FORUM OF SCHOOLS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATIONS

Topic: "Enlargement process: issue of Turkey and Western Balkans"

Guest: Mr Martin Harvey, the European Commission representative in Montenegro

Moderator: Ms Daliborka Uljarevic, Executive Director of CCE

After the summer break, the fall period of the Forum of European Integration Schools was opened with a lecture by Mr Martin Harvey, the European Commission representative in Montenegro on 16 October, 2006. The Forum is organised by the Centre for Civic Education, Centre for Development of Non-Governmental Organisations and European Movement in Montenegro in cooperation with the Faculty of Political Sciences and with support of the FOSI ROM.

At the beginning, Mr Harvey greeted the participants and expressed his pleasure to be the first official representative of EC in Montenegro, and to have the opportunity to have his first public appearance at the Forum of European Integrations Schools. He announced that during 2007 EC Delegation to Montenegro will be fully in operation. Its primary goal will be to develop cooperation both with the authorities and with the civil sector in order to assist Montenegrin road to EU.

In the course of the lecture, Harvey gave a short overview of the enlargement process for the Western Balkan countries, emphasising that the Council of EU has on several occasions reiterated its firm commitment to the European perspective of this region. "The countries of this region are all currently involved in different phases of the accession process. Croatia has already begun negotiations for EU membership, Macedonia has a candidate status, and this summer Albania concluded the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. Negotiations on SAA are under way with both Montenegro and Serbia", reminded Harvey. He explained that the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is a kind of contract between the countries of the Western Balkans and EU which regulates cooperation in the area of politics, justice and home affairs, economy, as well as technical issues (primarily relating to the internal arrangements of the EU single market and trade relations with the countries of Western Balkans). The goal of SAA is to establish free trade among EU and Western Balkan countries, and the key precondition for the opening of trade markets is implementation of reforms concerning legislation in various areas, such as industry, environment, etc.

Mr Harvey did not wish to anticipate the exact date when the negotiations will be concluded, noting that it was equally possible to happen next month or within a couple of months. He announced that EC will publish annual progress reports on all candidate and potential candidate countries in early November, evaluating their progress in the process of EU association, with a complete overview of different areas of concern. Once the report has been issued, EC will develop a European Partnership document, designating priority reforms to be conducted in short or long terms. Except for stipulating political agenda for reform, EP will also define the level of financial assistance allocated for the Western Balkan countries.

Speaking about the financial assistance system, Harvey emphasised that from 2007 onwards there will be a new assistance programme (IPA) replacing CARDS, which focused mainly on reconstruction, development and stabilisation. The focus of IPA will be on assistance in devising policies and other activities relevant for the pre-accession stage. However, Harvey stated that certain components of CARDS will remain in place after 2007.

The second part of his lecture concerned Turkey and its road to EU, which was presented in vivid details, seen that Mr Harvey worked as a EC representative for Turkey until only a month ago. He explained that Turkey gained the candidate status in 1999, but that the relationship between EU and Turkey is in fact much older. The agreement on association dates back to the 1960s, although the process was onset only in 1995, with the creation of a customs union between EU and Turkey, defining a free trade area and a customs-free flow of goods. In its relations with Turkey, EU insisted particularly on the fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria, and most of the attention was given to the political criteria, which was key problematic area for Turkey in terms of its potential membership in EU. "This is why six years have gone by since the beginning of negotiations, and there is still no sign of when Turkey might be expected to become an EU member", Harvey said. He added that Turkey had certain problems in fulfilling the political criteria, especially in the area of human rights, fundamental freedoms, but also in terms of refusing for a long time to abolish death penalty and to regulate the issues of the military and its role in the society. It was only in 2005 that the chapter on political criteria was closed. Accession negotiations and screening procedures (checks on the level of harmonisation with acquis communautaire in 35 areas of negotiation) were initiated at the same time as with Croatia. Once the EC confirms that harmonisation has been accomplished and that all the conditions have been satisfied, the final decision must be made on the conclusion of negotiations. In his opinion, this may well take several years.

 "There is another grave problem in the process of Turkish accession to EU: the relations between Turkey and Cyprus", Harvey emphasised. Decision to grant a membership status must be made unanimously by all EU members, including Cyprus, which makes the issue of accession of Turkey more difficult.

Talking about the accession of new members, there are other two factors which should be taken into consideration: the absorption power of EU to accept new members and the role and importance of the civil society in the process of EU accession. One aspect of this question regards its institutional nature, the other expresses financial concerns. There are people who believe that further enlargements may only precipitate the system into becoming ever slower and more dysfunctional. The second part of the issue concerns the EU budget, which is already insufficient to cover all the expenses of EU functioning and the implementation of its policies. According to many analysts, Turkey, with its 80 million inhabitants would significantly disturb the balance in the EU, both institutionally and financially. The current prognoses are that Turkey may join EU in more or less ten years. In its annual report for this year, EC will also propose a strategy for the resolution of the problem with Turkey.

The second important issue is the question of the civil sector and its role in the accession process, both in Turkey and in the Western Balkans. EC believes that cooperation with the civil society may further the process of association and dialogue between EU and the (potential) candidate countries. Civil society could play a very important role in promoting the European themes among the wider public. Therefore, the programmes in the area of education and public opinion research offered by EC to the (potential) candidate countries should be fully exploited, Harvey advised.

Following Mr Harvey’s lecture, there was a long, lively discussion on various aspects of the topic presented.

(reported by Centre for Civic Education)