Chairman's Conclusions

I. Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption

SPOC

The Chair welcomed Dr. Hubert Pirker, former Member of the European Parliament and Spokesman for Justice and Home Affairs, who was endorsed by the SPOC Board on 3 November as new Chairman of the SPOC Initiative. SPOC serves as a platform for policy dialogue and project facilitation to fight organized crime in SEE. Its activities are deployed from the SP office in Brussels, the Chairman’s team in Vienna and the Bucharest-based Secretariat. It is expected that a new Head of the Secretariat will be appointed soon.

The Chair noted that with the adoption in May 2004 of the Bucharest Declaration on the Joint SEECP Campaign to fight Organised Crime and Corruption regional ownership and emphasis on implementation have significantly increased. Further reforms and enhanced capacity building efforts in police training and regional law enforcement cooperation should now be pursued vigorously on the basis of this political commitment. He also noted that SPOC’s role in monitoring the implementation in SEE of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (Palermo TOC) had found wide recognition.
SEECP Chair-in-Office reported that as a first step under the SEECP Campaign a joint data base and assessment methodology was developed in conjunction with Stability Pact task forces SPOC and SPAI. In December the Romanian SEECP Chairmanship will inform the EU-Western Balkans Forum on progress under the SEECP Campaign.
The Chair noted that the expert assessment on behalf of the European Commission on how to better use the potential of the SECI Centre as a regional and European tool for law enforcement provides a perspective and a roadmap towards closer links with the EU.

The Chair expressed appreciation for the work of the South East European Public Prosecutors Advisory Group (SEEPAG) which is intended to cooperate with the SECI Center. This network of regional prosecutors is expected to contribute significantly to increase the rate of convictions concerning cross-border organized crime activities. He encouraged SPOC to contribute to close cooperation between SEEPAG and the SECI Center.

The Chair noted that SPOC had proposed a pre-Schengen police cooperation model (South East European Police Convention) as a tool to fight more effectively against organised crime and corruption, and he invited SEE members to participate in this project.

The Anticorruption Initiative (SPAI)

The Chair welcomed the newly elected Executive Secretary of the Regional Secretariat (RSLO) of the initiative, Mr. Veselin Sukovic, former Head of the Montenegrin Anticorruption Agency.

The Anticorruption initiative is emphasizing the “regional ownership” principle and is supporting the adoption and implementation of national strategies. The RSLO, supported by all the countries of the region and the international partners (EU MS, EC, OECD, CoE, UNODC, World Bank, Transparency International, American Bar Association and the Open Society Institute), serves as the executive body of the SPAI and aims at becoming an Anti-corruption Center of Excellence for the SEE countries.

The RSLO so far has organized two seminars: one on adopting and implementing the UN Anticorruption convention and another on sharing experience concerning high level corruption cases. A Regional Program for Raising Public Awareness on Anticorruption is being prepared.

The Chair welcomed that the Regional Office, assisted by the WT III Secretariat, will concentrate on assessing regional anticorruption needs and will support the SEECP anticorruption efforts, as mentioned in the Bucharest Statement by the SEECP Ministers of JHA. The areas in focus are: fighting high-level corruption, implementing international legal anticorruption measures, promoting a fair and competitive business environment, and involving civil society in the fight against corruption. Early in 2005, SPAI will invite for a high-level meeting to celebrate its fifth year of existence.

Police Forum

The Chair acknowledged the projects developed within the framework of the Stability Pact’s Police Forum initiative: Regional Police Training modules for senior police officers, Organized Crime Training Network for operational managers (organized crime units), the Stolen Vehicle project, the Anti-drug networking and the Border checking points project.

The Chair noted that some of the training modules still needed funding and he requested that donors would consider these.

The Chair noted that the Organized Crime Training Network (OCTN) project had been announced. A group of Local Contact Persons, appointed within each Organized Crime Unit from the SEE countries, will be trained in December in Austria. A Slovenian Project Manager will be appointed soon and the curricula for the training modules will be developed, taking into consideration the needs expressed by the regional partners. The donor group - formed by Austria, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - remains open to other donors.

