European Union

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.

A new European Parliament group that is pro-free market and anti-EU integration unveiled its membership list on Monday (22 June), bringing together 55 MEPs from eight EU states. Calling itself the "European Conservatives and Reformists Group," the new faction lists "free enterprise," the "sovereign integrity of the nation state" and "probity in the EU institutions" among its principles.

The British Conservative party dominates membership with 26 MEPs, followed by Poland's Law and Justice with 15 deputies and the Czech Republic's ODS party with nine members. The other five MEPs come from the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Hungary and Latvia.

The group's three main parties are united in their opposition to the Lisbon treaty, which augurs further EU integration. But there is plenty of potential for internal squabbles. The Polish and Latvian parties have protectionist wings that do not welcome Tory and ODS-style free trade. The British Conservatives also have a prominent pro-green and civil liberties agenda. Meanwhile, ODS founder Vaclav Klaus denies that human action impacts climate change. And Mr Kaczynski has Roman Catholic views on gay rights. "I'd be surprised if they survive two years," one EU parliament official said. "A lot depends on the British Conservatives and how embarassed they might be by the antics of the eastern European members."

Bosnian leaders should improve the political climate in their country and bring a halt to their inflammatory rhetoric or they risk slowing down Bosnia's European Union integration, both the EU and NATO said in a new warning to Sarajevo on Monday (22 June).

"The Council [EU member states] expressed concern at the unconstructive political atmosphere and the recent actions challenging the Dayton Peace Agreement. The Council called upon all the political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to refrain from nationalist rhetoric, and genuinely focus on bringing forward the necessary reform agenda in the general interest of the country and its citizens," EU foreign ministers gathered in Luxembourg said on 15 June. The ministers also re-affirmed the EU's commitment to a stronger role in Bosnia and said the transition from the Office of the High Representative to a re-inforced EU presence "could be within reach in the months ahead."

With just over a week to go before Sweden takes over the helm of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, the country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, has made it clear he does not intend to waste time attempting to unblock the many bilateral disputes that currently pepper the EU's diplomatic landscape.

One area where he appears to be more optimistic for a quick solution is the future status of Iceland which – depending on an upcoming parliamentary debate – may submit an application in the coming months to join the EU.

Sweden's European affairs minister and former MEP, Cecilia Malmstrom, speaking alongside her colleague, said she is under no illusion the next six months are going to be easy and that the presidency's main priorities will be to deal with negotiations in the lead up to the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December and the economic crisis.

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. 

Czech President Vaclav Klaus has said the Czech parliament should ratify any fresh legal clauses attached to the Lisbon treaty to help Ireland clinch a Yes vote in its second referendum. EU leaders meeting in Brussels on 18-19 June are set to agree on legal guarantees for Ireland in the areas of taxation, neutrality and social affairs.

The extra bells and whistles are designed to help Ireland hold a second referendum on the text in autumn, after an initial No vote last summer. But it is not yet clear how the guarantees will be enshrined in EU law. The eurosceptic Czech president – a staunch opponent of the treaty – has said that the guarantees would constitute a mini-treaty in themselves. Under Czech law, any fresh international treaty must be ratified by parliament and signed by the president. "Any conclusion in another form would contradict Article 49 of the [Czech] constitution and I could not accept such a proceeding," Mr Klaus wrote to Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer in a letter released on Wednesday (17 June). Mr Fischer rejected the request, saying a government agreement would be enough. "[The guarantees] are not an international treaty of a political nature ...but an international treaty of a governmental type which does not require the powers of the head of state to be concluded," he wrote on the government website.

From membership conditionality to policy conditionality: EU external governance in South Eastern Europe Author: Florian Trauner (Show Biography) DOI: 10.1080/13501760902983564 Publication Frequency: 8 issues per year Published in: Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 16, Issue 5 August 2009 , pages 774 - 790 Subjects: European Studies; Public Policy; Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English) Article Requests: Order Reprints : Request Permissions In order to give pricing details we need to know your country. Please register and/or sign in to identify your country. Sign In Online Sample View Article: View Article (PDF) View Article (HTML) Abstract In view of the uncertainty about the final outcome of the current enlargement process, how effective is the EU's acquis conditionality in South Eastern Europe? By elaborating on the example of justice and home affairs, the article argues that the EU's external leverage has remained strong, as the EU has developed additional ways to render its conditionality approach credible. Although the hurdles for entering the EU have been raised, Croatia's compliance efforts can be considered to be similar to the logic observed in the eastern enlargement. The key to understanding the compliance of Macedonia, whose membership prospect is less certain or even questionable, is to take into account policy conditionality in addition to membership conditionality. The EU managed to compensate for less credible membership rewards by substantially increasing the value of the policy reward of visa-free travel. This strategy was effective but has created tensions with regard to the EU's broader objectives in the region. Keywords: Conditionality; enlargement; external governance; justice and home affairs; South Eastern Europe

Over the past year, five countries in the region have carried out fundamental reforms that will help to protect them and the EU against organised crime and irregular migration. They have introduced biometric passports, modernised their border crossing points, built reception centres for asylum seekers, established closer cooperation with Europol, Eurojust, Frontex and Interpol, and strengthened the fight against corruption and organised crime.

