National Parliamentarians from 25 countries, MEPs and representatives from the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OCSE met on Wednesday in Brussels for a two-day interparliamentary conference on a new EU Policy for South Eastern Europe and the perspectives for EU membership. It was the fourth conference organised by the "parliamentary troika" of the Stability Pact, which is made up of the European Parliament, the OSCE and the Council of Europe and which is currently chaired by the European Parliament.

Most speakers at the conference lauded the achievements reached since 1999 thanks to the Stability Pact, but stressed that the time had come to proceed from conflict prevention and reconstruction to the fostering of social and economic development. MEP Christos ZACHARAKIS (EPP-ED, Gr), who opened the interparliamentary conference, said that the upcoming EU summit in Thessaloniki offered a good opportunity to strengthen European commitment to the Balkans region.

Greek presidency representative Athanassios THEODORAKIS, secretary-general with the Greek Foreign Ministry, said that the European Union should clearly hold out the perspective of EU membership. The countries from South Eastern Europe should be integrated into European mechanisms, he said, in order to prepare them for accession. To this end, a similar process as applied to the accession countries should be developed, with EU aid being increased and EU programmes being opened up to the region. Commissioner Chris PATTEN said the European Commission intends to extend the experience of the accession process to the Balkans region through "European integration partnerships", making use of some of the pre-accession instruments. The Commission intends to draw up action plans and annual progress reports. Moreover, the Commission has decided to add € 200 million to the CARDS programme for the period from 2004 to 2006.

Dutch MEP Joost LAGENDIJK (Greens/EFA), European Parliament's rapporteur on the Stability Pact, said that although it was impossible to copy the accession process used for Central and Eastern European Countries, the EU should tackle the pressing problem of high unemployment and economic underdevelopment throughout the region by making use of well-proven policies for social and economic cohesion. He made a number of specific proposals such as a special commissioner for enlargement, including the Balkans and Turkey; screening of legislation; a free trade area and customs union; a review of the visa requirements for Balkan citizens; and opening up of educational exchange programmes such as Leonardo and Socrates. Stability Pact Special Co-ordinator Erhard BUSEK proceeded to list a number of concrete objectives to be achieved for the region, such as the further development of independent media, a stronger local democracy, cross-border cooperation, local infrastructure projects, trade investments, and an information policy as well as stepping up the fight against organised crime, e.g. by harmonising data and witness protection legislation.

On a slightly different note, Peter SCHIEDER, president of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, expressed his anxiety over the bilateral agreements countries such as Albania, Rumania and Georgia have concluded with the United States, providing for immunity from the International Criminal Court. Although the EU should be true to its principles and firmly continue to promote international justice, Mr Schieder said, it should understand that the countries concerned "acted not out of greed but out of need". Because of their fragile economies they were unable to face the serious consequences the US might bring to bear if they refused. Therefore, the EU should give its full support to South Eastern Europe and ask the US "to stop exploiting this war-torn region for its own interests".

In reply, Zdravko TOMAC, president of the Croatian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said his country did not want a conflict with the US and neither did it want to contribute to a conflict within the EU itself. He appealed to the EU to accept the region as it is, even if it did not agree with some of its decisions. "If South Eastern Europe is sidelined by the EU", Mr Tomac stressed, "it will breed a new conflict". Albanian MP Fatmir MEDIU said that his country had been sandwiched between the EU and the US. He called on the EU to resolve its differences with the US. On a different issue, Mr Mediu advocated the presence of representatives from Kosovo at the Thessaloniki summit, in order to avoid creating a "black hole in the region".

 

Conclusions

In its conclusions the interparliamentary conference underlined the energising effect the Stabilisation and Association Process has had on national political institutions in South Eastern Europe as a first phase in the preparation for accession to the EU. But the conference also recognised that the integration of the Balkans countries into the EU will take some time yet. Therefore, the Stabilisation and Association Process should now be reinforced. The conference stressed the urgent need to address the serious problems of high unemployment and poor economic development, weak public governance and the loss of confidence in state institutions.

Thus, a renewed Stabilisation and Association Process should aim to increase social and economic cohesion, to provide aid in the fight against organised crime, reinforce border security, enhance regional cooperation in communications, transport and energy and stimulate an active civil society. The current CARDS programme should be adjusted accordingly and the European Commission should develop procedures for the Balkans countries similar to those used in the current enlargement process. Some of the objectives mentioned were fixing annual benchmarks for each country and screening legislation; involving representatives of these countries in the EU foreign and security policies; promoting exchange programmes for students and young professionals; and promoting reform of the educational systems.

Furthermore, the interparliamentary conference said it would do everything possible to prevent measures - including the ratification by national parliaments of international agreements - which jeopardise the respect of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as an active policy against organised crime, the creation of legal structures for effective transnational judiciary cooperation, full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. Croatia, whose application for EU membership the conference welcomed, was specifically called upon to take concrete steps to cooperate with this Tribunal.

The interparliamentary conference proposed a study into the possibility of extending the Stabilisation and Association Process to Moldova. It stressed that the stability and prosperity of Kosovo depended on the respect of the rights of all citizens, especially the return of refugees and genuine protection for its minorities. Finally, the conference underlined the need for a stronger role for national parliaments in politics and the need to develop stable political party structures.

 

For programme and other information, see:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/comparl/afet/stability_pact/default_en.htm

 

For information on the Stability Pact:

http://www.stabilitypact.org

 

 

21.05.2003 Fourth Stability Pact Interparliamentary Conference

 

In the chair:

Christos ZACHARAKIS (EPP-ED, Gr), Vice-President of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee

Evgeni KIRILOV (BUL), Rapporteur on the Stability Pact for the Council of Europe

 

Press enquiries:

Marjory van den Broeke

(Brussels)      tel. (32-2) 28 44304

Joëlle Fiss

(Brussels)      tel. (32-2)-28 41075

E-mail:         foreign-press@europarl.eu.int

 

Speech of SC Busek

Speech of DSC Riddle