The European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) and King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) organise a conference on 10 December 2008 in Brussels on: “Does it really matter? Visa facilitation in the Western Balkans: Monitoring of the new agreements”. More information on the conference and the conference programme can be found here.

The new EULEX mission should be operational in a few days. Its legal basis is a report by the Secretary General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo which was adopted by the UN Security Council last week:

"I expect EULEX to move forward with its deployment in the coming period and to assume responsibilities in the areas of policing, justice and customs, under the overall authority of the United Nations, under a United Nations umbrella headed by my Special Representative, and in accordance with resolution 1244 (1999). UNMIK has been working closely with EULEX on technical arrangements designed to facilitate its deployment under resolution 1244 (1999)." (Ban Ki Moon in the Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo from 24 November 2008) (click on "MORE" to read on)

Drawing parallels and simplification helps us to understand the world. However, it can also lead to misunderstandings when parallels are drawn between very distinct situations and issues. The Caucasus crisis has often been compared to the Balkans and to the Cyprus issue. I do not have any problems with comparisons as long as they are balanced and take into account the differences. A lot of recent press comments lacked this balance and were based on simplistic equations such as Russia+Serbia vs. Kosovo+US+EU and Russia+South Ossetia+Abkhazia vs. Georgia+US+EU. Those same analysts were asking: "How come Russia is first against independence in the Kosovo-case and then pro-independence?" - acknowledging thereby the limits of their own system of analysis.
 

Tonight I just want to share a quote with you from an ECFR article by U. Guérot on EU and state building (the article is from February, but still remains of interest):

The coalition negotiations in Serbia have been ongoing for more than a month now, without too many results - some analysts worry about the consequences for the economy. Goran Svilanovic nevertheless is optimist: even a nationalist coalition would not impede Serbia's way into the EU, but only slow it down. Albert Rohan is less optimistic. And - à propos EU integration - Bosnia is looking forward to the signature of the SAA on 16 June - so much that everybody wants to take part! Macedonia hoped to start accession talks soon, but these may be postponed after the violent incidents during last Sunday's elections. And of course, EU integration may be hampered by the Greek-Macedonian name debate. In any case, the good news is that ...

After a few weeks without a stable internet connection, this blog is alive again! If you have access to German TV, you can enjoy a series of ESI-documentaries on the Balkans in May and June. They will also be shown on Austrian TV in autumn 2008.

Brussels is constantly promising money and EU accession to the Western Balkans. But which EU member state really wants new EU members, wonders H-J Schlamp in an opinion piece for the SPIEGEL (which I copy pasted below). The EU seems to be increasingly critical of Croatia's progress in accession negotiations, and does not seem to be willing to set a date for the start of negotiations with Macedonia (which has been waiting for more than two years (!!) after having been granted candidate status in December 2005). Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina could maybe start accession negotiations in 2015... and Serbia - well, it could be well on its way into the EU, if it had reacted differently to Kosovo's independence declaration. Read more below (only in German, unfortunately)...

"They did it. Contrary to expectations, they did it. Not the Kosovars who declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. But the European Union. Faced with Kosovo's long-expected move, the 27 EU countries largely stuck together, more or less agreed on a line to take, and have now begun the orderly deployment of a new ESDP mission." (Daniel Korski in the Guardian/Comment is free).

Indeed, the EU Council decided on Saturday 16 February to launch an EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo - EULEX Kosovo - which is due to start "after a 120-day transition period from the decision to launch", that is in about 4 months. After this important decision, the EU Council agreed to disagree on Monday on recognising the independence of Kosovo. It merely noted "that Member States will decide, in accordance with national practice and international law, on their relations with Kosovo." (cf. Tagesschau, 18.2.2008, click on "EU zu Kosovo"). 

Two new publications on the EU and the Western Balkans: in a short comment for the Guardian, Ian Bancroft explains why Kosovo is a crucial test for the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. In a new CAP study, Dominik Tolksdorf and Milka Vilovski develop 4 scenarios for the EU (non-)integration of the Western Balkans (in German). And for those of you who happen to be in Berlin on 28 November, there will be a panel discussion on "Revisiting the Europeanisation of the Balkans" at the Hertie School of Governance (Schloßplatz 1, Berlin) at 12:00 (click here to download the invitation/pdf).

Last week, the Commission published progress reports on the EU integration process of Kosovo and the potential candidate countries Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia. All of these reports listed the "usual" shortcomings: corruption, weak judiciary, slow political reforms, weak civil society ... (cf. BIRN and an EU Commission press release).

Regularly, European think tanks and analysts advocate a stronger EU involvement in the (Western) Balkans (cf. this blog 5 June and 20 July).

[The Salzburg meeting] was supposed to have been an opportunity to reaffirm the EU's commitment to the Western Balkan, countering growing anxiety in the region that its European prospects are slipping into the distant future. Even before the summit began, however, it was clear that this opportunity would be missed.

writes the European Stability Initiative about the latest informal summit of EU and Western Balkan foreign ministers (cf. the last entry of this blog). Click here to read the whole statement.