Balkan Commission urges EU to fast-track membership for the Balkan States

Press release - April 12, 2005 - Washington

Status quo no longer viable

The result of four study tours to Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, the report recommends moving toward EU membership as the only way to prevent the Western Balkans from turning into the black hole of Europe, and it says that without the Balkans in the EU, the process of unification will remain incomplete. The Commission also urges the U.S. government to play a more active role in the region and is convinced that co-ordinated EU-U.S. policies will be essential.

Key recommendations:

• Closing the status issues by autumn of 2006
  
• An EU-Balkans summit in autumn 2006 in order to move Balkan states to EU accession
  
• An EU road map for each Balkan country at end of 2006
  
• NATO membership as the second important pillar of integration strategy, with Albania, Croatia and Macedonia invited to join at the NATO summit in 2006
  
• Co-ordinated EU-US policies towards the region

The Washington launch consisted of a panel discussion moderated by GMF President Craig Kennedy with Commission delegation members:

Kemal Dervis, member of Turkish Parliament as well as former vice president of the World Bank and former Minister of Economic Affairs, Turkey,
Goran Svilanovic, former Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro.
Avis Bohlen, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria
Alexander Rondos, former Advisor to the Greek Foreign Minister
Istvan Gyarmati, Chairman of the Board, Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, Hungary
Bruce Jackson, President of the Project on Transitional Democracies.

The group also presented the report to the U.S. Department of State and the National Security Council.

The Washington event complimented the official launch of the report in Brussels by Balkan Commission Chair and former Prime Minister of Italy Giuliano Amato together with Commission members Richard von Weizsacker, former President of Germany, and Ilir Meta, former Prime Minister of Albania on the eve of the European Parliament vote on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania.

"Stability, peace and economic growth in the Balkans is a must for the security of Europe and has implications for the entire Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea region and indeed the United States. The absence of immediate disasters in the region should not lead to neglect or complacency." Amato said.

The report will be presented in Belgrade on 14 April and in key European capitals in the coming weeks.

A full copy of the report is available on: www.balkan-commission.org (click here)

Background on the Balkan Commission

The objective of the International Commission is to develop a vision for the integration of the countries of Southeast Europe into the European Union and other international structures highlighting the progress made to date, supported by recommendations for action to the governments of the region and to the international community. As Chairman Amato has said, "We intend to be helpful both to the decision makers and to the societies in Southeast Europe as well as to the incoming European Commission."

The international Commission on the Balkans has been initiated and is supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, The King Baudouin Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The international Commission on the Balkans is chaired by former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and its members are internationally renowned decision-makers from different countries of Europe and the United States. The former Presidents of Germany Richard von Weizsacker and of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov, the former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, of Belgium Jean-Luc Dehaene, of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija, and of Albania Ilir Meta; two former foreign ministers, Mircea Geoana of Romania and Goran Svilanovic of Serbia and Montenegro; the Slovenian EU Commissioner Janez Potocnik; Avis Bohlen, former US assistant secretary of state; Kemal Dervis former Vice president of the World Bank and former Minister of Economic Affairs for Turkey; Istvan Gyarmati, charman, Centre for Euro Atlantic Integration and Democracy, Hungary; Francois Heisbourg, director of the foundation of strategic research, France; Bruce Jackson, president, Project on Transitional Democracies, US; Neven Mimica, former minister for European Integration, Croatia; Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, former governor of the BBC; Alexander Rondos, former Ambassador at Large, Greece; Ivan Krastev, chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria.