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SVETLANA JOVANOVSKA AND AUGUSTIN PALOKAJ
23.11.2010 @ 12:59 CET
Greece plans to fix dates for the EU entry of Western Balkan states when it holds the EU's rotating presidency in 2014.
The target dates would be announced by a special summit of EU and Balkan state leaders that Athens is planning to boost the enlargement process, Greek foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas said in Brussels on Monday (22 November). However, diplomats in Brussels are sceptical about the initiative.
23.11.2010 @ 12:59 CET
Greece plans to fix dates for the EU entry of Western Balkan states when it holds the EU's rotating presidency in 2014.
The target dates would be announced by a special summit of EU and Balkan state leaders that Athens is planning to boost the enlargement process, Greek foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas said in Brussels on Monday (22 November). However, diplomats in Brussels are sceptical about the initiative.
When Greece chaired the EU in 2003, it hosted a successful summit in Thessaloniki dedicated to Balkan-EU integration. The meeting identified a number of measures to facilitate the integration process.
The most interesting was visa liberalisation, which became reality for Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro in 2009 and will finalised in Bosnia and Albania in December.
Now Athens wants to recharge the enlargement process in an "active and positively aggressive" manner, said Mr Droutsas, adding that a summit declaration should set specific, ambitious and realistic targets.
"This will be the new catalyst for change and progress," he said. "It will be the incentive for reforms and a basis for assessing governments in the region. It will be a vital commitment from Europe." The idea, however, runs counter to official EU policy which prioritises good preparation over fixed dates.
Athens also wants to set up special preparatory groups and alliances between member states and Balkan states to develop closer relations and help speed up EU integration. Member states should act as "mentors who will stand by the candidates every step of the way", Mr Droutsas explained.
In practical terms, this would mean creating joint working groups of candidate and member states, posting member state public administrators to candidate countries, knowledge provision, training seminars, ongoing assessment and preparation of candidates and close cooperation with the European Commission. "We can't wait for things to happen by themselves," said Mr Droutsas.
There was no official EU reaction to the Greek initiative for 2014 but numerous diplomats from other member states privately voiced strong doubts about it. Some said Greece was contradicting itself.
"They claim to support the fast membership of Balkan states but they block any step of their first neighbour towards this goal," said one diplomat, referring to the way Athens has blocked Macedonia entry into Nato and the EU as the result of a naming dispute between the two countries.
Several diplomats said attempts to fix accession dates were neither realistic nor serious. With the exception of Croatia, which is close to the conclusion of accession talks, other countries from the region have no realistic prospect of becoming EU members in the near future.
"If Greece was not blocking, we would already be negotiating membership of FYROM and this would have a positive impact on enlargement," a senior diplomat from a western EU member state told WAZ.EUobserver. "Instead, the Greece blockade is an excellent excuse for enlargement sceptics, who are growing in numbers within the EU, to further slow down this process."
The most interesting was visa liberalisation, which became reality for Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro in 2009 and will finalised in Bosnia and Albania in December.
Now Athens wants to recharge the enlargement process in an "active and positively aggressive" manner, said Mr Droutsas, adding that a summit declaration should set specific, ambitious and realistic targets.
"This will be the new catalyst for change and progress," he said. "It will be the incentive for reforms and a basis for assessing governments in the region. It will be a vital commitment from Europe." The idea, however, runs counter to official EU policy which prioritises good preparation over fixed dates.
Athens also wants to set up special preparatory groups and alliances between member states and Balkan states to develop closer relations and help speed up EU integration. Member states should act as "mentors who will stand by the candidates every step of the way", Mr Droutsas explained.
In practical terms, this would mean creating joint working groups of candidate and member states, posting member state public administrators to candidate countries, knowledge provision, training seminars, ongoing assessment and preparation of candidates and close cooperation with the European Commission. "We can't wait for things to happen by themselves," said Mr Droutsas.
There was no official EU reaction to the Greek initiative for 2014 but numerous diplomats from other member states privately voiced strong doubts about it. Some said Greece was contradicting itself.
"They claim to support the fast membership of Balkan states but they block any step of their first neighbour towards this goal," said one diplomat, referring to the way Athens has blocked Macedonia entry into Nato and the EU as the result of a naming dispute between the two countries.
Several diplomats said attempts to fix accession dates were neither realistic nor serious. With the exception of Croatia, which is close to the conclusion of accession talks, other countries from the region have no realistic prospect of becoming EU members in the near future.
"If Greece was not blocking, we would already be negotiating membership of FYROM and this would have a positive impact on enlargement," a senior diplomat from a western EU member state told WAZ.EUobserver. "Instead, the Greece blockade is an excellent excuse for enlargement sceptics, who are growing in numbers within the EU, to further slow down this process."
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