European Union

28/02/2010BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj said on Friday (February 26th) that his country will submit its EU membership application by the end of this year. The statement came after a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele in Brussels. Alkalaj said BiH cannot afford any further delays on the road to the EU. "We would like to submit our application for candidate status by the end of this year because this would allow us to continue reforms. We cannot waste any more time," Alkalaj said. Fuele stated that the EU wants BiH to be a stable country with a clear European perspective, but pointed to some obstacles. He urged consensus among BiH politicians and made particular point of necessary amendments to the country's constitution. (Dnevni Avaz, Radio Slobodna Evropa, SRNA - 26/02/10)

Sweden remains committed to EU enlargement, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said, even while reiterating the key role Sweden plays, saying membership in the bloc “is the best way to safeguard our values and national interests in an increasingly complex world.” He noted that “by allowing the doors of the EU to remain open, we make a considerable contribution to peace and democracy on our continent,” citing the Western Balkans, where there has been considering disagreement over whether countries riddled with corruption, economic woes and failure to catch accused war criminals should become part of the EU.

Two years has gone since Kosovo Albanians declared their independence from Serbia. However calling to Kosovo needs country code 381 – which is Serbia – or by GSM 377 44 (via Monaco Telecom) or others via Serbian operators. This because as at this time, Abkhazia, Kosovo, Transnistria, Somaliland, South Ossetia and others are not in the ISO 3166-1 standard due the absence of recognition by the United Nations. Situation is one minor example about Kosovo “statehood”. Besides formalities – like that the province is administrated as international protectorate by foreign powers – the on the ground status is more complicated and even going more far away from drawing board ideals of Washington and Brussels.

A solution to Macedonia's name dispute with Greece should be found in the coming four months, so as to start EU accession negotiations under the Spanish EU presidency, enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said during his visit to Skopje on Friday (19 February). "There is a unique opportunity to find a solution and it should be seized. I am fully committed to supporting the talks, which along with the required political will, should lead to a solution," Mr Fuele told local media after meeting Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

It is still unknown how Greece's current financial and economic troubles will have an impact on the Macedonian name dispute. Athens is currently under tremendous pressure from big eurozone countries such as Germany and France to cut back spending and provide accurate data on its deficit, while facing unprecedented scrutiny by the European Commission. Some diplomats suggest that this offers a window of opportunity which should be seized, while others say that because of the painful economic measures, Athens will be even less inclined to compromise on the name issue, a matter of national pride.

EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton took aim at Serbian nationalist tensions in the western Balkans in a speech on her first trip to the region. Addressing the threat of secession by the ethnic Serb enclave in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, which threatens to undo the country's 1995 peace deal, she said: "Bosnia and Herzegovina can only join the European Union as one country ...Politics of division and flirtations with secessionist rhetoric are as harmful as they are pointless. The EU will never accept the break-up of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

Communicating with EU citizens has long been a primary concern of the European Commission, with the need to boost popular trust in the European project becoming more important following the rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters and more recently rejection of the Lisbon Treaty by the Irish.

Kosovo predicts that it will be an EU member before 2020. But two years after its declaration of independence, its EU integration process is facing problems. Asked by Austrian daily Der Standard in an interview on Tuesday (16 February), whether Kosovo will get into the EU by the end of this decade, its foreign minister, Skender Hyseni, said: "I am optimistic that we will be in before that."

The EU is deeply engaged in Kosovo. Its rule-of-law mission, Eulex, is the bloc's largest in the world, with 2,600 people on the ground. Twenty EU countries take part in the International Steering Group, which helps oversee the Kosovo government. It has pumped in over €5 billion of aid since 1999. Despite the non-recognition issue, EU states have opened tentative talks on visa-free travel. A so-called "tracking" group meets around three times a year to pave the way for a pre-accession treaty, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). One of the most frequently cited problems on Kosovo's path to normality is the well-funded separatist ethnic Serb movement in the north of Kosovo. But despite the EU's investment in Pristina, tensions between Eulex and ethnic Albanians are also on the rise.

After Commission President José Manuel Barroso decided to regroup communication with citizenship and considering the greater institutional overhaul sparked by the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, staffers felt increasingly nervous about the fate of the communication department. In her first internal speech, Reding dissipated doubts and bolstered spirits when she said on Friday that communication will remain a strategic priority for every department of the EU executive. "You are here to stay in order for the Commission to stay in the driver's seat," she reportedly said, adding that the communication directorate-general and the spokespersons' unit will remain the key providers of communication expertise and services to the whole college.

The European Parliament has given a positive overall verdict on last year's efforts by Croatia and Macedonia to qualify for EU membership. In resolutions debated and approved yesterday (10 February), MEPs also took note of the limited progress made by Turkey in meeting EU membership criteria.

Concerning Macedonia, MEPs backed the Greek government's suggestion of a "symbolic and motivational target date of 2014" for the EU accession of Western Balkan countries, in a resolution drafted by Slovenian Zoran Thaler (Socialists & Democrats) and adopted by 548 votes to 45, with 35 abstentions.

European UnionEuropean Parliament: Resolution on the 2009 progress report on Croatia European Parliament: Resolution on the 2009 progress report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia European Parliament: Resolution on Turkey's progress report 2009

MEPs on Wednesday (10 February) urged member states to open accession talks with Macedonia, a call backed by the new enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele. In three separate reports, the European Parliament gave the thumbs up to progress made by Zagreb and Skopje towards EU accession, while Ankara's performance was deemed more modest.

