Address
of the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
Bodo Hombach
at the Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the South-East European
Cooperation Process
Ohrid, July 14, 2000
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start out by thanking the SEECP and its current
chair Macedonia for the invitation to Ohrid. The successful SEECP summit in
Bucharest adopted the Charter on Good Neighbourly Relations. It is a
particular pleasure for me to witness the first tangible results in the
implementation of this single most important instrument of regional
cooperation
I have carefully listened to all Ministers. I share your
hopes and concerns. We are in the same boat. The Stability Pact is not about
"us" and "them". It is about a common endeavour, that we
have to undertake together. I am grateful therefore for the support I have
sensed in your interventions.
I will limit myself to five key messages to you. One year
after the launching of the Stability Pact we can say:
-
We are on track . The Stability Pact has become an
enabler and a catalyst. It has not been easy and won’t get easier. But
the Pact is delivering.In particular as the coordination framework
for the medium and long term efforts of all its partners towards peace,
prosperity and regional cooperation in South Eastern Europe and its
integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures.
It was the Stability Pact which spelled out first the
European vocation of all States in South Eastern Europe. And the EU is
delivering on its most important commitment. The European Council has
confirmed this European perspective, Bulgaria and Romania have started their
accession negotiations, our host country today is the first to negotiate a
Stabilisation and Association Agreement. Others will follow.
-
I share your impatience. So do Commissioner Patten
and High Representative Solana. I have distributed to you a status report
on the Quick Start Package. Today we can say: The first projects have
become construction sites. Such as the Kukes-Durres or Skopje-Pristina
roads including the Blace border post. Three more infrastructure projects
have started, nine others are ready for tenders.
But the Pact is not only about roads and bridges. I
consider democratic institution building, media freedom, the investment
climate, border security to be equally - if not even more important - political
construction sites. Overall, 50 Quick Start projects in these fields have
begun. Furthermore, the Anti Corruption Initiative and the Investment
Compact are up and running.
-
We need to join forces for the way ahead. After the
Regional Table in Thessaloniki the political direction is clear, based on
three main pillars: focus on our priority areas of reform, some of which I
have mentioned, enhancement of regional cooperation and giving substance
to the concept of ownership by the countries of South Eastern Europe
I tell everybody in the EU: The countries in SEE have
started delivering on their commitments on reforms and regional cooperation.
But I will state as clearly here that the countries concerned will need to
intensify their efforts in the reform process, and give further momentum to
the positive trends that are being registered in the region.
The second priority is the focus on enhanced regional
cooperation. This is another positive development, for which the Pact has
created the conditions. The recent achievements of the SEECP provide a
striking example. But they do not stand alone. A compact region, that
progresses together, can make its voice heard more easily –and more
credibly. The creation of additional cross border Euro Regions in South
Eastern Europe would be another important signal.
This leads me to the third priority which we have agreed
upon in Thessaloniki: regional empowerment or ownership of the process. I
have called a meeting of national coordinators of South East European and
Neighboring countries for Monday in Brussels. I will make a number of
proposals, which are all based on one key political factor: countries in the
region must play a driving role within the Pact. To do so, the initiative
must come form within the region as in the case of Macedonia on
intra-regional trade or Croatia on disaster relief.
-
As I have stated from the outset: the role of the
Special Coordinator is also one of an advocate for the countries in South
Eastern Europe. This way, we have managed to keep South Eastern Europe
on the international agenda, even when the media moved on after the Kosovo
conflict. We should keep it there.
Besides my other tasks, I have been active in a number of
areas where I felt that the International Community was not moving fast
enough. On Montenegro, on the clearing of the Danube, on Croatia’s access
to the EIB, on the donor’s coordination and transparency of the process,
in the fight against slowness and bureaucracy, on the promotion of foreign
investment in your countries.
Where I come from, a good advocate will also tell his
clients in no uncertain terms what needs to be done to make their case. I
will continue to do so vis-à-vis you, mostly in terms of reforms and
regional cooperation.
- We need to turn around the trend of negative reporting about the
region. So far, only bad news from South Eastern Europe is news.
Good news is no news. I am actively working on this and call on you to
join me. We need to better communicate your promising economic growth
projections, the increase in foreign investments by almost 100 per
cent from 1999 to 2000, breakthroughs like the Bulgarian-Romanian
bridge, events like the recent meeting between the Croatian and the
Montenegrin Presidents. These are the things, foreign investors like
to hear. With your support I am planning to organize a series of
investors’ conferences in Western Europe and the G7 States in order
to get these messages across. But you, too, have to engage in a major
exercise of megaphone public diplomacy on the progress achieved in
your countries.
|
