Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-16-Speech-2-044"
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"en.20041116.8.2-044"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to make use of this opportunity to compliment Commissioner Patten, who is still with us in what is actually extra time, on the part he has played over the past years in the Balkans and particularly in the former Yugoslavia. Despite his sombre view of the stabilisation and association agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina, I do think that it is essentially a good thing that the European Union, after all these years, has achieved its ambition of mounting a major operation, and, remarkably enough, doing so in the former Yugoslavia. Following the Dayton accords in 1995, it was NATO that assumed responsibility as the stabilising power in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now that the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy is taking shape, it is a logical progression that the European Union should take upon itself responsibility for stability in the heart of its own continent. So it augurs well that the European Union should, at the end of this year, be replacing NATO as the stabilising power in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ALTHEA is an important test of the European Union’s ambitions in the defence field. With an initial 7 000 troops, the operation is manifestly bigger than the European Union’s previous operations, such as Concordia in Macedonia and Artemis in the Congo. In operational terms, the mission is a continuation of SFOR. ALTHEA has the same solid mandate, which, as we see it, is the best possible guarantee of our soldiers’ safety. NATO’s experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be drawn on, but political responsibility lies with the European Union, so that it can demonstrate its ability to play a generally external role on a larger scale than before.
In my experience, people in Bosnia take a generally favourable view of this mission. Everyone I spoke to on my recent visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomed greater involvement by the European Union. At the same time, there are still tensions between the country’s various constituent parts, to which reference has just been made. While the Bosnian Croat federation is clearly drawing closer to Europe on its way to EU membership, Republika Srpska is still unwilling to cooperate with the tribunal in The Hague. The operation must help to further stabilise the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ALTHEA must, as best it can, help to build up the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the rule of law, police and the army and stable democratic structures, enabling the country to be integrated into European structures. The ultimate objective must be that Bosnia-Herzegovina becomes capable of standing on its own feet as a complete and integral state – and that, I believe, must be the European Union’s ambition.
No date has as yet been given for the EU’s mission to end, but it cannot be the intention that a military force should simply remain in place until such time as Bosnia is ready to join the European Union. For the time being, there is no realistic timeframe for this, but accession to the EU is, so to speak, a civil rather than a military operation. Only a functioning state, capable of guaranteeing its own security, can credibly apply for membership of the European Union.
So it is that normalisation is the objective, and hence it is also necessary that the European Council, having resolved upon this mission, should also, and as soon as possible, devise some kind of exit strategy which might well be connected with the stabilisation and association process. Such an exit strategy will also require the EU to step up its involvement in developments in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Only if we are working towards withdrawal can ALTHEA make any substantial contributions towards achieving the ultimate objective, that being to prepare Bosnia and Herzegovina for stability as part of the European structure."@en1
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