Die Balkanländer und Brüssel: Stabilisierung

Einigungen auf Reformen, die Auslieferung von mutmaßlichen Kriegsverbrechern und Vertragszeremonien bringen die Balkanregion und die EU laut Transitions Online einander näher.

In the space of a week, a series of events ranging from the incremental to the momentous brought the Balkan region as a whole a bit closer to the European Union.

The ball started rolling on 25 April with the signing by Bulgaria and Romania of their EU accession treaties. If the two countries meet the conditions laid out by Brussels, they can look forward to joining the Union on 1 January 2007. 

On the same day, a most-wanted Serbian war-crimes suspect, General Nebojsa Pavkovic, surrendered to face charges over his actions in Kosovo at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. His surrender paved the way for the start of association talks between the EU and Belgrade. The decision to go ahead with talks was taken just hours after Pavkovic’s surrender at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. 

And in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some sort of compromise has been reached on police reform, a key condition set by the EU for the opening of that country’s association talks. While the contents of the deal remain murky and important operational questions have not been addressed, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo welcomed the agreement as a “giant step” on Bosnia’s “long and tough” road to Europe, according to a 28 April statement. 

Signing the treaty

Romanian president Traian Basescu and Bulgarian prime minister Simeon Saxecoburggotski signed the accession treaties on behalf of their countries in a ceremony in Luxembourg. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso praised the two applicants but also made reference to a clause in the treaties that allows the postponement of accession by one year should either country fail to implement additional reforms.

This was the first time that such a suspension clause was inserted into an accession treaty. It reflects a widespread wariness over further enlargement by “Old Europe,” the 15 members of the pre-2004 EU.

Germans in particular are worried about immigration and downward pressure on incomes while the French are unenthusiastic about the entire project of enlargement and could reject a new constitution for the EU in a referendum later this month.

Bulgaria and Romania are the first candidates set to join the EU after the massive round of enlargement of 1 May 2004 brought 10 new members, most from Central and Eastern Europe, into the club. (Croatia is likely to join a bit later, in 2009 or 2010, if it manages to continue its reform course and apprehend ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina.)

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