29 January 2007

Member of the Donors Working Group (DWG), that has been established by those parties considering making a financial contribution to the functioning of the future Regional Co-operation Council Secretariat, met in Brussels on 23 January 2007. Under the chairmanship of the Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Erhard Busek, the group assessed the willingness of several countries and the European Commission to the financing of the successor organisation to the Stability Pact.

While all countries/territories of South Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as UNMIK/Kosovo) will automatically be members of the Regional Co-operation Council, the membership of other countries and international organisations still need to be defined, both legally and financially.

The SEECP Chairmanship-in-Office (Croatia) will in the following weeks work towards presenting answers to questions relating to the relations between the SEECP and the Regional Co-operation Council (also via the Institutional Working Group/IWG) while the Stability Pact will continue to work towards defining the role of the donor community in the RCC.

The next meeting of the DWG will take place on 26 February in Brussels.

• Background information [Link]