Hulp EU aan Balkanstaten geëvalueerd (en)

At a meeting of the Western Balkans Forum in Brussels on 9 December Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External Relations, will present a progress report on how the European Commission is following up the commitments made in the Thessaloniki Agenda for the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro). The European Commission is on track with many of the initiatives agreed at the Thessaloniki European Council in June 2003 and is already producing tangible results, in the launching of European Partnerships, actions to enhance support for institution building, initiatives to promote economic development and measures in the field of justice and home affairs, as well as progress in introducing some of the techniques that helped today's Accession countries prepare for closer integration with the EU. The Forum will discuss EU-Western Balkans relations, including follow-up to the Thessaloniki Agenda, developments in the region and latest events in the EU.

Speaking ahead of the Ministerial meeting, Commissioner Patten said: "Let's be clear: the Thessaloniki Agenda¹ is a to-do list for both the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans. The European Commission is already keeping its side of the bargain, by taking concrete action on many of the Thessaloniki initiatives. It's important that governments in the region show that they, too, are determined to follow through on the commitments they made in Thessaloniki. We all want to see them progress along the road to European integration - but that will require hard work on their part".

Since the Thessaloniki Summit, the European Commission has initiated several actions, in the framework of the strengthened Stabilisation and Association process (SAp)², which is designed to help each country (plus Kosovo through the SAp tracking mechanism³) to progress at its own pace towards closer European integration.

These actions include:

• European Partnerships to set priorities for action: Inspired by the success of the Accession Partnerships with the candidate countries, the new European Partnerships will help the countries of the Western Balkans channel their energies most effectively towards closer integration with the EU and serve as a checklist against which to measure progress. In November 2003, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Framework Regulation that will provide the legal base for the Partnerships and the Commission intends to submit the first set of Partnerships to the Council, along with the 2004 SAp Annual Reports, by end of March 2004.

• Support in bringing laws in line with the EU: The Technical Assistance Information Exchange Office (TAIEX) was originally set up to help today's Accession countries approximate their legislation to that of the EU. The first steps have already been taken to make that service available to the Western Balkans, and the first meeting to introduce representatives from these countries to the opportunities on offer, took place on 8^th December.

• Training: Preparatory work is progressing on the establishment of a Regional School for Higher Education on Public Administration Reform in the Western Balkans, which should be up and running by the end of 2004.

• Enhanced support for institution building: Secondment of civil servants from EU Member States to work as advisers ("twinning programmes") is already being used in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and preparations are ongoing to introduce this mechanism in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro.

• Inviting participation in EU Programmes and Agencies from as early as 2005: Countries in the region will be able to choose to take part in the work of some EU programmes and agencies, each according to their particular needs, interests and capacities. The European Commission issued a Communication⁴ on this issue on 3 December, setting out the framework, the modalities and the time schedule of this initiative, which aims to familiarise the Western Balkan countries with the policies and working methods of the EU, thus anchoring them more firmly to the Union.

• Promoting economic development: The European Commission, the Western Balkan countries and their South Eastern European neighbours signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a Regional Energy Market in Athens on 8 December 2003. This is intended to pave the way for the establishment of an integrated regional energy market in South Eastern Europe by 2005. In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding on the development of the South East Europe Core Regional Transport Network is due to be concluded early in 2004.

• Sharing opportunities: The European Commission is conducting preparatory work to extend tenders under Phare, Ispa and Sapard Community instruments. The Commission should take a decision on this issue before the end of 2003, which will be submitted to the Council shortly afterwards. This would allow companies in the Western Balkans to compete alongside European contractors for work under these instruments, to familiarise themselves with tendering procedures, potentially to win more business and establish links with economic operators in the Accession Countries.