Carl Bildt, Temuri Yakobashvili, and Yuliya Tymoshenko

I was invited to Visby, Sweden, for the annual conference arranged by the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation on developments in Eastern Europe. This year’s focus was on the Eastern Partnership.

In my contribution, I explained that the Balkan countries, which have fought for an increased freedom of visas to the European Union, will be able to travel freely into the EU member states within a year. For some of the countries, this might come true already from the turn of the year.

Previously, the interior ministers in the EU countries used to block visa reform, referring to security measures, while the ministers for foreign affairs used to argue in favour of it. However, two years ago, the EU decided to state certain criteria for countries aiming for visa freedom. This has been a success. Today, three out of six Balkan countries have already implemented the EU-criteria – Macedonia has fulfilled all the criteria whereas Serbia and Montenegro have managed to realize most of them.

Countries like Georgia and Turkey should try to get the permission to start the same “strict but fair” process.

Among the guests were: Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Temuri Yakobashvili, Georgian Minister of Reintegration, and Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister.

Read more on this conference on ESI’s news pages.

Carl Bildt – Boris Nemtsov – Teija Tiilikainen

I moderated a panel on “Neighbourhood policies – Russia, Europe and the frozen conflicts” at a conference in Visby (Sweden) organized by the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, the Moderate Party of Sweden, and the Robert Schumann Foundation.

Among the guests were: Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Boris Nemtsov, Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mart Laar, Former Estonian Prime Minister, , State Secretary at the Finish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Akaki Minashvili, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Legal Issues of Georgia, Margaretha af Ugglas, Chairman of the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation and Former Minister for Foreign Affairs in Sweden and Eugeniusz Smolar, President of the Polish Centre for International Relations.

The seminar “Georgia’s Post-Rose Revolution Challenges and Civil Society’s Response” was organised by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, hosted in cooperation with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Among the guests were: Kenneth Yalowitz, former US Ambassador to Georgia and Belarus, Dieter Boden, Ambassador (ret.) and former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Georgia, Hans Gutbrod, Regional Director of the Caucasus Research Resource Centers EPF, Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation, Daniel Tarschys, Former Secretary General, Council of Europe.

In June, I was invited to discuss and exchange ideas among decision-makers and experts on the developments and the policy agenda with regard to the challenges in the EU Neighbourhood. The conference jointly organised by the Policy Planning Staff of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of France and the Bertelsmann Stiftung was the third in the series (of meeting organised by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Planning staffs of the Foreign Ministries of the consecutive EU Presidencies since 2006)

Pierre Levy, Head of Policy Planning Staff of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of France, Joachim Fritz-Vannahme, Director of the programme “Europe” at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Dr Markus Ederer, Head of Policy Planning Staff, German Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany were amongst the guests invited to the conference.

Together with the Slovenian EU Presidency and the Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU, ESI showed the film “Bosnia – A Miracle that does not shine”, part of the documentary series “Return to Europe”, in Brussels on 28 May 2008. This 52-minute documentary shows both the achievements made and the difficulties that still exist in this country that experienced a brutal war between 1992 and 1995.

So far the achievements outweigh the difficulties and that Bosnia suffers from a bad image that is no longer justified. ESI research conducted in Bosnia over the last two years shows that Bosnia’s peoples have found ways to live, work and do business together again and that particularly at the local level things work rather well – which is a miracle given Bosnia’s war legacy, but a miracle that has not yet begun to shine.

I advocated that Bosnia consider applying for EU membership soon, given that Montenegro and Albania plan to do so in a few months and Serbia will do so if a pro-European government is formed following the 11 May elections. Otherwise Bosnia risks becoming the last in the queue of Western Balkan countries striving to join the EU.

In recent months, there has been progress in Bosnia’s integration process. In mid-April, the political parties agreed on two police laws that have opened the way to the signing of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, now scheduled for 16 June. The associated trade-related Interim Agreement will then go into effect on 1 July. On 26 May, the European Commission launched a visa liberalisation dialogue with Bosnia, which will lead to the abolishment of the visa requirement for entry in the Schengen area once Bosnia meets a series of benchmarks. Such dialogues are conducted with all Western Balkans countries.

Some 60 people attended the event. The screening of the film was followed by a reception with drinks and Bosnian culinary specialties, offered by the Slovenian Permanent Representation and the Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Bosnia documentary will be broadcast by 3sat, a satellite channel shared by German-language public broadcasters from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, on Sunday, 1 June, at 21:00. The series “Return to Europe” aims to familiarise viewers with the Balkan region and its people, their dreams and hopes, and their struggle for a better future. ESI has contributed its research, contacts and expertise to this series, which is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious European TV project about the Balkans in recent years.

Part of ESI’s recent Bosnia research has been published in the report “A Bosnian Fortress”, which takes a look at the situation in Republika Srpska. A second report examining the state of affairs in the Bosniak-Croat Federation will be published in the coming months.

Audience

Gerald Knaus

Audience watching the film

With more than 100 guests, the ESI/EPC event was very well attended. Other participants in the debate included Axel Wallden from the European Commission; Glori Husi, Albania’s NATO coordinator; Erion Veliaj, ESI analyst and former head of the Albanian youth movement Mjaft.

I introduced the film on Albania that aims to deconstruct myths and stereotypes of Albania as a failed state that is mired in crime and corruption.