Informa... - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...article-183352

enlargement enlargementpolicy_eu enlargementpolicymemberstates slovenia enlargementpolicy_candidates croatia border_dispute westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 22 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Slovenia and Croatia yesterday (18 June) shattered hopes that a long-standing border dispute was coming an end, blaming each other for the deadlock and leaving Brussels to deplore the development.
  • The European Commission said it regretted that Croatia and Slovenia had failed to make progress in talks on the settlement of their border row, underlining that it was a bilateral issue.  The talks had progressed well since January and there remained only a limited number of points to be settled, but the two sides yesterday failed to make progress on those points, says a brief statement issued by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn’s office. Rehn will now report to the current Czech and future Swedish EU Presidencies, it adds. 
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

EUobserver / Romania threatens Croatia in Schengen dispute - 0 views

euobserver.com/31589

enlargementpolicy_eu enlargementpolicymemberstates romania bulgaria croatia westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 04 Jan 11 - Cached
  • Romania is threatening to create problems for Croatia's EU accession bid in a diplomatic counter-attack against delays to its own entry into the EU's border-free Schengen zone. Romanian foreign minister Teodor Baconschi in an interview with the daily newspaper Adevarul on Monday (3 January) attacked Germany and France for linking Romania's Schengen bid to progress on corruption and organised crime.
  • EUobserver understands that this option is not really feasible however, as the monitoring was a jointly agreed commitment of Bulgaria and Romania when they joined the bloc. "It's unwise to give it up if you want something else at the same time," one EU official told this website. For its part, Croatia has already been held hostage by its neighbour Slovenia, which in recent years delayed its EU accession progress over a maritime border dispute. Romania's sabre-rattling seems to be directed primarily at Germany - Croatia's main supporter in the EU - rather than the Balkan state itself. But it could, in theory, delay the process. Croatia is hoping to finish EU accession talks in the coming months. EU governments and the European Parliament then have to approve and ratify its accession treaty, with membership likely to happen in 2013 if everything goes smoothly.
  • Mr Petkov's allegations reflect a dire image painted by EU officials in talks with US diplomats in Sofia, as reported in a US cable dating back to 26 June 2009 and published by WikiLeaks. Under the headline "How to you make them reform when they don't want to?" the US diplomats spoke of EU commission officials' "growing and by now extreme frustration with Sofia's cosmetic fixes to get a 'good report' while failing to undertake real reforms." "The government's defensive arrogance - and lack of political will - is intensifying enlargement fatigue in Brussels," an EU source told the US diplomat. "According to reliable contacts, Brussels Eurocrats have dubbed enlargement fatigue the 'Bulgarian Break,' further tarnishing Bulgaria's bad image within the EU," the cable added.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

10.10.09: Poland ratifies Lisbon Treaty as Czech cloud hangs overhead - 0 views

euobserver.com/28809

lisbon-treaty eu-policy_memberstates poland enlargement enlargementpolicymemberstates westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 10 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Polish President Lech Kaczynski at noon on Saturday (10 October) signed the Lisbon Treaty at a ceremony in Warsaw. But Czech head of state Vaclav Klaus put a dampener on the occasion with attempts to revive World War Two-era tensions from his castle in Prague.
  • Mr Kaczynski warmly endorsed Poland's EU membership. But he said integration should not go too far and indicated that his accord is based on trust that the EU will take in more former Communist states in the future. "Without any complexes, without fears we have opted for further integration with the European Union, because we feel good, we feel confident inside this fellowship," he said. "The union is a collection of sovereign states and will remain so. But co-operation will become ever more close." "The union as an exceptionally successful experiment cannot be closed to others who want to join it. Not just Balkan countries, but also Ukraine, Georgia, in the future, others. The union can't say No to them," he added, in his final words before putting pen to paper
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