Bildt: Customs union between Balkans and EU

Beta News Agency, Belgrade, December 15, 2005 11:48

 

LONDON -- Thursday - Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt suggested a multilateral agreement between Balkan states and the EU that would integrate the whole region into the European customs system.

 

"Eventual EU membership is the light by which all Balkan political systems are trying to navigate. If it fades or goes out, peace efforts will be doomed throughout the region", Bildt warns in an article to newly-launched online policy journal Europe's World.

 

The former Swedish Prime Minister said there was widening recognition that the status quo in the Balkans was no longer sustainable and encouraged efforts to solve the difficult issue of Kosovo's status, but not in isolation from other outstanding issues in the region, notably the Balkans' path towards integration with the European Union.

 

He also said it was up to Belgrade and Podgorica to agree either to a functioning separation or to a functioning federation in the coming year.

 

"One possibility is to move on from the present patchwork of Stabilisation and Association Agreements - to be negotiated with Serbia, too, later this year - towards a more multilateral arrangement that could be based on making the whole region part of the EU's customs union and other associated policies", Bildt suggested.

 

Bildt said that with such a framework and policies, it ought to be possible to move the entire region towards integration into the European Union, although at different paces. "Croatia is obviously ahead, with Macedonia following, while it is equally obvious that both Kosovo and Albania have a considerable way to go until they meet the criteria. Serbia and Bosnia fall somewhere in between, but can catch up if the right policies are put in place", Bildt concluded.