In view of the upcoming Regional Conference in Bucharest 25/26 October, Special Co-ordinator Bodo Hombach has visited several countries in South East Europe as well as a series of donor countries. He visits Belgrade on 18 of October 2001. This handout outlines the co-operation of FRY within the Pact.

What is the Stability Pact?

The Pact is a political initiative to encourage and strengthen co-operation between the countries of South Eastern Europe as well as to streamline existing efforts for assisting South Eastern Europe’s political, economic and security integration in Europe. The Pact does not implement the projects, which were placed under its auspices during the First regional Funding Conference of March 2000. It is an instrument to co-ordinate and possibly accelerate the projects of all its partners, such as the European Commission, NATO and OSCE, the International Financial Institutions, the member states of the European Union, other Stability Pact partners such as the United States, Russia, Hungary, Canada, Norway and Switzerland as well as all the countries of south eastern Europe. After the democratic changes, FRY joined the Stability Pact as a full member on 26 October 2000, while Montenegro and Kosovo were already participating before.

The Stability Pact has three Working Tables. Working Table I is dealing with Democratisation & Human Rights, Working Table II with Economic Reconstruction, Development and Co-operation, Working Table III with Security (one Sub-table Security and Defence, one Sub-table Justice and Home Affairs). The 3 Tables are co-ordinating 244 projects under the Quick Start Programme (82% of projects have been started between March 2000 and March 2001) with an overall financial engagement of € 2.4 bn for the region as a whole.

Stability Pact activities in FRY

A first donors co-ordination meeting for FRY/Serbia’s immediate needs for winter assistance was held in Brussels in December 2000 under the auspices of the World Bank and the European Commission and raised up to € 509 million.

As Serbia was not included in the first Regional Funding Conference (30 March 2000), a World Bank / EU Commission led special Funding Conference for FRY was held in Brussels on 29 June 2001. The pledges totalled € 1.25 mn.

On the previous day, June 28, the highest steering body of the Stability Pact - the Regional Table - held its annual meeting, also in Brussels. FRY participated for first the time as full member.

A Regional Conference is held on 25/26 October 2001 in Bucharest. The aim of the Conference is to demonstrate the continued political and financial support of the International Community to the reform process in South Eastern Europe as well as to promote a further intensification of regional co-operation between the countries in SEE. Rather than being a traditional donors’ conference, the event will offer the opportunity for international institutions and other Stability Pact members to outline their plans to work with the region. FRY will participate and can expect its fair share of commitments under all 3 Stability Pact Working Tables, including infrastructure and private sector development.

Even before the democratic changes took place in Belgrade, the Stability Pact engaged in supporting the democratic opposition and independent media in Serbia. In the so-called Szeged Process, the Pact supported townships throughout Serbia, which were governed by the then opposition of democratic forces.

The Stability Pact has, under its Table I (Democratisation & Human Rights), taken a co-ordinated approach to a regional refugee return program. A working group of media professionals was established in view of reforming the Serbian media in line with the Pact’s Charter on Media Freedom.

On refugee matters, in recent months a regional stocktaking of outstanding issues amongst the three main countries concerned, the donors and the international organisations has taken place. This comprehensive approach has resulted in an Agenda for Regional Action for Refugees and Displaced Persons, which comprises a series of bilateral initiatives between FRY, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The measures deal with questions of property, housing, pensions, social welfare and the necessary assistance to returnees and persons, who decide to keep their present residency. This package was sealed on 27 June 2001 in Brussels (on the eve of the Stability Pact Regional Table) and is being implemented. So far, all Governments concerned are finalising Action Plans. For the last nine months an unprecedented 60,000 refugees/internally displaced persons have returned within the region. Finding the necessary financial support from the donors is the biggest challenge right now, as refugees will not stay at their places of return if no sufficient aid is available.

The Gender Task Force (GTF) initiated training and public information activities with the objective of increasing women’s participation in politics. The GTF signed an agreement with the leaders of the joint opposition (DOS) prior to the national 2000 elections in order to increase the percentage of women candidates. The number of women representatives in the Serbian parliament increased from 5% to 12%. Additionally, 52 local political networks now provide the basis for future gender equality work in the country.

Within the Human Rights and National Minorities Task Force, FRY is part of numerous regional projects such as the campaign "Link Diversity" which aims at raising awareness of the values of a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society and democratic citizenship. 3 Council of Europe legal and policy measures projects envisage to strengthen the country's commitment to existing minority rights international standards. This involves advancement of bilateral co-operation agreements on the protection of national minorities as an important tool for promoting inter-ethnic relations, acceptance and implementation of the relevant legal instruments and co-operation with their supervisory systems and the Non-Discrimination Review. FRY was invited to undertake a comprehensive review of legislation and practices with a view to identifying and removing discriminatory aspects.

FRY is part in the co-operative program with human rights NGOs under the leadership of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. The program pursues the goal to enhance the performance of human rights organisations and to improve regional and local monitoring and exchange of information on local and regional level. A Human Rights Centre has been established at the University of Belgrade, networking with other such centres in former Yugoslav Republics.

In terms of Working Table II (Economic Reconstruction), the first Investors’ Mission in the framework of the Business Advisory Council has taken place on 8/9 February in Belgrade. Assessments for economic reconstruction are being conducted for a series of infrastructure fields such as roads, telecommunications and navigation on the Danube. Three projects under the Stability Pact Quick Start Package, which address the environmental consequences of the Kosovo conflict for Serbia are also under way. In the meantime, FRY has also been fully integrated in the Pact's initiatives on Trade and Environment, on Private Sector Development and in the Investment Compact, which aims at an improved macro-economic framework, thereby attracting investors. FRY has entered into negotiations with other countries of the region on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreements. Agreements with FYROM, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia are the first to negotiate.

FRY has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Trade Liberalisation and Facilitation together with the other Southeast European countries on 27 June 2001 in Brussels. The major goal of the Memorandum of Understanding is to complete the network of free trade agreements in the region by the end of 2002, thereby opening the potential of a 55 mn consumer market. The agreements will be fully in line with the WTO rules and with relevant obligations of each signatory country vis-à-vis the EU. FRY has entered into negotiations with other countries in the region on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreements. Agreements with FYROM, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia are the first to be negotiated.

With regard to Working Table III (Security) the downfall of the Milosevic regime has presented the region and the International Community with a clean slate to re-discuss the security aspects of South Eastern Europe in a broad perspective. In the meantime, FRY has joined all the initiatives of the Security Table as an active partner. A remarkable cornerstone was a regional meeting of the Heads of Police in the frame of the police forum in Belgrade on 7 June 2001. FRY will be participating in the SP initiated "Partnership for Peace" Fire Fighting exercise, scheduled for May 2002. FRY received a Reay Group assessment mission on the issue land mine stockpiles on 26/27 September. The Third meeting of the newly inaugurated Ad Hoc Group on Security Sector Reform will take place in on 14 November in Belgrade.