‘Give Balkan leaders more responsibility’

Date: 19/01/06

Balkans envoy Erhard Busek has called on the EU to hand over responsibility for the future of the Balkans to local leaders.

Busek, the chairman of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe and former Austrian vice-chancellor, said that the EU and the international community would have now to find an exit strategy from the Balkans. "Sometimes I think we are against protectorates but are happy to be protectors," said Busek.

"I have started the process of shifting the Stability Pact to regional ownership because personally I am convinced that you can start something but to have an exit strategy has great importance."

Since its launch in the wake of the Kosovo crisis in 1999 the Stability Pact has been the focal point for EU and international attempts at conflict prevention in the region.

Stepping off the back foot to prevent rather than manage conflicts, the project sought to improve security, democratic systems and the economy of the region, with the promise of EU and NATO membership for the Balkan countries in the background.

Seven years on and the region undoubtedly still has problems. But Busek argues the that Stability Pact must now slowly be dismantled. "We want to make pieces out of the Stability Pact, to put the responsibility for fighting organised crime, or for [reform] of the judiciary system, or education and so on, step by step into the hands of the region," he said.

"I think we are now considering that in the timeframe from 2007-09 it must be possible to create this regional responsibility."

The idea of regional ownership - Balkan solutions to Balkan problems - may be an attractive concept but with reconciliation still elusive and many nationalist parties still in the political mainstream, Busek admits that the countries of the region may not yet be able to take up the mantle.

"They are supportive but they are not able for the moment," he said.

Comments by Erhard Busek, a former Austrian Vice-Chancellor and current EU special co-ordinator for the Balkans Stability Pact. According to Busek the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe should be dismantled until the end of the decade in favour of regional responsibility.

Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'EU-Balkans'.

Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe: Homepage http://stability-pact.org/

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