Most of these countries have worked with remarkable speed and determination. They have had a reason to meet close to 50 conditions set out in "visa roadmaps" issued by the European Commission last year. The ultimate reward, attractive to both citizens and leaders of these countries, is visa-free travel to the Schengen area. The commission assessments last month noted that Macedonia has met the roadmap criteria; Montenegro and Serbia have met the majority of the conditions; and Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, meanwhile, will need to do more. Now the ball is in the EU's court. People across the region ask: will the EU really reward the progress made and lift the visa requirements?

Slovenia is expected to unblock Croatia's EU accession talks at a ministerial meeting today (15 June). The two countries have clashed for several months over disputed territories on the Adriatic coast.

Background: During the French EU Presidency, Slovenia blocked the opening of nine out of ten negotiating chapters with Zagreb due to an unresolved border dispute (EurActiv 18/12/08).  The Czech Presidency has so far failed to make any progress in the negotiations. Indeed, the EU recently postponed an accession conference after the two countries had failed to show any sign of conciliation (EurActiv 24/04/09).  Diplomats have serious doubts about the viability of Croatia's objective of wrapping up accession talks by the end of the year (so as to be ready to join the bloc in 2010) if the bilateral dispute is not resolved soon (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'EU-Croatia' relations).  The border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia concerns small pockets of land along the Adriatic coast, which could prove important if accompanied by exclusive access rights to deep-sea zones. 

However, this may not be the end of the region's problems, as similar obstacles are expected to emerge in the Western Balkan accession process as a whole, diplomats told EurActiv.  EU diplomats said the lack of a clearly defined border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina could soon create problems "one hundred times worse" than the current dispute between Ljubljana and Zagreb, in which the European Commission has invested a huge mediation effort. 

Negotiations on Ireland's guarantees on the EU Lisbon Treaty are going down to the wire with still no text on the table exactly a week before EU leaders are supposed to sign up to them. EU ambassadors were meant to gather Thursday (11 June) to have a special meeting on the matter but agreeing wording that does not make any other member state jittery but keeps Ireland's electorate happy is proving more difficult than first thought.

Ireland is looking for special guarantees on ethical issues, tax sovereignty and its neutral status. It wants them signed off by EU leaders at their summit next week and a commitment made to make them binding as quickly as possible. The idea was to tack them on to the next available treaty - possibly Croatia's accession treaty - so that they could be ratified by national parliaments across the bloc. However, member states fear this could open the door to a further delay in the getting the text ratified, particularly if anything in the text catches the idea of eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said his party's victory in Sunday's European elections showed that French people wanted the EU to change and has said he would come up with initiatives in that respect "in the days to come." In a communique published Monday (8 June) on the French president's website, Mr Sarkozy said that his centre-right UMP party's victory showed French people's "recognition for the work accomplished during the French presidency of the European Union [in the second half of last year] and their support for the efforts undertaken by the government to bring to an end an unprecedented global crisis".

Kurzbeschreibung The European project has come a long way in establishing peace, creating a common market, and expanding its borders. At the same time, diminishing popular legitimacy has spurred talk about a European Union in crisis. How far has the EU really come in fulfilling its grand visions? Is the project barely half-way? Or could we say with some confidence that European integration is solidified and will continue to get stronger? This book brings together contributors from economics, political science and law to offer different perspectives on this larger issue. The questions asked include: how far has the European Union come in its creation of a Common Foreign and Security Policy; what will happen to the state monopolies; is there a common strategy at the European level for integrating immigrants; and, to what extent do national political parties cooperate with the Europarties. By investigating these and similar issues the book contributes to an assessment of how successful European integration has been to date.

Ireland is busy working on legal wording to make the Lisbon Treaty more palatable to Irish voters, but its EU partners have raised concerns about the scope of the texts and some impatience at the pace of the work. Last week, officials from Dublin met representatives from the 26 other member states to shed some light on what kind of wording Ireland is looking for in order to ensure the greatest chance that its citizens will vote "Yes" the second referendum on the treaty, scheduled for autumn.