The Chair announced a follow-up conference on stolen vehicles, for the end of November in Ljubljana, which will analyse the steps taken since the adoption of the Program of Action in November 2003. The conference will be organized back-to-back with the meeting of SECI Centre’s Task Force on stolen vehicles.

Another activity of the Police Forum has been to facilitate the building of a network of the SEE chiefs of Anti-drug-units. On 2 November a second meeting was held in the SECI Centre in Bucharest, where the National Anti-drug strategies were analysed together with the international partners.

The Chair noted that reported that the Police Forum Working Group had identified the extension of the Interpol system to the main border checking points as the next priority in fighting OC and terrorism. He expressed the need to involve Border Police representatives more actively in this project.

Trafficking in Human Beings

The Chair noted that after four years of intensive work, the Stability Pact Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings (SPTF) was disbanded, and that the SPTF Secretariat in Vienna had been closed at the end of October. Dr. Helga Konrad, the leader of the Task Force, had been appointed as the OSCE Special Representative Against Trafficking. The SP sees this as clear OSCE recognition for the results achieved to date by her and by the members of the Task Force.

The Chair noted that the issue of trafficking women, children and forced labourers will remain on the SP’s agenda, with more emphasis now on the responsibility of the SEE authorities for taking effective measures against trafficking. The SPTF 6th Meeting had addressed how to strengthen regional ownership and initiated the transition of the SPTF’s central anti-trafficking leadership role in the region to the respective governmental anti-trafficking coordinators.

The Chair encouraged SPOC and the Police Forum to closely cooperate with the OSCE Special Representative on joint efforts to fight illicit trafficking in South Eastern Europe.

II Managing and Stabilizing Population Movements

Ohrid Process on Border Security and Management

The Chair took note of a progress report presented by the Chair of the Ohrid border process, Ambassador Janez Premoze. The 2nd Review Meeting of the Ohrid Border Process (Tirana, 26 - 27 October 2004) discussed progress on the action-oriented measures, which the five SaP countries are committed to implement within an agreed timeline. In Tirana, the four partner organisations (the Stability Pact, the EU, OSCE and NATO) reaffirmed their readiness to assist the countries concerned in making further progress towards managing their borders in accordance with European standards.

Achievements in the field of border security and management will also receive prominent attention at the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs on 3 December 2004

The Chair concluded that the Ohrid Border Process together with asylum, migration, refugee return and visa issues should be considered an integral part of the Stability Pact core objective on Managing and Stabilizing Population Movements.

MARRI

The Chair congratulated Soren Jessen-Petersen for his appointment as the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to Kosovo and expressed on behalf of the Working Table his great appreciation for his work for MARRI, which with the establishment of the Regional Forum had come to an end. He expected that the Presidency-in-Office of the Regional Forum would soon decide on the appointment of a new chair for the ‘Friends of the Regional Forum’.

He congratulated the MARRI Presidency-in-Office, the Republic of Albania for successful implementation of the decisions taken by the first MARRI Regional Forum (Herceg Novi, Montenegro, 5 - 6 April 2004). The formal establishment of the MARRI structures had been completed by signing the MoU on MARRI on 2 July 2004 in Tirana, and the signing of the host agreement for the MARRI Center on 15 November 2004 in Tirana. The official opening of the Center has taken place on 18th of November. The Chair welcomed the appointment of Mr.Thomas Birath as Executive Secretary and Head of the Regional Center. He supported the request by the Presidency-in-Office to the participating states to ensure that the secondment process of experts would be completed by the end of the year.

He noted that the Presidency-in-Office was actively working on further strengthening the links between the Regional Forum and the SEECP. During Consultations between the Stability Pact Special Coordinator and the Presidency-in-Office agreement had been reached on mutual support and cooperation, as the MARRI objectives coincided with the Stability Pact’s core objectives.

On the issue of visa he noted that EU enlargement had created expectations, of which also the EU Commission was aware, that SEE citizens would face less difficulty in obtaining visa for travel both within and outside the region. He concluded that it would be desirable that governments would jointly consider how greater transparency on visa regulations, with less burdensome procedures for citizens, and removal of unnecessary restrictions could be achieved. The Stability Pact could facilitate discussions on this.

