Olli Rehn, Eurocommissaris voor EU-uitbreiding: "Slachtoffers hebben altijd recht op rechtvaardigheid en waarheid' (en)
EU Commissioner for Enlargement
Victims always deserve justice and truth
ICTY conference
Brussels, 2 April 2009
Mr Prosecutor, distinguished guests, dear Friends
It is my pleasure to open this conference together with Serge Brammertz, which I trust you take as a concrete sign of our joint endeavour in favour of peace and reconciliation in the Western Balkans and the wider region.
I appreciate the chance to address in a single audience the key persons in the pursuit of justice for war crimes committed in the region. Please consider today's conference as a landmark for an intensified cooperation between you and all who share the same goal: to definitely close the dark chapters of the recent Balkans wars, and allow the countries of the region move towards EU integration with unified and reconciled societies.
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Reconciliation, good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation are fundamental elements of the European policy for the Western Balkans. Those values are directly reflected in the title of our main policy tool for dealing with countries of the region, the "Stabilisation and Association process".
There is a very basic reason for that: the enlargement policy rests on the same values as the European project once did some fifty years ago, peace and democracy in the first place. As France and Germany did, the countries of former Yugoslavia need to overcome the wounds of the war to be able to definitely engage into the European project. No one can live in a memory less word. This often painful process goes through prosecution and fair trials for war crimes.
Bringing war crimes trials to completion is a responsibility we owe to the people of the region. It is also fundamental so build or restore the citizens' trust into the judicial systems of their countries.
ICTY has been granted this difficult task with the full support of the European Union. The Commission has constantly stood behind ICTY in the search for truth, as the basis for long lasting reconciliation.
Politically first, by setting full co-operation with the ICTY as a first conditionality and gateway to any progress for the countries in the Stabilisation and Association Process.
The Tribunal expects to complete most of the trials in its first instance cases by the end of 2009 and the majority of the appellate proceedings in 2011. The support of the international community to ICTY must continue to enable the Tribunal to complete its remaining tasks. It is imperative that sufficient time and resources are made available so that remaining trials can be completed properly without undue haste.
The resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 12 March 2009, by which it recommends to the Council to ensure that ICTY can fulfil its mandate respecting all requirements on due process, sends a welcome signal on the Parliament's full support to ICTY.
Second, as regards national jurisdictions, by reinforcing their independence and capacity as a key priority in the European and Accession Partnerships. While ICTY is dealing essentially with top command responsibility cases, the bulk of war crime cases has to be dealt with by national jurisdiction.
The capacity and capability of national jurisdictions to handle war crime cases is therefore crucial in ICTY's completion strategy. Ensuring such capability must be seen as a part of the countries' ICTY commitments. Some progress in these areas has been achieved. However, many challenges remain in terms of removing ethnic bias in judgments, ensuring witness protection and applying common standards of criminal responsibility.
Overcoming those challenges is one objective of the Commission when supporting ICTY through specific regional projects. Networking and regional cooperation are key words here, two concepts that we undertook to support.
Financially, through our assistance programmes, as we do today in support of this conference and the corresponding project for strengthening networking of national prosecution offices.
A large share of our regional financial assistance aims at strengthening police and prosecutor cooperation and reform of judicial systems in the Western Balkans.
Today's conference is indeed the continuation of a process that started some years ago in Palic - hence its title “From Palic to Brussels” - with a range of regional conferences aiming at improving co-operation between prosecutors in war crime cases.
Some results have been achieved but much still remains to be done. Today, we would aim to give a new impetus to the process, through establishment of two complementary visitors' programmes to ICTY, for war crime prosecutors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia as well as young professionals from the entire region.
Through practical work and exchange of information and methodologies, we want to strengthen the national capacities to handle war crime cases through enhanced cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I see your participation today as an encouraging signal that you share our endeavour.
Ultimately, it is my deep conviction that your work will benefit all people of the region by allowing them to assume their recent past and move towards their European future.
I wish you every success in your work today and in the future.