But the reason for the wariness among other capitals is that these texts will take the form of legally-binding protocols, which will be attached to the first legal vehicle available to get them ratified. At the moment, the talk is of Croatia's accession treaty, which will have to pass through all 27 parliaments of the EU. "We want to make sure it is very specific to Ireland, so we do not get asked why we haven't got guarantees on certain issues," said one diplomat.

Series edited by Wolfgang Petritsch and Christophe Solioz At the Nomos publishing house “Southeast European Integration Perspectives” (SEIP) publishes relevant works on the political issues confronting Southeast Europe written by scholars, policy analysts, politicians, practitioners and activists, including both internationally recognized authors and emerging regional voices. SEIP both analyses and promotes ongoing processes of transition and transformation, exploring the linkages between an emergent regionalism in Southeast Europe and wider European integration. SEIP combines cutting-edge policy research, interdisciplinary approaches and innovative and provocative thinking which will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including policy analysts, scholars, policy makers, diplomats, and journalists.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has cancelled a visit to Sweden scheduled for next Tuesday (2 June) in order to avoid a clash on the question of Turkey's EU membership just days before the European elections and a month before Stockholm takes over the EU's rotating presidency.

But the French president, who is an outspoken opponent of Turkey's entry to the European Union, did not want to highlight the strong divergence of views on this topic with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Le Monde reported on Thursday (28 May). Sweden favours further EU enlargement, including to Turkey. On Monday this week, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt told Le Figaro newspaper that the EU had "a strategic interest" in Turkey's EU integration and warned against "closing the door" to Ankara.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is yet to reach internal political consensus on its EU path, the head of the European Commission's delegation to the country, Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas, told EurActiv in an interview.

Looking at other Western Balkan countries, could we say that the others are advancing, albeit at different speeds, while there is little or no movement from Bosnia?  I wouldn't say there is no movement forward, but it is very slow, and what is still missing is a consensus among all political forces to keep the political integration away from political infighting. This is what candidate countries in the recent past, including Bulgaria and Romania, have done. There had been an agreement between all political forces to have their differences, but to agree on European integration. This has not happened yet in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Recently, high-ranking Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko was appointed as high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wasn't this a hint that the international presence will still be needed in the years to come?  Mr. Inzko is the high representative of the international community, but at the same time, he is the EU special representative. He enjoys the full support of the members of the Peace Implementation Council. We had a joint visit of US Vice-President Joe Biden and EU High representative Javier Solana, which was also a very strong indication that we are on the same line and our common aim is to give full ownership to the country, but once the conditions are met. We cannot take the risk of doing it in a premature way. 

Yet another round of talks on the longstanding border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia failed on Wednesday (27 May) increasing the pressure on Zagreb's EU membership timetable. It was the first meeting between EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn and the foreign ministers of Slovenia and Croatia since the two countries presented their responses to the latest Brussels proposal aimed at solving the bilateral quarrel.

The 18-year-old border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia reached a turning point in December when Slovenia blocked Croatia's EU accession talks over the issue. The blockage prompted Mr Rehn to intervene and suggest a mediation proposal to help break the deadlock. In the latest version of his proposal, the commissioner suggested the countries should solve their dispute via a five-member international arbitration tribunal that would operate in line with international law – a point Croatia has been strongly pushing for.

The increase in power of the European Parliament, which will grow further if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified by all 27 member states, has failed to increase the House's political legitimacy and runs the risk of compromising its unique position as the EU's 'democratic pillar', according to a new report.

The report, published by CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies) research fellows Julia De Clerck-Sachsse and Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, argues that the Parliament's crucial importance as a forum for public debate is on the wane. 

On the positive side, the authors note, enlargement has not destabilised the Parliament's output, nor has it affected the strength of left-right political alignments, which remain cohesive.  In fact, the Parliament's sixth legislature (2004-2009) has boosted the institution's assertiveness, particularly under the co-decision  procedure, where Parliament and the European Council share decision-making powers.  The high cost of efficiency  However, this new assertiveness has come at a price. In its efforts to streamline decision-making and maintain efficiency, the enlarged EU assembly has moved more decisions to committees and cut down the amount of time for debate between MEPs in the plenary chamber.  In particular, the massive increase in first-reading agreements (when a legislative act is passed after only one reading in the chamber) gives the impression that "the bulk of political debate takes place behind closed doors, rather than publicly". In other words, if Parliament "adopts a compromise that is pre-negotiated by the responsible committee, there is little chance of a politicised and controversial debate," which is "crucial to capturing public attention," say the experts. Worse still, it runs the risk of Parliament being perceived as "merely rubber-stamping the Council's decisions".