‘Virtual membership’ to keep Balkan states’ eye on the prize

Date: 11/11/1999

By Simon Coss

ALTHOUGH it will be many decades before the countries of ex-Yugoslavia are ready to join the EU, European Commission President Romano Prodi believes their hopes of eventual entry should be kept alive with the offer of 'virtual membership'.

Prodi is convinced that the Balkan states' ultimate future will be as members of the Union. “After the next wave of EU enlargement, there will be a great hole in the EU map where the Balkans are,” said Prodi's spokesman Ricardo Levi recently. He added that it was almost certain that this hole would be filled “sooner or later”.

However, he also stressed that “later” could mean anything up to 50 years from now and that the EU needed to adopt a coherent strategy which would keep governments in the region focused on the ultimate goal of Union membership in the meantime.

According to Prodi, virtual EU membership could be just what is needed. Although the Commission president's aides stress that no 'blueprint' has been drawn up to show how their boss' plan would work in practice, several elements of his approach are already clear.

In essence, virtual membership would grant Balkan governments observer status at some meetings of the Union's main policy-making institutions - the Council of Ministers, Commission and European Parliament.

No decisions have been made on which meetings the ex-Yugoslavians would be able to attend. But some experts have suggested open Council debates, which are broadcast live to the press room, and perhaps some 'non-sensitive' meetings of the Commission. Most proceedings in the European Parliament are open to the public anyway, so granting Balkan governments observer status there should pose few problems.

Prodi argues that virtual membership would allow the Balkan states to become well-versed in the way the Union conducts its business many years before they actually join the bloc.

This, he says, would have a double advantage. Firstly, there would be little or no 'culture shock' for governments when they finally enter the EU.

Secondly, and more importantly as far as Prodi is concerned, exposure to the Union's working methods should encourage the Balkan governments to introduce democratic reforms back home.

Critics argue that the EU is not really in a position to give lessons in democracy, claiming that its secretive and bureaucratic legislative structures means that the Union is anything but a model of open and accountable government.

But Prodi's aides refute such criticisms and insist that prolonged exposure to all things EU would have an almost entirely positive effect on the Balkan region. “We have to induce these countries to look to Europe to provide the ultimate solution to their problems,” said Levi.