European Union

It would be "possible" for Serbia to win the status of an EU candidate country next year, provided that it fulfills the necessary conditions, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday (3 September). "If everything goes according to plan and if all the conditions are met, it would be possible [for Serbia] to have candidate country status in 2009," Mr Barroso told reporters in Brussels at a briefing together with Serbian President Boris Tadic.

EU enlargement, particularly to the Western Balkan countries, is set to feature high on the agenda of the bloc's two presidencies in 2009, with Croatia seen as likely to conclude its EU membership talks next year, said the Czech Republic and Sweden - the next two member states to hold the EU's six-month rotating chairmanship after France.

During the presentation of their common programme, the current presidential trio - France, the Czech Republic and Sweden - also stressed their general support for the whole Balkan region and its "path towards EU integration." "The whole region will be a priority during our consecutive presidencies," Ms Malmstrom pointed out.

EU leaders on Monday (1 September) agreed to postpone talks on a new EU-Russia partnership until Russian troops withdraw from Georgia following the insistence of a bloc of member states.

The talks on a new treaty defining the EU relations with Russia were scheduled to take place later this month, but pressed by the demand of several member states, it was decided this would be tied to Russian withdrawal from Georgia. The postponement modifies a previously circulated draft version of the summit's conclusion that took a softer stance on the issue of talks.

Poland – one of the countries pushing for the suspension – hailed the final declaration as a victory and insisted its position was not isolated. "We were not alone, we were acting within a group," including also the Czech Republic, the Baltic States - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, the UK and Sweden, Polish President Lech Kaczynski told journalists.

Germany's close relations with Russia are the main obstacle to signing a major EU-Ukraine treaty at the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit in France, Ukraine diplomats say, warning that failure to seal the deal will signal to Moscow that it can veto EU policy on post-Soviet states.

"There are maybe two or three countries who are strong opposers, strong sceptics," Ukrainian deputy foreign minister Konstantin Yeliseyev said in Brussels on Thursday (28 August), commenting on EU reluctance to state clearly that "the future of Ukraine lies in the European Union" in the preamble to the new treaty

As the EU prepares to assume responsibility for policing Kosovo from the UN, French and British diplomats have warned Serbia that its strong opposition to the EU mission and its decision to seize the UN International Court of Justice over the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence could complicate the country's EU membership bid.

In Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know , Tim Judah provides a straight-forward guide to the complicated place that is Kosovo. Judah, who has spent years covering the region, offers succinct, penetrating answers to a wide range of questions: Why is Kosovo important? Who are the Albanians? Who are the Serbs? Why is Kosovo so important to Serbs? What role does Kosovo play in the region and in the world? Judah reveals how things stand now and presents the history and geopolitical dynamics that have led to it. The most important of these is the question of the right to self-determination, invoked by the Kosovo Albanians, as opposed to right of territorial integrity invoked by the Serbs.

EU foreign ministers on Wednesday (13 August) agreed to send peacekeepers to help supervise the fragile Russia-Georgia ceasefire, putting off discussions on potential diplomatic sanctions against Russia until next month. "The European Union must be prepared to commit itself, including on the ground," the EU joint statement said, asking EU top diplomat Javier Solana to draft more detailed proposals for the ministers' next meeting on 5 September.

"The European Union will want to consider how it proceeds with the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement," UK foreign minister, David Miliband, said. "The sight of Russian tanks in Gori, Russian tanks in Senaki, a Russian blockade of Poti, the Georgian port are a chilling reminder of times that I think we had hoped had gone by." The Polish and Lithuanian ministers echoed the British position. "Of course some consequences must appear of the aggression," Lithuanian foreign minister, Petras Vaitiekunas, said. "There was clearly disproportionate force used by the Russians," Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski added.

