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

Press release - April 14, 2005 - Belgrade

Status quo no longer viable

The International Commission on the Balkans presented in Belgrade its report to the audience of the region of South East Europe today. Entitled "The Balkans in Europe's Future," the report calls for the European Union to speed up the accession of the Balkan states in order to foster political and economic stability across Europe. The Commission concludes that a new contract between the Balkans and the EU is essential to international security and offers deliverables in the form of a regional framework, a process, and benchmarks.

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. 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 fall 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 toward the region
  

Commission Chairman Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister of Italy, presented the findings alongside other distinguished Commission Members, including Ilir Meta, former Albanian Prime Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, President of the Social Democratic Party and former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Janez Potocnik, Slovenian EU Commissioner.

"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.

Earlier in the week, Commission delegations briefed officials in both Brussels and Washington, including Javier Solana, the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and officials at the U.S. State Department and National Security Council. The report will be presented in key European capitals in the coming weeks. A full copy of the report is available at www.balkan-commission.org. (click here)

Background on the Balkan Commission

The objective of the International Commission on the Balkans 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. The Commission 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. Among them are: 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, Member of the Turkish Parliament, former Vice President of the World Bank; Istvan Gyarmati, Chairman of the board, Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, Hungary; Francois Heisbourg, Director of the Foundation of Strategic Research, France; Bruce Jackson, President of the 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 advisor to the Greek Foreign Minister. Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria, is the Executive Director of the Comission.