The parliament urged member states to take a decision "at the summit in March 2010" and "expects negotiations to begin in the near future." Mr Fuele said the decision was not only in the interest of the Balkan country, but also of "strategic EU interest," since it would "enhance the EU perspective for the wider region" – a message he would convey to member states and Skopje. Slovenian Socialist MEP Zoran Thaler, the parliament's rapporteur for Macedonia, warned of the negative regional consequences of this stalemate, comparing the Western Balkans to a bicycle: fine as long as it's moving, "but if it stays still, everything falls over

Parliament gives a positive overall assessment of last year's efforts by Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to qualify for EU membership, but also underlines that Turkey has made only limited progress towards meeting the "Copenhagen" EU eligibility criteria, in resolutions approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey must continue reforming to stay on track for EU membership. Key issues, such as the rule of law, freedom of expression, good neighbourly relations, treatment of ethnic minorities and the fight against corruption and organised crime, must still be addressed. The Foreign Affairs Committee adopted three resolutions on the progress made in 2009 by Croatia, Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,  drafted by Hannes Swoboda (S&D, AT), Ria Oomen-Ruijten (EPP, NL) and Zoran Thaler (S&D, SL) respectively.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels yesterday, Moratinos appeared to take the side of his Serbian colleague Vuk Jeremic, who underlined divisions between EU member countries over Kosovo. Spain is among those EU countries not to have recognised the Balkan state (see 'Background'). 

Links European Union European Union Special Representative in Kosovo: EULEX, Kosovo: International Organisations UNMIK: International Civil Office, Kosovo:

The last election in Croatia can bring a refreshing change with new President Ivo Josipovic – a university law professor and a composer of classical music – but he will find a much tougher struggle ahead of him. This struggle not only due economical problems (national debt and unemployment) but also problems related to Croatia’s past. These problems are highlighted when Croatia is on final round to come next EU member state.

Bulgaria is threatening to block Turkey's application to join the European Union unless it pays out billions of euros in compensation for displaced people, in a case dating back to the days of the Ottoman Empire. A Bulgarian cabinet minister without portfolio who runs the country's Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, Bojidar Dimitrov, pressed the claim in remarks to the Bulgarian newspaper, 24 Hours, on Sunday (3 January).

"Turkey is surely able to pay this sum, after all, it's the 16th largest economic power in the world," he said, putting a total of $20 billion (€14 billion) on the settlement. "One of the three conditions of Turkey's full membership of the EU is solving the problem of the real estate of Thracian refugees." The Ottoman Empire in 1913 expelled hundreds of thousands of ethnic Bulgarians from lands lying on the western side of the Bosphorus. It became the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and recognised the rights of the displaced people in a 1925 treaty, but the agreement was never implemented, Bulgaria says. An official in the Bulgarian government press office, Veselin Ninov, told EUobserver on Monday that Mr Dimitrov's statement reflects government policy and that the dispute is being handled by a Bulgarian-Turkish intergovernmental working group.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic stressed that Serbia has the capacity and determination to beat all records for fastest EU accession, noting that it will overtake many countries that are currently ahead of it on the EU road. In an interview for the holiday edition of the Vecernje Novosti daily, Jeremic said that citizens should be satisfied with the fact that Serbia has regained its self-confidence and dignity.

Kosovo was recognised as an independent state by 65 countries in 2009 and its declaration of independence was brought to the International Court in The Hague for consideration. Kosovo considers that it has proved that it is a well-functioning and stable country. The country’s biggest successes on the international scene were becoming a member of the World Bank and of the International Monetary Fund. One of the highest priorities for Pristina’s diplomacy in 2009 was lobbying in the five EU member states that were yet to recognise its independence. The first local elections, since Kosovo’s declaration of independence, were one of the main events in the past year for the new Balkan state. The European Commission noted in its annual report for the progress of the countries candidates and potential candidates for EU accession, that the main challenges ahead of Kosovo remained the democracy and the rule of law, fight against corruption and organised crime, increasing of the administrative capacity, human rights and the protection of minorities, and the integration of the communities.

Spain takes over the rotating presidency on 1 January, but it will be a six-month tenure with a twist, as Madrid is the first to grapple with the complexities of the EU's new legal framework. The Lisbon Treaty entered into force one month ago, ushering in a new layer of governance in the European Union - a permanent president of the European Council - but keeping the old system of rotating presidencies, only with a less prominent status. Print Comment article It will be up to Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to see how this plays out in everyday practice so that he and Herman Van Rompuy, the newly appointed EU president, are neither publicly nor internally stepping on each others' toes.

Serbia’s application to join the EU was finally made before X-mas. Early December EU foreign ministers agreed to unblock Serbia’s interim trade agreement, which is part of Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro have been approved by EU for visa-free travel within the EU Schengen area from January 2010. (More in my article “EU’s visa-freedom dividing Balkans”).

President Boris Tadic formally applied for European Union membership for Serbia on Tuesday, almost two decades after ex-Yugoslavia collapsed in ethnic bloodshed that kept most of its republics out of mainstream Europe. The EU unfroze an interim trade agreement with Belgrade earlier this month and allowed citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro to travel freely to the bloc. The EU had previously blocked Serbia's progress, demanding full cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and the arrest of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, indicted for genocide over the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo. Here is a timeline on Serbia's path towards EU membership.