EU plans ‘carrot and stick’ strategy to promote democracy in Balkan region

Date: 02/09/1999

By Simon Taylor

EU foreign ministers will discuss a "carrot and stick approach" to promoting democracy in the Balkans at their informal meeting in Finland this weekend.

Finnish Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen has written to her colleagues calling for a debate on the EU's strategy towards countries in the region. She wants to focus discussions on changes to the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia and incentives for groups opposed to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

EU governments are moving towards easing sanctions such as the oil and flight ban on Kosovo and Montenegro which were designed to weaken Serbia during the three-month NATO campaign against Milosevic's regime.

The Union has made a commitment to help Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic in his bid to move closer to the west and strengthen his hand against possible Serbian aggression.

Djukanovic recently described Yugoslavia as a "dictatorial state" and called for "considerably wider autonomy" for his country within Yugoslavia. EU governments have also warned that recent threats to Montenegrin attempts to loosen ties with Serbia are "undermining the national interests of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its relations with the international community".

EU diplomats say they are waiting for a proposal on the oil ban from the European Commission, but hope the necessary steps to lift the measures could be taken within a few weeks. The Commission has, however, warned that it would be difficult to ensure that oil did not reach Serbia if the sanctions were lifted for Kosovo and Montenegro.

A Finnish presidency spokesman said the EU had no intention of changing its policy of no contact with officials from the regime in Belgrade. Other Union sources suggested that foreign ministers might discuss other changes to sanctions against Serbia, including the freeze on politicians' foreign assets.

Ministers will also discuss ways to give political and material support to opposition groups within Serbia in order to weaken Milosevic's grip on power.

One idea floated in July was to provide gas and electricity to Serbian municipalities opposed to Milosevic's regime. The Commission has been asked to make concrete suggestions for achieving this, but EU officials have pointed out the practical difficulties of supplying particular cities and excluding others which are served by a common network.

Following the discussion on Yugoslavia, ministers will examine the lessons of the Kosovo conflict for the future of the European security and defence policy which EU governments agreed to create at their June summit in Cologne.

The Finns want to focus on both military and civilian means of handling crises such as Kosovo. Ministers will assess the resources available to the Union for tackling flare-ups and disasters as well as the type of decision-making structures needed to operate an effective policy in the future.

The debate is expected to focus on how to provide the necessary military input into policy decisions.

Options under discussion include setting up a permanent committee of political officials in Brussels which could hear the views of military experts when the need arose, or holding regular joint meetings of foreign and defence ministers.