Regional Table of the Stability Pact

Skopje, 19 November 2004

The year 2004 has been an important year for the European Union and South Eastern Europe. The EU has seen the recent round of enlargement come to a close in May with the accession of ten new member states. This has already changed the internal dynamics of the Union significantly. At the same time, the EU has given Croatia candidate status with accession negotiations starting some time next year. This was an important message to all Western Balkan countries, since it clearly shows that the SAP is indeed the process leading to future EU membership as reiterated by the Thessaloniki EU Western Balkans Summit in June 2003. 

While the discussion inside the EU is currently more focused on the question of Turkey's relationship with the Union, South Eastern Europe should not be forgotten. Without wanting to play one off against the other, the European perspective of South Eastern Europe is clear and important for Europe.

In this respect I am very pleased about the decision of the European Commission to move all the Western Balkan countries to the new Directorate General for Enlargement under the leadership of Olli Rehn. While in one respect, this is an administrative matter, it is also a political message to South Eastern Europe that their future clearly lies within the European Union.

Yet we face the prospect of a difficult year in 2005 in South Eastern Europe, as discussions are due on a number of crucial political processes. Obviously the question of Kosovo's future status is the most prominent one. But due to the inter-related nature of the problems in the region, close attention will have to be paid to effects on other parts of the region. The political development in Serbia and Montenegro as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina in the run-up to important referenda and elections at the latest in early 2006 will have implications for the region as a whole. The question of the EU application of our hosts and the expected avis of the European Commission is also of relevance not just for the country itself, but for the whole region, since it will give further indications on how the European integration process of South Eastern Europe will proceed.

As the three Chairs will report on very good and substantive discussions in the Working Tables later, let me just highlight a few developments, which are of particular importance:

• Functional local authorities, which can deliver the public services requested by the citizens, are a crucial part of any democratisation process. The recent Ministerial meeting on Local Governance highlighted the importance of decentralisation and capacity building on the local level. All governments of the region have committed themselves to a series of measures, the most important one being the issue of fiscal decentralisation.
• Negotiations driven by the European Commission on the Energy Community South Eastern Europe – ECSEE – are moving ahead well. The importance of this process cannot be overestimated. Here we can observe a sectoral expansion of the European Union to South Eastern Europe that pre-empts formal accession. A unique step, which should be fully supported in every possible way.
• In the area of trade, the network of FTAs is now largely in force. In order to improve economic efficiency, moving towards a multilateral free trade agreement would be favourable. Building on CEFTA is one option, but some radical changes would be required. It is important to keep the momentum of this very successful process.
• The assessment by the European Commission of the Bucharest based Regional Transborder Crime Fighting Centre has been very promising. While there are of course still a number of shortcomings, the assessment provides a roadmap towards developing the Centre into a Regional Office of Europol in the future. This is a clear indication of the important work of the centre in addressing organised crime on the regional level.

One issue that I would like to address in a more comprehensive fashion is that of Parliamentary Cooperation. In the course of the ongoing reform processes and especially with regard to the process of European integration, the parliaments have an ever more important role to play. Ensuring that necessary legislation is prepared and passed in an appropriate fashion requires a high degree of expertise both from parliamentarians and parliamentary staff. In the course of the past year an assessment has been made of the needs prevailing in parliaments in South Eastern Europe as well as existing support. Based on these findings a work programme has been drawn up focusing on areas where the Stability Pact can bring an added value.

I have to stress that the Stability Pact is there to co-ordinate activities, not to duplicate or to take the operational responsibility. We are therefore working closely will all the partners active in this sector in South Eastern Europe in order to maximise the possible output with the limited means available.

I would thus like to ask the Regional Table to accept the proposal to replace Media with Parliamentary Cooperation as one of the six Core Objectives of the Pact.

This certainly does NOT mean that the Media Task Force will cease to exist, nor that the job is done. This is not the case. There are a number of issues in the media sector in SEE that still require international support and the Media Task Force has done an excellent job in co-ordinating and supporting these activities, but the degree of high level political attention is not as high as previously required.

