European Union

Despite an unexpected 10 percent victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Serbia, the pro-European camp of President Boris Tadic is not able to govern alone and may depend on the Socialist Party of former dictator Slobodan Milosevic to form a government.

With nearly 98% of votes counted, Tadic's "For a European Serbia" alliance gained 38.75% of the votes - which would translate into 102 out of 250 seats - followed by Tomislav Nikolic's Radicals with 29.2% (78 seats), the State Electoral Commission said. The clear vote comes as a surprise as polls just days before the elections showed Tadic's Democratic Party and the nationalists still neck-and-neck, if anything giving the latter a slight edge.

Links European Union Presidency: EU Presidency Statement on General Elections in Serbia (13 May 2008) Council: Statement by High Representative for Foreign and Security Polics Javier Solana (12 May 2008) Commission: Overview EU-Serbia relations

Members of parliament from across the EU, meeting in Brdo (Slovenia) on 7-8 May, have begun developing an embryonic strategy to deal with new provisions contained in the EU's Lisbon Treaty that would significantly increase their powers within the EU. 

Indeed, the Lisbon Treaty, due to enter into force in 2009 once it has been ratified by all member states, would give national MPs a stronger voice in the EU policymaking process by granting them the right to raise objections against European Commission legislative proposals - the so-called "yellow and orange card" procedure.

In this new legislative context, cooperation among national parliaments will be essential. Indeed, a reasoned opinion will have to gather support from at least a third of all EU national parliaments (18 out of the total of 54 chambers in the EU) in order for a proposal to be sent back for review by the Commission (the so-called "yellow card"). To actually strike down a Commission proposal ("orange card"), a simple majority of national parliaments will be required.

Product Description Contributors to this volume address important issues about the terms of representation in politics beyond the state. If the traditional structures of the national state no longer are the ideal or sole "container" of political life, how can we ensure that interests and demands can have access to decision-making? On the one hand, new opportunities may open up for parts of civil society whose previous access to political power was circumscribed. The central focus of the volume is on the extent to which governance, and all it implies for new forms of governing, addresses as well as raises issues about the legitimate basis for democratic rule beyond the boundaries of the state.

Product Details Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Manchester University Press (September 4, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0719075068 ISBN-13: 978-0719075063

Abstract:      The concept of 'civil society' has been rediscovered in contemporary discourses concerning the relationship between democracy and governance. This paper analyses this rediscovery in the more specific context of the European Commission's 2001 White Paper on European Governance. However, processes of transnationalisation, governmentalisation and autonomisation may compromise much of the potential of 'European civil society' as an intermediating sphere of social action. By reinforcing these processes, the White Paper undermines the normative claims made for a civil society premised upon the voluntary nature of its associative forms and its distinctive open, communicative and deliberative rationality.

EUROPEAN CITIZEN ACTION SERVICE (ECAS) - empowering civil society with the European Union. An association about action as much as information, creating balance between public interest and corporate lobbying. Its work centers on 3 "C's": Civil Society Citizens' Rights Citizenship and Governance

Die Vierteljahreszeitschrift integration richtet sich an alle, die sich in Wissenschaft, Bildung, Politik, Administration und in den Medien mit europäischen Fragen beschäftigen. Sie ist ein theoriegeleitetes und politikbezogenes interdisziplinäres Forum zu Grundsatzfragen der europäischen Integration. Aktuelle Probleme der Europapolitik werden aus politischer und akademischer Perspektive diskutiert.

The Irish government has launched its campaign in favour of the EU treaty with the new prime minister, Brian Cowen, calling for a "yes" vote in next month's referendum. "It would be a very backward step to resign from the strategic political positioning we have established in 35 years of (EU) membership," Mr Cowen said on Monday (12 May). "It would have very serious implications.

Ireland is the only EU member state to have a referendum on the new treaty and the government is coming under enormous pressure to secure a "yes" vote, with all 27 countries needed to ratify the document for it to come into force. Analysts suggest that much will depend on voter turnout among the 3-million-strong electorate. A low turn-out could result in a "no" vote, they say, while a higher turnout is set to work more in favour of the "yes" camp.

The Serbian Radical Party of Tomislav Nikolic took 29.1 percent and 77 seats, while outgoing prime minister Vojislav Kostunica and his nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia won 11.3 percent and 30 seats. The Socialists of the late Slobodan Milosevic with 7.9 percent of the votes and 20 seats in the parliament are set to play a decisive role, as parties need to have at least 126 MPs in order to put in place a stable government.