The Chair noted that the “Access to Rights” (AtR) initiative would soon become operational, and was intended to support the Regional Forum’s efforts to close the displacement chapter in SEE by providing a basis for cooperation between governments, institutions and civil society as regards non-discriminatory access to rights for returnees, displaced persons, but ultimately also all citizens in SEE.

Participants commended MARRI for the further progress made as regards the finalization and implementation of the National Action Plans (NAP), for the first workshop on illegal migration as well as on the progress on preparing for the second workshop from 23-25 November in the new MARRI Center premises.

The Chair noted that the Regional Information Exchange (RIE) initiative was endangered through a severe funding shortage and encouraged donors to consider supporting this initiative, being a core objective of the MARRI Regional Forum. Safe data exchange mechanisms and development and implementation of data protection legislation were crucial elements of responsible migration management in SEE.

III Defence and Security

Defence and Security Issues

The Chair noted further improvement of the security situation in the Balkans as highlighted inter alia during the NATO Summit in Istanbul on 28 - 29 June 2004. He welcomed the readiness of the European Union to deploy a new and distinct UN-mandated Chapter VII mission (operation “Althea”) in BiH , and noted that in Kosovo a robust KFOR presence remains essential for enhanced security and to advance the political process.

Since the further rapprochement of the countries of the Western Balkan region towards European and Euro-Atlantic structures remains one of the Stability Pact’s central objectives, the Chair welcomed the fact that NATO’s door remains open to countries meeting all necessary requirements for membership. Participation of BiH and Serbia and Montenegro in the Partnership for Peace Programme is under consideration to further enhance regional stability and security.

At the same time within the region itself a growing number of initiatives regarding confidence building and military cooperation are being deployed, ranging from bilateral visits of ministers of defence to joint military exercises and bilateral discussions among military experts on issues of mutual interest. Significant progress has been made in individual countries on the reform of the military and security sectors, but much remains to be done. Especially the areas of Defence Conversion and SALW offer concrete possibilities for enhanced regional cooperation. On these issues the Chair noted clear support for a continued role for the Stability Pact to facilitate dialogue and cooperation among regional and sub-regional partners as well as with international and bilateral stakeholders.

The SEECP Ministers of Defence meeting, to be held in the first quarter of 2005, will be another important landmark in this area. That meeting will focus on Defence Conversion and the Stability Pact, with the active involvement of NATO, is supporting its substantive preparation.

The Chair concluded that the process of building a partnership with the South Eastern Defence Ministerial (SEDM) process, in particular in areas such as integrated border management, SALW and disaster relief operations will be continued. He noted that SEDM was prepared to deploy SEEBRIG in peace-keeping operations. Cooperation with the SEE Security co-operation Steering Group (SEEGROUP), which operates under NATO’s auspices, will also be continued.

RACVIAC

RACVIAC has established itself as a broadly recognized ‘institution’ in the area of arms control verification and, increasingly also, security sector reform in SEE. The Chair expressed appreciation to the former Director of RACVIAC, Brig.Gen. Johann Pucher, for his important contributions during the last two years to achieve this.
The Chair noted broad support for strengthening RACVIAC’s contribution to Security Sector Reform, including Defence Conversion and SALW proliferation issues, and also support for RACVIAC’s role as a platform for dialogue on regional military / defence cooperation. He recommended that RACVIAC member states should consider secondment of personnel in the light of such a more pronounced role on politico-military issues.

Participants were informed about the results of the 10th meeting of the Multinational Advisory Group (MAG) held in Zagreb on 13 – 15 September 2004, and about RACVIAC’s activities since the latest Working Table III meeting. In this context the Chair congratulated both Col. Marin Radu, and Brig.Gen. Stergios Papotis for being respectively appointed as the new MAG Chairperson and the new Director of RACVIAC. With MAG’s agreement an open-ended group called the “Friends of the Chair” was established to assist the Chairperson in preparing discussions about RACVIAC’s program for 2005 at the next MAG meeting.