On a more general level, looking at the work of the Stability Pact in the recent past, two issues are becoming increasingly important: Implementation of the commitments made, and regional ownership of the processes initiated under the Stability Pact. Both are closely linked, because both require two things that are often missing in our work: 1) political will, determination and dedication to follow-up on political commitments made; and 2) institutional capacities and priorities.

Implementation is a tedious task, and one, which is becoming more and more of a problem in many of our initiatives. It is always easier to sign political declarations than to follow-up on them and take the necessary legal and practical steps. Lack of implementation can stem from a number of factors: lack of political commitment, lack of administrative capacities, and also lack of continuity of institutions and personnel in crucial areas. While these shortcomings can be partially be addressed from the outside, they are ultimately the responsibility of the governments themselves. I would ask all of you to take on this challenge with new earnestness so that we can see some progress in the coming year.

Regional ownership has actually come a long way within the Stability Pact. A number of regional secretariats and centres of Stability Pact initiatives have been established within the region and are step by step, being handed over to regional ownership, the MARRI Regional Centre, which opened yesterday being the latest addition. This is an important process, but it is very much an ongoing process and much outside support is still requested and required. International donors and we in the Pact are willing to help, but regional ownership is your task.

The SEECP is very much a political forum for the region. This is a very positive development. The Romanian SEECP Chairman's report to the EU-Western Balkans Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial in early December on the Joint SEECP Campaign against organised crime will be an important sign of the region coming together to jointly address common problems in SEE. But we also have to see that further development of the SEECP depends to a very large degree on building up institutional capacities to ensure a degree of continuity of this 'process', the SEECP. The Stability Pact will continue to support this aim.

I would like to give you a few concrete examples of issues regarding regional ownership and implementation, or the lack thereof: approximately a year ago in Tirana I spoke about regional ownership and highlighted the framework agreement on the Sava River Basin as an example where, after an impressively swift and focused negotiation process under the leadership of the Stability Pact, the process was stalled for more than a year on simple practicalities. More importantly, today, another year later, while some problems have been solved, the Sava Commission is still not functional.

Similarly, in the Bucharest Transborder Crime Fighting Centre, all countries are present, but on very different levels. The result being that many opportunities cannot be used.

To end this list on a more positive note, one of the never ending stories of the Stability Pact seems to be coming to a close after all: the Vidin-Calafat bridge. The Bulgarian and Romanian Governments as well as the responsible expert commissions have finally agreed the next steps as well as a concrete timetable for the implementation of the project. While the aim of having the first cars and trains roll across the bridge in 2008 seems very ambitious, this would be a very positive end to a depressingly long story.

Forgive me for being so blunt, but as a person who truly believes in South Eastern Europe and its capacities, these problems are difficult to accept. Ever since I have taken up this position, I have tried to enhance regional ownership in the activities of the Pact. But ownership also requires commitment and dedication.

The international community has and will continue to provide support to South Eastern Europe to assume ever greater responsibility for implementation of the various initiatives. But resources are finite and tangible progress must be evident if further support is to be forthcoming.

Let me close on a more positive note and take this opportunity to welcome Goran Svilanovic as the new Chairman of the Working Table on Democratisation and Human Rights. I am particularly pleased to be working with him, because I think he will bring important new impetus to our work and, most importantly, bring a strong voice from the region to our activities. I think we all agree that Goran Svilanovic made a significant contribution during his tenure as Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro in re-establishing good neighbourly relations between his country and the rest of the region. Considering the complete isolation of Serbia and Montenegro until as little as four years ago, this is an impressive record.

Therefore, a warm welcome to Goran Svilanovic and a special thank you to Elisabeth Rehn and her dedication to the cause of the Working Table on her departure. Let me also thank Fabrizio Saccomani and Janez Premoze for their continued commitment and dedication to the Stability Pact.

I am looking forward to interesting discussions today and good excellent co-operation in the upcoming year.