EU wil burgers westelijke Balkan meer aan de EU binden (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is on Wednesday expected to publish a series of proposals aimed at binding citizens of the western Balkan states to the EU, as the bloc's politicians are increasingly concerned about the threat to stability in the region.
The draft paper, seen by EUobserver, outlines a number of initiatives that would have the ultimate effect of keeping the EU relevant for the citizens of Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia even as progress towards actual membership of the bloc remains slow, and in some countries endangered by the recent unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.
The document says it wants to make the "prospect of membership visible and concrete for the citizens of the countries of the western Balkans."
While stressing that EU membership progress continues to mean meeting certain criteria - for Serbia and Bosnia this includes cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) - the paper points to the importance of "people-to-people" contact.
The European Commission is promising to maintain the political will for achieving visa liberalisation in all of the countries. Only Croatians are currently not obliged to obtain a visa to travel to the EU.
It is also proposing to offer more scholarships to students of the region and aiming to double its current annual contribution of €10 million by 2009/10, enabling "several hundred additional students to receive a scholarship."
The draft paper also says that Brussels will later this year suggest that potential EU membership candidates will take part in EU programmes on research, culture and competition on the same footing as those already on the EU membership list (Croatia and Macedonia).
Additionally, cooperation in the fight against terrorism and trafficking "will be stepped up", says the paper, which also says that by early 2009, "a fully fledged regional school of public administration" should be established. Corruption is highlighted in the document as a problem affecting the whole region.
The commission is also highlighting the importance of economic reform, drawing attention to the importance of EU funding for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as security of energy supply, and is proposing closer co-operation on developing infrastructure in the region, as well as more cooperation in fighting natural disasters.
The paper notes that the western Balkans "will receive around €4 billion (...) for the period 2007-2011." This amounts to €30 per capita per year - "by far the highest amount provided by the EC to any region in the world."
The commission's publication comes as the EU is increasingly worried about the prospect of instability in the Balkans, triggered by Kosovo's move to independence from Serbia last month.
Pristina's declaration has already caused EU dialogue with Serbia to all but dry up, has prompted secessionist talk in Bosnia and has seen a European civilian mission deployed to Kosovo, with fears that the small new state will in effect become a protectorate of the bloc.
Meanwhile, the EU has over the past few months been trying to tread a fine line between giving the Balkan states enough political cherries to keep them and their publics interested in the European Union while at the same time using the leverage of eventual membership to press for internal reforms and encourage stability and good neighbourly relations.