by Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek at GAC

• Thank you for giving me the opportunity to report on my recommendations regarding Stability Pact reform. Countries in the region have gone a long way since the Pact was created in mid-1999, however, the region requires and deserves continued attention and support by the EU.
  
• Thanks to the efforts of my predecessor and all that have supported this endeavour, the Stability Pact is by now a mature operation. However, we are now entering a new adolescent phase that requires redirecting and re-focussing of its actions.
  
• I wish to start a new phase of even more productive relationship with the EU, in a new spirit of enhanced co-operation, in particular with the Commission. Regular consultations have started, for instance in the framework of the Informal Consultative Committee. I would also like to offer my availability to report in more detail on progress made. In particular, I would like to address the issues of fighting against organised crime and energy co-operation at a later date.
  
• Following your request, we have thoroughly reviewed a large part of the activities undertaken in the framework of the Stability Pact. I have widely consulted with our main partners. Major findings and recommendations appear to have found wide support in the Stability Pact community, including EU and non-EU partners. They can be summarised as "fewer meetings, more action".
  
• However, the strategic direction will remain the same: to lobby for Euro-Atlantic integration of SEE countries and to promote necessary reforms. The efficiency and effectiveness of the Stability Pact operation continues to rely on the leading role of the EU in achieving our common goals in the region. The wish to become a member of the EU remains a powerful incentive for reform throughout the region.
  
• Against this background, complementarity between the Stability Pact and the two main EU strategies towards the region, namely the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) for the "Western Balkans" and the accession process for candidate countries which also participate in the Stability Pact (Rumania and Bulgaria) need to be enhanced.
  
• The Stability Pact will continue to promote the objectives of these processes. And it will assist countries in the region to make full use of their instruments. What we need is a clear roadmap to integration.
  
• It is equally important for the Stability Pact to ensure the continued involvement of and co-ordination with non-EU partners. In particular, the Pact represents a framework for continued consultation and co-operation with the US, now that due to new foreign policy priorities US disengagement from the Balkans is imminent.
  
• On a more practical note, I suggest to reduce the number of Stability Pact meetings and rationalise Stability Pact structures. For instance, we will reduce Working Table sessions to once annually and focus the agenda on specific initiatives. Moreover, we will strengthen co-ordination and co-operation of Task Forces and initiatives that work on related subjects.
  
• The EU has asked to focus our operation on 5-6 priority objectives to be achieved within this year. On the other hand, many partners have stressed the need to continue ongoing work also in other important areas. We expect considerable progress and concrete results in many initiatives, which, for reasons of time, I will not highlight today. The following, priority objectives have been selected to honour the request of the EU. They are described in more detail in the paper distributed to you. They represent a further elaboration of the strategies and priorities established by the Regional Table in June 2001:
  
• Trade and investment: completing the network of 21 bilateral FTAs that will de facto create a SEE free trade zone,
  
• Infrastructure (including energy): Delivery and timely implementation of the 2 agreed sets of infrastructure projects,
  
• Provide sustainable solutions for at least 100,000 refugees and Displaced Persons by the end of 2002. Measures include increasing the level of return and integration assistance, accelerating the repossession of properties, creating jobs and other.
  
• Sub-Regional Dialogue: This priority objective has been chosen in light of the fact that a truly regional strategy to tackling the unresolved questions of national identity and status that have emerged in the Southern Balkans is still missing. We wish to encourage a new sub-regional political process, launched by the SEECP, to be held under the auspices of the Stability Pact and supported by its Working Tables, on functional issues, e.g., energy co-operation. All parties interested should be allowed to participate.
  
• We intend to establish a "Regional Clearinghouse" for SAWLs in Belgrade. We expect this initiative to develop and implement projects aimed at reducing the excess supply and illicit trafficking of SALW throughout the region.
  
• Organised crime: In an attempt to streamline ongoing initiatives to fight organised crime, we will establish a SPOC executive secretariat at the SECI Transborder Crime Center at Bucharest to be operational in the region.
  
• Viable solutions can only be achieved through enhanced local ownership. We will aim to transfer more and more of Stability Pact functions to the region. SEE countries shall be associated closer to the decision making process. Therefore, we will develop closer links with the SEECP and encourage the upcoming Yugoslav chair to strengthen and enhance SEECP structures, so it can act as a co-ordinated voice of the region and a forum for regional co-operation for parties interested.
  

I look forward to co-operation with you, and success in the Pact, in the year to come!