European Union

Published in: Journal of European Integration, Volume 31, Issue 1 January 2009 , pages 65 - 82

Abstract What routes of influence could the European Union use to bring the Western Balkan states closer to EU standards in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)? The paper argues that although the mechanisms of Europeanization identified for the Central and Eastern European countries are useful for understanding the EU's external influence, they are not sufficient for fully deconstructing the avenues of external leverage. The key to understanding the Europeanization of the Western Balkans is to take policy-related conditionality into account, in addition to membership conditionality. In offering more relaxed travel conditions in exchange for the signing of an EC readmission agreement and reforming domestic JHA, the EU could counterbalance the shortcomings of the pre-accession strategy and establish an additional avenue of external leverage. The paper suggests understanding the EU's use of policy-related conditionality in the Western Balkans as exemplary for the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Kosovo’s Interior Minister Zenun Pajaziti says Serb officers will return to Kosovo’s Police force now that the European Union law-and-order mission, EULEX, has deployed. Ethnic Serb police officers left their posts in protest against Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February of this year. However, Pajaziti believes that they will all return to their jobs, with the assistance of EULEX. “EULEX is a very important mission which will help in this. EULEX is also a good chance to improve the communication between us and the police,” he said.

Serb police have said that they will only report to EULEX officials, avoiding any communication with Kosovar authorities. Read more at: Serb Police Report only to EULEX

Albania’s right-wing coalition is expected to back a law on the cleanliness of high administration figures, which has come under harsh criticism by the opposition and interest groups. The draft-law would dismiss from office judges and prosecutors that worked during Albania’s half-a-century-long period of communist rule, led by former Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha. The Albanian opposition has slammed the law as unconstitutional and claims that the government is aiming to get rid of the prosecutors that are investigating high profile corruption cases.

Experts argue that the drafting of the law is problematic because according to the Albanian constitution, to dismiss a supreme court judge, a simple majority is not enough, but two-thirds of parliamentary votes.

The performance of Bosnia’s state government and parliament is “catastrophic,” claims a local non-governmental organisation, which analyses the work of local governments. The Centre of Civil Initiatives, CCI, on Monday in Sarajevo presented its annual report analysing the work of the state government and parliament against their action plans adopted at the beginning of the year. The report showed that the state administration has on average carried out only 7.9 percent of their action plans for 2008. As an example, in the first nine months of 2008, the state Parliament adopted only 8 out of 101 laws planned for this year.

CCI spokeswoman, Majda Behrem Stojanov, said that if the current leadership remains in power until the next scheduled elections in 2010, it would have devastating affects on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Montenegro on Monday (15 December) presented its official application for EU membership to current EU President Nicolas Sarkozy, hoping to win EU candidate country status some time next year. EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed the country's move, saying: "Today Montenegro has reached a historical milestone marking the country's important engagement to common European values and fundamentals."

The commission says the country is still lagging behind in many fields and EU membership is not expected to occur in the very near future. Among other issues, Podgorica, the capital, needs to reform further the public administration of the country, as well as its judicial system and to make further efforts in the fight against corruption – problematic areas common to all Balkan states.

The two parties that won the most seats in the Romanian Parliament during elections on 30 November yesterday (14 December) agreed upon a German-style "grand coalition" to govern the country until 2012. EurActiv Romania reports.

The agreement saw former adversaries the PDL (Democrat Liberals close to President Traian Basescu) and the PSD (Social Democrats, until now in opposition) sign a coalition agreement called "A Partnership for Romania".  As anticipated (EurActiv 10/12/08), the new prime minister will be PDL politician Teodor Stolojan, an economist and former World Bank expert. 

Legal guarantees promised to Ireland and paving the way for a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the country are to be written into a protocol together with Croatia's accession treaty to the EU in 2010 or 2011, current EU President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday (12 December).

EU leaders in Brussels this week (11-12 December) agreed to a series of concessions to allow Dublin to make possible a second vote on the bloc's Lisbon Treaty some time in the course of next year.

In order to make these promises legally binding, they will be written into a protocol in Croatia's accession treaty - that has to be ratified by all EU countries to enter into force. "To give a legal value to the engagements made to Ireland by the 26 other member states, we have committed that at the time of the next EU enlargement – whether that will be in 2010 or in 2011, when probably Croatia will join us ... we will use that to add a protocol [on Ireland] to Croatia's accession treaty," Mr Sarkozy told journalists after the EU summit.

But the deal struck, which allows the ratification process to resume in Ireland, with a view to ratification by the end of 2009, maintains the package of institutional reforms that will allow the EU to be better able to deal with these long-term political problems. So, what was agreed and what does it all mean?

All governments had agreed that the size of the European Commission should be cut down, as successive enlargements of the European Union turned the Commission from a compact executive into a miniature assembly, and several governments were reported as being reluctant to give up on this reform. This is a major coup for the Irish.

