Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-268"
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"en.20050706.26.3-268"2
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".
Mr President, I am delighted to be here at the European Parliament at the start of the British Presidency of the European Union. The next six months will be a critical time for many of the western Balkan states. As Minister for Europe, I am looking forward to pursuing the inherited agenda and working to help the countries of the region move further along the road to Europe.
Serbia and Montenegro have clearly made great strides in the last six months. In April, the European Commission concluded a positive feasibility study recommending that the European Union open negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. The Council of Ministers has accepted this recommendation and invited the Commission to prepare a negotiating mandate. This is an important step for Serbia and Montenegro’s progress towards European Union integration.
By 5 October, which marks the fifth anniversary of the democratic changes in Belgrade, or by the tenth anniversary of the Dayton-Paris Accords in November at the latest, we would like Serbia and Montenegro to have begun negotiations for a stabilisation and association agreement. But cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal must continue to improve and in this respect Mladic and Karadzic are key, all the more so in light of the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which we will commemorate next week.
I would also like to underline the importance of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in the interests of all the people of Kosovo. Only through participation in the democratic institutions of government can Kosovar Serbs ensure that their concerns are taken into account. We have welcomed Belgrade’s decision to encourage the Kosovar Serbs to participate in the decentralisation working groups and look to Belgrade to carry this through.
Bosnia and Herzegovina have also recently made important progress towards the opening of negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement with the European Union. This prize is within Bosnia and Herzegovina’s grasp but will remain out of reach until it has met the relevant conditions, which include agreeing on police restructuring, reforming public broadcasting and demonstrating full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
We would like Bosnia and Herzegovina to open SAA negotiations under our Presidency by the tenth anniversary of the Dayton-Paris Peace Agreement, but that requires further progress by the Bosnian authorities to meet the feasibility study priorities.
I have attempted today to summarise the present situation regarding our priorities for the Western Balkan countries over the next six months. There are certainly big challenges ahead, but let me end on a note of optimism.
In the last ten years so much has changed for the better: free and fair elections have been held throughout the region; changes of government via the ballot box are routine; large-scale conflict no longer threatens; countries of the region work together to improve the lives of their citizens. The European Union and other international partners are united in working with the region to maintain stability and create prosperity. The dark days of the early 1990s seem predominantly to be a distant memory. But as we move further down the road to closer integration between the western Balkan countries and the European Union, it is up to the countries concerned to make their cases irrefutable.
We understand that the European Union’s commitment to the regions has to be honoured and we undertake to do so. But during this time of introspection within the European Union and of uncertainty about its future shape and direction, it is all the more important that the countries of the region fulfil their own commitments, not in the interests of the European Union – although that is important – but for the sake of their people who for far too long suffered at the hands of those who claimed to represent their interests but who in fact only fomented hostility and strife.
Next week – as recognised by the title of this debate – marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995. Seven to eight thousand Muslim men and women were killed in cold blood in the worst act of genocide in Europe since 1945. We recognise that the international community failed to realise what was happening until it was too late and failed in its duty to protect innocent civilians, unarmed men, women and children. However, whatever the sins of omission of the international community, which we deeply regret at this time of sadness and remembrance, let us not forget the sins of commission by the attacking Bosnian Serb forces. The ultimate responsibility lies with those who murdered, raped and tortured in cold blood.
As we all know, some have already been tried and found guilty of their part in these atrocities, others have been acquitted. But those held most responsible – Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic – are still at large as fugitives from justice. Ten years on from this terrible event, it is surely time for the authorities in the region – in Serbia and Montenegro, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Croatia – to grasp the nettle and meet their international obligations to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. But it is also time for them to honour their obligations to
people to remove the outstanding obstacles to them taking their rightful place within the European family of nations. I call upon all those in a position to make a difference to work together to remove this poison from the body politic, and to hand over all outstanding fugitives indicted for war crimes so that they may face justice in The Hague.
It is also a privilege, in taking over the European Union Presidency at this time, to be faced with so much hope and, indeed, opportunity. Croatia is on the cusp of opening accession negotiations to become a full member of the European Union, only ten years after the end of the war in 1995. As the European Council has made clear on a number of occasions, it is Zagreb’s responsibility to remove the one outstanding obstacle to these negotiations: the continuing failure to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. As the European Union Presidency, we stand ready to open negotiations as soon as the Council is satisfied that this obligation has been met. Clearly, the easiest way to overcome this obstacle would be to arrest and hand over the fugitive Ante Gotovina.
It would be a sign of our commitment to all the western Balkan countries and to the Thessaloniki commitments that they are all prospective candidates if we were able to open accession negotiations during our Presidency. But the ball lies firmly in Zagreb’s court.
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has also made much progress since the outbreak of ethnic conflict in 2001. Whilst there is still work to do to implement fully the terms of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, later this year the Commission will publish its opinion on the Republic’s application to join the European Union submitted last year. As with any other applicant, full compliance with the Copenhagen criteria is a precondition. We look forward to assisting the authorities in Skopje in making further progress on the terms of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, especially in targeting corruption and organised crime and implementing economic and judicial reform.
The timing of opening negotiations will depend on the authorities’ commitment to tackling these issues in deed as well as in word. In Albania, it would appear that the recent elections passed in a generally peaceful manner. While the count continues, we urge all political forces to respect the due electoral process and resist premature judgements on the outcome. Nevertheless, we hope that a new government can be formed as soon as possible to ensure that Albania can continue her progress towards a stabilisation and association agreement. In this respect, the new government will need to tackle the endemic problems of corruption and organised crime and implement judicial reform if it is to fulfil its European aspirations which we fully support. One of the greatest challenges we face, of course, is Kosovo. The time is fast approaching when we should address the difficult and sensitive issue of Kosovo’s final status. Any outcome must work for all of Kosovo’s communities and reinforce regional stability. That is why the contact group and the European Union have both ruled out any return to the
ante-1999 or any internal partition of Kosovo. Neither would serve the interests of the people of Kosovo or the region.
As for independence, that is clearly one option. But I would remind those who advocate independence that they must convince all communities and the world at large that independence can work and that the rights of Kosovo’s minorities as well as those who have yet to return to Kosovo after the violence of 1999 will be fully respected. If the people of Kosovo wish to join the European mainstream, they must learn to live together as equals, respecting their differences.
The current comprehensive review of standards is therefore a critical challenge. How positive the review will be depends on progress on the ground. Its outcome is not a foregone conclusion. I recognise that there has been real progress with standards implementation, but more needs to be done. A failure to demonstrate commitment for further work in key areas would not bode well for a positive outcome to the comprehensive review. The future is therefore in the hands of the Kosovo authorities in Pristina. In the meantime, the European Union has an important role to play in supporting further progress, in particular in the area of economic development."@en1
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