The French EU presidency is expected to endorse the Russia-Georgia ceasefire, offer humanitarian aid and urge EU unity in a statement after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday (13 August), with Paris keen to avoid controversy on who to blame for the crisis. Preparatory discussions by EU diplomats on Tuesday saw a group of former communist states speak in "sharp language" about Russia, but the tone was "less radical than they used for their domestic press," one diplomat who attended the debates told EUobserver.

It notes that the 27-nation bloc continues to achieve results and "integrate" using intergovernmental bodies such as the European Defence Agency and through new laws such as those on liberalising the energy market in Europe or the Emissions Trading Scheme. But the paper suggests that the EU would be "much better off" with the Lisbon Treaty - already ratified by 23 member states - as it would clear up the "dreadful arrangements" for managing EU foreign policy, currently a mishmash of personalities and responsibilities.

The international community has pledged to invest €1.2 billion toward the rebuilding of Kosovo, with the European Commission alone putting aside €508 million to fill in the gaps in Pristina's financial needs from 2009 to 2013.

Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia in February of this year, is one of Europe's most under-developed economies and is highly dependent on foreign subsidies. From 1999 to 2007, when under the direct administration of the United Nations, Pristina benefitted from over €3.5 billion in reconstruction assistance. However, the official unemployment rate remains a worrying 43 percent, with youth unemployment estimated even higher, at around 60 percent. Kosovo's economy grew by 4.4 percent in 2007, with an inflation rate of 13.6 percent as of April, 2008. The largest chunk of money for Kosovo is to come from the European Commission, followed by an American contribution of some $400 million. Beyond the EU's own funds, member state Germany has pledged €100 million, and the UK has confirmed an aid package worth £23 million.

How effective and relevant is European Union political conditionality for the promotion of democracy in third countries? This article reports the results of a panel study of 36 countries of the East European and Mediterranean neighbourhood of the EU for the years 1988—2004. The analysis shows robust and strong effects of EU political conditionality on democracy in the neighbouring countries if the EU offers a membership perspective in return for political reform. Absent the offer of membership, however, EU incentives such as partnership and cooperation do not reliably promote democratic change. The analysis controls for economic development and transnational exchanges as two alternative potential causes of democratization. Although economic and geographical factors have an impact on democratization in the European neighbourhood as well, EU political conditionality remains a significant influence

This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement support for a given candidate country: its economic performance, its state of democracy and its perceived cultural `match' with the EU. Employing an experimental design, we probe the media-induced effects of these factors on EU enlargement attitudes.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned Europe against falling into institutional paralysis in the wake of Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon treaty and said he hopes to propose a solution to the situation before the end of this year. In a passionate speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday (10 July), Mr Sarkozy said that nothing was worse for him than "immobility" and stressed the EU should not let itself be paralysed because of yet another "institutional psycho-drama."

Paris' "absolute priority" in the next six months will be tackling climate change, notably by pushing for the adoption of legislative proposals on how to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2020 – a goal agreed by EU leaders last year. Harmonising the 27 member states' immigration policies and strengthening the bloc's defence capacity are the other main policy areas outlined by the president.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic outlined the new Serbian government's somewhat conflicting priorities of quick accession to the EU and keeping Kosovo part of Serbia in his first speech in Parliament on 7 July. But Kosovo is already recognised as an independent country by a majority of EU states.

The Netherlands on Tuesday (8 July) became the 21st country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, and the third to do so following the failed Irish referendum on 12 June.

Without surprises, a large majority of the Senate (60 to 15) voted in favour of the treaty, which replaced the EU Constitution rejected by Dutch voters in a referendum held in 2005. 

In the aftermath of the Irish 'no' to the Lisbon Treaty, European institutions are yet again confronted with their failure to communicate the benefits of Europe with citizens, Commission Vice-President Margot Wallström and Parliament Vice President Alejo Vidal-Quadras told EurActiv on two separate occasions.

The Commission Vice President also stressed the role of new technologies. “In France, people suddenly realised the importance of the internet during the [French 2005] referendum. I'll keep talking about using the internet more, but traditional leaders are used to traditional channels."