In return, the Irish government has committed itself to ratifying the treaty by the end of the term of the current Commission, paving the way for a second referendum on the treaty by October 2009. As far as the composition of the Parliament is concerned, next year's European elections will (if the treaty has not been ratified) elect 736 members. Following ratification, the twelve EU countries due to gain extra seats in the Parliament will obtain them at that point, while Germany will temporarily keep the three extra seats that it would have lost in the event of Lisbon being ratified before the elections. In the absence of a ratified treaty, the six month rotating presidency of the European Council will continue. The Czech presidency will take place, while the following presidency in the second half of 2009 will be responsible for making the arrangements of the new permanent presidency and the proposed External Action Service and Foreign Affairs Council.

After a debate clouded by pessimism over where Europe's economy is heading and which other bitter surprises the global financial turmoil might still place in European laps, EU leaders meeting in Brussels have broadly agreed on the proposed economy stimulus package for the 27-strong bloc.

But both Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, confirmed that there was broad agreement around the negotiating table about both the proposed level of pump-priming - 1.5 percent of the EU's GDP - and most of the other proposals from the EU executive on how to invest extra monies.

On the first day of the European Council (11 December), EU leaders agreed on a package of Irish demands which pave the way for a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland, which will most probably be held in October 2009.

Under the compromise text, seen by EurActiv, all EU countries are expected to keep their commissioner. Ireland will receive legal guarantees on taxation policy, social and ethical issues and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP), with regard to Ireland's traditional policy of neutrality among other provisions. 

Transitional accommodations  Therefore, transitional measures have been adopted with respect to the Presidency of the European Council, as well as of the European Parliament. The member state holding the EU presidency when the Lisbon Treaty enters into force (Sweden holds the presidency until the end of 2009) will continue to chair all meetings in the same manner as today's presidencies.  But the next EU presidency holder (Spain from January 2010) will make changes in conformity with the Lisbon Treaty, making room for a permanent President of the European Council and a High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy.  Also, European Parliament will be enlarged from 736 to 754 members in the course of 2010, if indeed the Irish say 'yes' to the reform treaty. The elections will take place under the Treaty of Nice, but soon the Parliament is expected to accommodate the provisions of Lisbon.  Answering questions from the press, Poettering acknowledged that the situation was not ideal, and the legitimacy of MEPs falling between the Nice and Lisbon Treaties should be preserved, as their status should not be different. He admitted that legal experts would struggle with the issue. 

BRUSSELS | It’s here. Fifty years after the launch of the European project, the first pan-European political party has been born and christened Libertas by its father, Declan Ganley. The Irish businessman started Libertas as a lobby group in 2006. Now he has registered the name as a European political party and applied for European Union funding. He recently opened an office in Brussels and is hiring staff to help recruit Libertas lists in several countries for the European Parliament elections next June. His ambition is to secure Libertas IE, Libertas CZ, Libertas UK, Libertas PL and so on.

Since nearly all EU states have already voted yes to the Lisbon Treaty, that call translates as: “Vote for politicians who are against the treaty but who are at the same time ‘pro-European.’” Ganley repeatedly underlined this point in his Brussels appearance: “This is a pro-European platform and I don’t want that message to be diluted. I’m not a euroskeptic.”

Declan Ganley, the Irish businessman behind the Libertas campaign group, of the key organisations that defeated the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland's referendum on the text in June, has launched Libertas as the first truly pan-European political party. The new Libertas Party, which aims to run candidates in all 27 European Union states for the European Parliament elections in June 2009, says it wants to democratise the European institutions, with an elected commission and a president.

"This is a pro-European organisation. There is no future for Euroscepticism. The European Union is necessary," he added. "It is the status quo that if left as it is, will allow euro scepticism to grow." The new party will not partner with other political parties, but rather run all its candidates under the Libertas banner in each of the EU states. Beyond its position on democracy in Europe, Libertas' social and economic positions will be centrist, in order to attract people from across the political spectrum, although Mr Ganley was "not sure about communists."

Almost two years after adopting ambitious green goals, a year after signing the new Lisbon Treaty and some sixteen months after the first signs of the financial crisis, EU leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday (11 December) to write a new chapter in the three long-running dossiers.

But it will be his Irish colleague, Prime Minister Brian Cowen to open the show by presenting Dublin's analysis on why the Irish voters rejected the EU's reform treaty in the June referendum and what can be done to rescue its ratification.

Moreover, Dublin could see a pledge to retain the country's commissioner if all other EU leaders follow the French line – all in a bid to enable the Irish government to hold the second referendum by 31 October, according to the draft document. It would mean that one of the key elements of the EU's institutional reform would be changed despite previous pressure on member states not to touch the package when the bloc was turning the former European Constitution into the Lisbon Treaty, following the negative referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Macedonia has made good progress in meeting the criteria for visa liberalisation but it is too early to say when it will happen. The EU mission will soon arrive to Skopje to assess what was done after which EC will recommend on removing the Schengen visa barrier.

