Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-15-Speech-3-093"
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"en.20060215.11.3-093"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt that, since the Dayton peace accord, there has been great progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the creation of a multi-ethnic democracy, and this is something that we should welcome, and in which we should rejoice. Speaking, indeed, as an Austrian, and therefore as someone who saw this going on so to speak over his own back fence, I can say that it seems to me of the essence that we who, ten years ago, watched in horrified fascination the incredible savagery and warfare and the people’s suffering, can today say with some satisfaction that there is only slight likelihood of an armed conflict there. The international community, but most of all the European Union, can chalk that up as a great success.
We should be glad that this is in line with the declared objectives of the new High Representative, Mr Schwarz-Schilling, who took over from Lord Ashdown at the end of January, and who has said that, as High Representative, he wants to adopt more the role of a ‘facilitator’ and make the country more European, and make less use of the powers possessed by the High Representative as such, which he will have to use less and less as the reform process goes on.
We welcome, then, his statement that he intends to have recourse to his powers of intervention only under exceptional circumstances.
As with the other Balkan countries, it is the stabilisation and association process that provides the framework within which Bosnia and Herzegovina will be prepared for incorporation into the European structures. The initiation of these negotiations, and with them of the negotiations on treaty relationships with the European Union, constitutes an important step in the Bosnia-Herzegovina’s movement closer to the European Union.
The first round of negotiations, held on 25 January under the joint chairmanship of the Commission and the Bosnian negotiator Mr Davidovic, was completed successfully, and further progress, which it is to be hoped will be achieved soon, will of course depend on how far this reform process can be moved forward.
The President of Austria has today already referred to the Western Balkans as a priority for Austria’s Presidency, and it is one, along with holding out to these countries the prospect of membership of the EU, because such a prospect is the driving force behind the reforms that these countries need and which we want to – and must – promote. It is vital that such reforms should involve progress being made in the most diverse areas, that is to say in combating corruption, in reinforcing public administration, in full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia – the last being particularly important for all the countries in the region affected by it. That same progress will be needed in many other areas where the reforms necessary in order that Bosnia, Herzegovina and all the other states in the region may become modern and democratic, are implemented.
So what is the prognosis now? The outcome of the EU-West Balkans summit in Thessaloniki in June 2003 was that the European Union reiterated its commitment to a European perspective for all the states in the Western Balkans. This fundamental affirmation that the future for these countries lies within the European Union was reinforced and confirmed by the June 2005 European Council. Progress in this pre-accession stage will of course be dependent on the fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria and of the conditions included in the stabilisation and association process.
The communication on the future pattern of relations between the EU and the states of the Western Balkans as presented by the Commission at the end of January this year and warmly welcomed by the Council, maps out the pre-accession steps over and above the Thessaloniki Agenda, and I am sure that Commissioner Rehn will give your House an extensive report on them.
It is intended that the EU’s objectives in this respect should be reaffirmed on the occasion of the forthcoming informal meeting of EU and Western Balkans foreign ministers in Salzburg on 10/11 March, when agreement should also be reached on how and by what means the EU can deepen its involvement in the region. This meeting should provide a good opportunity to agree on practical measures to promote stability, security and prosperity in the Western Balkans through the region’s progressive incorporation into the European structures, with the Commission communication to which I referred earlier serving as the principal basis for this.
I will conclude by saying what I have said before, namely that this is an important priority for the Austrian Presidency. This ‘high-level event’ with the Western Balkans as its theme will, we hope, further motivate and encourage these countries in proceeding with their reforms and with their integration into the European structures.
We take a confident view of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s future, to which the European Union can make a considerable contribution.
The beginning of negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement between the European Union and Bosnia-Herzegovina testifies to what has been successfully achieved over the past ten years, one important example of which was evident at the end of 2005, when the
and the Bosnia-Herzegovina Federation merged their defence ministries, transferring all defence functions and staff to a single defence ministry for the whole state, which was without doubt a milestone in the country’s development. The European EUFOR Mission, ‘Althea’, works closely together with these new joint structures and continues to move defence reform forwards.
There are yet more examples of how this state is moving forward in terms of its integrity and acceptance of responsibility for itself, one of which I shall mention being the introduction of VAT throughout the state with effect from 1 January this year.
One quite fundamental step forward in reform was the agreement on the reform of the police, which is now in the process of being implemented, and anyone who has observed and followed these negotiations will know how difficult they were and just how much internal resistance remained between the state’s ethnicities. Overcoming these obstacles is without doubt a major achievement, and one on which Bosnia and Herzegovina are very much to be congratulated.
The EU’s police mission – the EUPM – in Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a major part to play in this reform process. It was as recently as 1 January this year that its mandate was extended for another two years, after the original mandate had expired. It is tasked with providing even more proactive support to the police in their contribution to the fight against organised crime, and that is of relevance to our own Member States in view of the fact that organised crime in our neighbourhood does, of course, have an impact on us. EUPM, EUFOR and the High Representative/EU Special Representative cooperate closely in this area, with the aim of guaranteeing the executive authorities coordinated, consistent and effective support.
Recent months have also seen efforts being made towards the possible reform of the Dayton constitution. Whilst this constitution is constantly criticised for being over-complicated, it should not be forgotten that – as I mentioned at the beginning – it has made it possible for peace to be established in the land, so that there is no longer a risk of hostilities breaking out.
Although the negotiations that were started last year and resumed at the beginning of this one have now been adjourned
with the leaders of the parties unable, for the present, to agree on a complete package, it has to be said that progress has been achieved, and we can expect it to bear tangible fruit in the future. In particular, I would remind your House of the progress made as regards human rights and the reinforcement of the position of the Chairman of the State’s Council of Ministers, which does give cause for a certain optimism.
This reform process, which includes reform of the constitution, is a process rather than an event at a single point in time, and we must all take a realistic view of it; after all, there are many things that are difficult to do in a democracy in an election year, particularly if the desired objective is fundamental reform. In its conclusions in January, the Council affirmed that it welcomed the discussions on constitutional reform and the progress achieved thus far. The theme running through all these efforts, and also the role played by the international community and the European Union, is the need for the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina to accept more responsibility, and one can sum that up in the word ‘ownership’.
Another important issue that will occupy us in 2006 is the future of the High Representative and the presence of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That this state will continue to need international aid for the foreseeable future is not a matter of doubt, but the aim must be to replace the international community’s ‘push’ – embodied above all in the High Representative’s all-embracing prerogatives, the so-called ‘Bonn Powers’, by a ‘pull’ exercised from Brussels. As part of the transition from having the office of a High Representative as it is today to having an EU Special Representative, the international actors’ prerogatives and capacities for intervention will need to be reduced in line with the concept of ‘ownership’, which involves the transfer of additional powers and responsibilities to the institutions of the State."@en1
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