The Balkans country is engulfed in a bitter dispute over today’s election, which will determine whether it moves a step closer to EU membership, writes Tom Lynch.

ronically, perhaps the only consensus between Serbia’s political parties is that they all agree Kosovo should remain part of Serbia.Serbia is classified as a Potential Candidate Country by the EU, meaning that the EU recognises that Serbia will eventually join, once it is ready.On April 29, 2008, the EU signed the Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia. The SAA is the first step on the road to EU membership, and also guarantees certain benefits - in the form of EU funding and trade liberalisation.In an added incentive, 16EUmember states have also offered visa-free travel for Serbian people.The agreement was pushed through, despite some members’ opposition, to counter the growing popularity of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party and New Serbia Party, and the overarching fear that Serbia might turn its back on the EU.The SAA will not come into force until Serbia arrests and hands over Ratko Mladiæ , former chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb army - who is wanted over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre - to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, so it does not represent much of a real breakthrough. This has long been a sticking point in the EU-Serbia negotiations.

Accession of Serbia to the European Union depends on several factors. While both the Serbian government and the European Union agree that Serbia could eventually become a member of the EU, the need for internal reform both within Serbia and the EU means that Serbia will not join EU before 2012, and perhaps not before 2015.

Denmark is not bound by first-pillar legislation on justice and home affairs and EU citizenship and does not take part in EU defence co-operation. Denmark is also not obliged to take part in the single currency and refused to abolish its national currency, the Krone, in a referendum in 2000. The liberal-conservative coalition government is eager to scrap the opt-outs and have the country participating fully in the EU.

Big-bang referendum difficult to win Opinion polls have suggested a big-bang referendum including all four Danish opt-outs would be very difficult to win – but taking the issues one-by-one would increase the chances of a yes. According to a fresh poll by the Greens polling institute, published by business paper Boersen on Friday (9 May), a slim plurality of 43 percent would accept scrapping all four derogations in such a big-bang referendum, 39 percent would vote no and 18 percent are undecided.

Serbian voters will go to the polls on Sunday (11 May) for what is being billed as decisive elections for the country's EU future. The main parties in the running are the pro-Western centrists of president Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS); the nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) currently led by eurosceptic Tomislav Nikolic, and outgoing prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's conservative Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).

While this time the Democrats have excluded forming an alliance with the conservatives, a coalition between the conservatives and the radicals seems increasingly likely. The EU's fears This is just the political set-up the EU least favours. It has made no secret of its wish to see the pro-Western forces win Sunday's vote.

Brussels is constantly promising money and EU accession to the Western Balkans. But which EU member state really wants new EU members, wonders H-J Schlamp in an opinion piece for the SPIEGEL (which I copy pasted below). The EU seems to be increasingly critical of Croatia's progress in accession negotiations, and does not seem to be willing to set a date for the start of negotiations with Macedonia (which has been waiting for more than two years (!!) after having been granted candidate status in December 2005). Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina could maybe start accession negotiations in 2015... and Serbia - well, it could be well on its way into the EU, if it had reacted differently to Kosovo's independence declaration. Read more below (only in German, unfortunately)...

Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has indicated he would like to see a European army established. Speaking at a Social Democrat security policy conference in Berlin on Monday (5 May), Mr Steinmeier said he favoured the setting up of a "European armed force" and that he would like to see moves in this direction speeded up.

The German politicians' comments appear to be in line with the views of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has in the past made several statements on the need for common European defence.

This weblog is a forum for discussion on the political and social processes linked to EU integration in the Western Balkans. We would also like to use this space to create a virtual network of researchers on this topic. You are most welcome to contribute to this weblog with comments, postings, links, or photos. Please use the "add comment" function at the end of each posting!

Just days before crucial parliamentary elections (11 May), the question of Serbia's future accession to the EU has become an issue of existential importance as the country's President Boris Tadic has received a death threat over his pro-EU stance.

A threatening letter was sent to Tadic following his signature of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, considered to be the first step towards membership of the bloc (EurActiv 30/04/08). It accused the president of being a "proven traitor to the Serb nation" and threatens him with a "bullet to the forehead," the Belgrade daily Blic reports. 

Opposition between the country's pro-European politicians and hardline nationalist parties is currently at its highest since the breakaway Kosovar province unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008 - with the backing of several EU countries. A recent poll conducted by the Strategic Marketing agency showed Serbia's nationalist Radical Party slightly ahead of Tadic's pro-European bloc (33.2% to 31.5%), with the nationalist coalition of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica ranked third (13.8%). 

EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson has urged Irish farmers to refrain from linking next month's vote on the Lisbon Treaty to ongoing world trade talks. "I don't think the Doha talks should get mixed up with the Lisbon Treaty or any referendum on it. Rejecting the treaty would not be in Ireland's interests, it wouldn't be in Europe's interests," said Mr Mandelson on Tuesday (6 May).

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has delivered up the threat of a No vote in next month's referendum to both the commissioner and the Irish government if their interests are not defended in the talks.

When the commission is "convinced that the reforms are consolidated, only then we will be in a position to guarantee the next step," he stressed.