The EC set eight benchmarks in March and from their fulfilment it will depend whether accession negotiations will be opened, however the EU Council will pass the final decision on this, Rehn said. He reiterated at the press conference that Macedonia has made progress in several areas - judiciary, police, consolidation of multi-ethnic democracy, Ohrid Agreement implementation and Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and key test will be forthcoming municipal and presidential elections. 

Having survived a party leadership contest at the weekend (EurActiv 08/12/08), Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek in theory gained a stronger mandate to ratify the treaty in the Czech parliament and could have put it to vote had he so wished.  However, at yesterday's extraordinary meeting of parliament initiated by the Czech opposition, Topolanek instead led his ODS (Civic Democrat) party to postpone the debate on the treaty, which will now take place on 3 February. This, then, is the earliest possible date for the Czechs to vote on the treaty. Even then, the vote is not guaranteed to take place. 

In reality, it is believed the Czech PM is buying time in order to unify the warring factions of his own party, following the dramatic resignation from the ODS of anti-Lisbon Czech President and party chairman Vaclav Klaus on Saturday. As a result of Klaus' defection and Topolanek's victory over Klaus' ally, Prague Mayor Pavel Bem, it is believed many ODS deputies currently feel considerable antipathy toward the Czech PM and might have used a vote on Lisbon to punish their party leader. 

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso yesterday signalled his readiness to maintain his current team as a caretaker executive until 2010, in an effort to keep all countries' commissioners onboard and satisfy one of Ireland's key demands on the Lisbon Treaty.

Barroso's comments came ahead of a two-day European summit this week, at which EU leaders will hear Ireland's proposals to solve the institutional crisis triggered by its rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in a June referendum.

Even if Macedonia meets all the necessary reform requirements, Skopje cannot progress in its EU bid unless the 'name row' with Greece is solved, France has warned.

Despite acknowledging the fact that the country has met many criteria to move forward, and the Enlargement’s Commissioner’s evaluation that Macedonia has “plenty of potential to advance in EU integration,” Brussels decision-makers warn again that this could be overshadowed by the political unwillingness of EU member states.

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, reiterated that the Commission had presented benchmarks this spring as a criteria that has to be fulfilled before Macedonia starts accession talks with the bloc.“But in meantime, it is true that the EU Council functions on the basis of unanimity and this is also the essential factor concerning the decision on opening accession talks with FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia),” Rehn said.

An EU study on Kosovo's bid to join the bloc is being hampered by the reluctance from member states that have not yet recognised Kosovo's independence, Balkan Insight has learnt.

The possibility of starting a 'feasibility study' for Kosovo next year was discussed at the European Union Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday.However it emerged after the meeting that the word 'feasibility' has been omitted from the study the bloc will conduct for Kosovo next year, throwing into doubt whether Kosovo can take the first steps towards EU membership.

Sources told Balkan Insight that the removal of the word 'feasibility' came at the insistence of those EU countries that have not recognised Kosovo, who argue that 'feasibility study' refers to states. Those countries argue that every definition that refers to Kosovo's ‘statehood’ is not acceptable, sources said.Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus, are reluctant to recognise Kosovo which unilaterally declared independence on February 17 this year.The most outspoken country from this group is Spain which allegedly always objects to any EU or NATO initiative on Kosovo, which refers to it as a state.

Since the morning of December 9, we are to be present in the (Serb-dominated) north, in the south, and all over Kosovo. We are to have more than 100 people in the north, including policemen, the prosecutors, the judges, customs officers and the customs department,” declared Kermabon. The announcement from EULEX says that around 1,400 people international staff and some hundreds of local personnel from EULEX will have at its disposal the necessary number of workers for its initial operation.

Kermabon declared that starting from December 9, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, is to end its mission, and EULEX is to be installed. “UNMIK switched off and EULEX switched on,” he told Balkan Insight.

A meeting between Czech President Vaclav Klaus and a top-level delegation of MEPs descended into verbal fisticuffs on Friday (5 December) after the co-leader of the Greens in the parliament attacked Mr Klaus for his opposition to the Lisbon treaty and his relations with Irish No campaigner Declan Ganley.

"I don't care about your opinions on [the Lisbon treaty]. I want to know what you will do if both the Czech Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approve it," Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit asked, according to a transcript of the meeting - designed to debate the upcoming Czech EU presidency - published by Mr Klaus.

Mr Klaus responded by saying that nobody had talked to him in such a way in the six years since he was elected president, calling the conversation "unprecedented." "You are not on the Paris barricades here," he said, referring to the Green leader's past life as a 1968 Paris protester. "I thought that these practices had ended for us 19 years ago. I see I was wrong. I would not dare to ask how the Greens' activities are funded," Mr Klaus said. Others in the parliamentary delegation then entered the fray, with Irish MEP Brian Crowley telling Mr Klaus he was offending Ireland.