West Balkans Reassured About EU Prospects in Sarajevo

However, regional leaders meeting senior European and American officials in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, were told that their countries will only be allowed to take their place in the EU once they have carried out necessary reforms and resolved outstanding issues between them.

“The future of the Western Balkans lies in the European Union,” the Spanish EU presidency, which organized the high-level gathering, said in a statement issued after the meeting. “Important progress in economic and political reform has been made by the countries of the region… [but] the Western Balkans must intensify their efforts to fulfill the necessary established criteria and agreed conditions on their path towards EU membership,” the statement added.

Of the former Yugoslav republics, only Slovenia has joined the EU. Its southern neighbours are at various stages in the accession process and need to implement different sets of reforms and improve their mutual cooperation before they can fulfill their goal of joining the club

Specific requirements identified at the Sarajevo summit include strengthening the rule of law, improving the fight against corruption and crime, completing the process of sustainable refugee returns and ensuring freedom of the media.

The countries of the region were praised for their recent efforts to complete the process of reconciliation following the brutal Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The most recent conciliatory move was made in Sarajevo last weekend, when leaders of Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro adopted a joint declaration pledging to support each others' EU accession bids. The declaration was signed by the chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency and the presidents of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro: Haris Silajdzic, Ivo Josipovic, Boris Tadic and Filip Vujanovic.

Sweden's Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, told journalists ahead of the Sarajevo conference that he was “encouraged by the new speed of regional harmony; the cooperation that we have seen in the last few months.

“I think that will possibly have an effect on European integration… I believe it will take two years to move all the [Western Balkan] countries into the formal accession process,” Bildt added.

The participation in the Sarajevo summit by representatives of both Serbia and Kosovo was widely perceived as another important step towards easing tensions in the region. Serbia has previously refused to attend gatherings at which Kosovo was represented independently.

However, an agreement was reached ahead of the Sarajevo meeting to apply the so-called Gymnich formula, whereby no state names or symbols would be used but only the names of the delegates attending the meeting.

Senior European officials who participated in the Sarajevo summit included the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, the EU enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and the foreign ministers of Italy and Spain, Franco Frattini and Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Representatives of the US, Russia, Turkey and NATO also took part in the meeting that marked the tenth anniversary of a similar gathering in Zagreb, Croatia, when the EU launched the process to stabilize and integrate the Western Balkans.

The US Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg, who represented his country at the meeting, described the gathering as “an undeniable signal of our commitment to be partners of the countries in the region.

“This is more than just a rhetorical gesture, this is a strong signal by so many senior leaders of their personal commitment …to help provide a framework and encouragement [to Western Balkans countries] to move forward,” Steinberg said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by EU enlargement commissioner Fuele. “This conference today was about showing clearly that there is not that much ground for enlargement fatigue among the member states and not too much ground for enlargement apathy among the candidate countries and aspirants,” Fuele said.