Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-15-Speech-3-094"
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"en.20060215.11.3-094"2
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".
Mr President, I wish to begin by warmly welcoming the focus of Austria, as the Presidency, on the western Balkans. I very much look forward to working together with the Presidency, the Council and Parliament to achieve the next important steps to bring the western Balkans closer to the European Union.
I look forward to engaging with the European Parliament again on a future occasion on the progress made in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is genuinely at a crossroads today. Last November the country started to negotiate a stabilisation and association agreement with the European Union. A new High Representative/EU Special Representative, Mr Christian Schwarz-Schilling, has succeeded Lord Ashdown in Sarajevo. Mr Schwarz-Schilling will make less use of the executive powers and leave more tasks in the hands of BiH politicians. We are now in an era of increasing Bosnian ownership and responsibility.
Before I outline some recent developments and our policy goals, let me apologise in advance if I have to leave the House before the end of the debate today. I am scheduled to leave at 4 p.m. this afternoon with President Barroso on a three-day round trip of six cities in the western Balkans, ending in Sarajevo on Saturday. So I hope we will be finished by 4 p.m.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is making its way through the stabilisation and association process. Last November in Sarajevo we officially opened the negotiations for a stabilisation and association agreement. The first real negotiating round took place at the end of January 2006. It went very well and our Bosnian partners had prepared themselves thoroughly.
The Commission’s working hypothesis is that negotiations will take about one year. However, meeting this target date will entail Bosnia and Herzegovina being able to respond to all the EU reform requirements. In this respect, it is essential for Bosnia and Herzegovina to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In order to avoid any misconceptions, let me make it clear that there is no short cut: full cooperation is a necessary condition to conclude a stabilisation and association agreement and to make progress in negotiations. It is also essential to implement the agreement on the restructuring of the police forces, to adopt and implement all necessary public broadcasting legislation and, not least, to ensure sufficient legislative and administrative capacity to implement the agreement. We thus have a very clear message: Bosnia and Herzegovina should seize the opportunity that it has at hand. For this, reforms need to continue with the utmost determination.
It is fair to say that the international community has played an important role in supporting the reforms in the country. But credit is also due to the local authorities, which have been able to achieve significant progress in what, to say the least, is a rather complex environment. We hope that progress will continue and that local political ownership will increase further. We are ready to support this process fully. The international community will adapt its role to these evolving circumstances of more local ownership. The more the country is able to demonstrate maturity and political ownership, the less the international community will need to intervene. I met recently with the new HR/EUSR, Mr Schwarz-Schilling, who shares this view on a new role for the international community and the use of the Bonn powers.
The reform of the ‘Dayton Constitution’ is another important challenge before the Bosnian political leaders. The country needs a constitution that ensures full compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights; allows effective decision-making and efficient governance; and makes the government structure less costly for ordinary citizens and taxpayers.
In other words, it is necessary for the country to develop a democratic, functional and affordable multi-ethnic state in order better to serve all its citizens and to support the reforms that EU integration entails and necessitates. Therefore, I welcome the recent efforts by the leading political parties and political leaders to find practical and workable solutions to these very important challenges. I encourage political leaders to continue their dialogue so as to achieve more ambitious results. We do not expect a constitutional revolution but rather an evolution. Constitutional evolution has to be a consensus-driven process with the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly in the driver’s seat. The international community can act as facilitator; we can offer encouragement and support; but the Bosnian politicians must take the lead.
The constitutional evolution is not as such a condition for concluding the negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement. But we need to underline that the European Union clearly has a big stake in this process. In other words, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to make sure that its constitutional provisions guarantee full and effective implementation of the stabilisation and association agreement and thus pave the way for the country’s road towards Europe."@en1
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