Defence Conversion

Retraining of demobilized military personnel and conversion of military assets, especially bases and defence industries, is progressing at different speeds within SEE. The Chair concluded that to share lessons learned and to jointly mobilize increased international expert and financial support for defence conversion programs was important, both from a security and from a social and economic development perspective. Security Sector Reform, hand in hand with military budget transparency, also has to be seen in the broader context of democratic control of the armed forces. In this respect, the Stability Pact will continue to cooperate with inter alia OSCE, NATO and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) to build capacity at the parliamentary level and within the ministries concerned.

The Chair noted unanimous support for continuation of NATO’s involvement in Defence Conversion in SEE. NATO’s Defence and Security Economic Directorate, the Stability Pact Task Force leader for Defence Conversion, should continue to provide support and expert assistance for programmes on the retraining of released military and military base conversion in SEE.

The conversion of former military industries is the most complex challenge. The Stability Pact could facilitate the exchange of lessons learned between countries both within SEE and beyond as well as contacts with international partners, such as international financial institutions and others, who may be interested in specific conversion programs.

The Chair concluded that the Stability Pact, in the context of assisting the Romanian SEECP Chairmanship in preparing the SEECP Defence Ministerial Meeting on Defence Conversion in spring 2005, should continue its efforts with other partners, in particular the EU, NATO, DCAF, Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC), UNDP, IOM, OSCE and bilateral donors, to better identify existing activities and gaps in the field of defence conversion in SEE, and to discuss how individual organisations, institutions and NGOs might support SEE governments.

Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)

SALW proliferation continues to be a part of the WT III integrated security agenda. The Belgrade-based South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC), a joint disarmament and SALW control initiative of the Stability Pact and UNDP, is the leading actor in the field of combating the threat of uncontrolled and excess SALW in the SEE region.

Adoption of the SEESAC Phase 2 (2005 – 2006) project document represents the most important achievement since the last Working Table III meeting. The Chair supported the consensus at the meeting of the SEE Regional Steering Group (RSG) for the Control of SALW in Budva on 12 – 13 October, that the implementation of the project will require adequate national engagement, better participation of the National Focal Points at the RSG meetings, and that SEE governments should be invited to make a financial contribution within their means, complementing funding provided by international donors. He noted that effectively addressing the SALW problem had also been identified by the European Commission as a priority in preparing for EU membership.

Adrian Wilkinson, SEESAC Team Leader, reported on SALW control project development and implementation in some countries in the region since SEESAC’s establishment.

SEESAC is also developing partnerships with bi-lateral donors for the development of projects aiming at the destruction of recovered and surplus SALW. The specific mechanism is that SEESAC develops the project document and methodology for destruction with national stakeholders, the bi-lateral donor develops the funding mechanism directly with the national stakeholders, whilst during destruction, SEESAC provides monitoring, verification and quality assurance support.

The Chair concluded that programs for destruction of surplus arms and ammunition would require increased joint efforts and encouraged SEESAC to pursue its efforts towards implementation of concrete projects. He also suggested that more attention should be given by SEE governments to ensuring that effective SALW export control systems are in place.

The Reay Group on Mine Action

Since the principal objective of the Reay Group has already been achieved (all the countries of the region have become parties to the Ottawa Convention), the Chair of Working Table III has invited the Reay Group members to consider the possible termination of the group, which is so far still listed among the WT III activities.

The Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Initiative (DPPI).

The Chair noted that the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Initiative (DPPI) is a good example of successful, result oriented regional cooperation. As a specific example he referred to the Joint Fire-fighting Unit from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro.

Human and economic losses due to natural and technological disasters are a global concern. Also for South Eastern Europe disaster reduction policies and measures to build disaster resilient societies deserve strong support.

In the South Eastern European region a number of training programs in the field of crises and disaster management have been developed and implemented by DPPI, with participation of international organizations. These programs aim at capacity building, sharing and using best practices and lessons learnt and bridging gaps between academics, researchers and practitioners.

Project implementation and exercises reconfirmed the existence of certain problems such as lengthy border crossing procedures. The Chair concluded that in 2005 priority attention shouldl be given to the facilitation of bi-lateral and multilateral agreements in the region enabling faster border crossing procedures for humanitarian/disaster assistance.