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EIC Bulletin E l e c t r o n i c m o n t h l y m a g a z i n e f o r E u r o p e a n i n t e g r a t i o n - N o . 2 7 , D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 7 FFOOCCUUSS OOFF TTHHIISS IISSSSUUEE Government and employers on the Interim Agreement with EU coming into force on 1 January IINNTTEERRVVIIEEWW Juliana Nikolova, expert of the European Institute in Sofia AANNAALLYYSSEESS May first tensions between Podgorica and Montenegro undermine credibility of the Government of Montenegro C u r r e n t a f f a i r s D e c e m b e r , 2 0 0 7 P O L A N D , S L O V A K I A , H U N G A R Y , C Z E C H R E P U B L I C , S L O V E N I A , M A L T A , L A T V I A , L I T H U A N I A A N D E S T O N I A J O I N E D T H E S C H E N G E N Z O N E Borders disappeared fter they became EU members Ain May 2004, Central and East European countries scored another success on the 21 December - they HHOOPPEE joined the Schengen zone. The bor- nd of 2007. The Government says it was ders of Eastern Europe, once Ea historical year - Montenegro's guarder by machine guns and achievements with regard to EU accession barbed wire have now disappeared, in 2007 deserve to be included in history Removal of the border textbooks. Indeed, Montenegro entered its with celebrations, fireworks, toasts first official, contractual relationship with and music. At the Slovakian-Austrian border, EU on 15 October 2007, after having The nine countries joined the signed the agreements on visa facilitation visitors could get souvenir stamps in and readmission. existing 15 members to create a their passports. All would agree that the signing of space the size of one third of the The decision to enlarge the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is territory of USA, spanning 4000 Schengen zone, named after the an exceptional event, opening the EU membership perspective to the smallest kilometres of passport-free area Luxembourg village where in 1985 and least developed republic of the former from Estonia to Portugal. the first agreement was signed on SFRY. The government was overjoyed, but Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech passport-free travel, also sprouted the opposition too welcomed the agree- Republic, Slovenia, Malta, Latvia, ment, hoping that the presence of EU in fears of rising crime rates and illegal Montenegro will become stronger, that it Lithuania, and Estonia joined the migration. Although many feel this will help them to "control the government" Schengen zone. Cyprus, also an EU could be the negative side of and indirectly implement some order in member since 2004, asked for a year Schengen, the worries are offset by Montenegro so it does not become a "Mediterranean Columbia". of delay before opening its borders. hopes of boosting business and Opposition dreams may even come Romania and Bulgaria have joined tourism. true, seen that the European Commission the EU this year, but will still have to Border barriers have been cere- Delegation promised to bring 40 employees to its Podgorica office in early 2008. Maybe, meet numerous security criteria monially removed, customs officers because everything depends on whether the before joining the Schengen zone. abandoned their posts and people government will allow any control. By the The enlarged Schengen zone were moving freely back and forth example of the Strategy for energy develop- includes 24 countries and some 400 ment, it seems unlikely. Add the case of the across the border that once separat- Spatial plan, and you get a complete picture million people. At the moment it ed the Soviet block from the West. of a government confident of its superior covers land and coastal border, and German chancellor Angela knowledge and skills. What is left for the will be extended to airports in Merkel, who was herself brought up Brussels representatives to do? Nothing, except to report to their bosses, and their March 2008. in the communist East Germany bosses to Olli Rehn and so forth. Then the Thousands of people form welcomed this historical move that EU could in turn decide to ignore our Latvia, Lithuania and Poland went to for many signifies the final disap- prospective membership application. find work in UK or Ireland, whose To conclude: there is hope for pearance of the shadow of "Iron Montenegro. The ruling coalition is so labour markets have been long open Curtain". untouchable for so long also because of its to workers from the new EU mem- "We are happy to have lived ability to adapt to new circumstances. ber states. UK and Ireland are not through this truly historical moment" Should there be any deeper confrontations with EU institutions, however, it will be members of the Schengen zone. said Merkel at the ceremony in cleared the government is ruled from infor- Borders disappeared also Zitau on the German border with mal seats of power who care little for the between the Baltic countries, Poland, adding that borders have future of Montenegro if that would mean lower profits for them. The conclusion still including the city of Valga-Valka on caused must suffering in the past. holds. Unmasking the hidden enemy is half the Estonian-Latvian border, where the road to victory. N.R. the border divided the main street. N.R. E I C B u l l e t i n N o 2 7 2 A t t i t u d e D e c e m b e r , 2 0 0 7 A V I E W F R O M E U R O P E You are slowly getting better "Nevertheless, even if we believe that this as a transparent, economically prospering decision is the right one, we know very country, free of endemic corruption, with well that this is a mid-term prospect, and stable structures in all respects. This that much preparation will be need it to includes a pluralistic society, freedom of turn the perspective of EU membership expression and, of course, the strict rule into reality". She also added that she sees of law. We want to see Montenegro as an a rather rapid accession possibility only integral element of a democratic, ever for Croatia. more united Europe. We want to see Our concrete Presidency working Montenegro's structures economically, program for the Western Balkans has politically, sociologically and ecologically by Dr Thomas Schmitt meanwhile been implemented com- sustainable. And we want to remove all pletely in the case of Montenegro, barriers that still impede the full interac- am convinced that Montenegro has a although with a certain technical time tion of society and economy between Ivery good perspective in terms of its delay: the conclusion of the SAA, the Montenegro and the rest of Europe - of European future. As a matter of fact, in Visa Facilitation and the Readmission course, including Germany. some important areas, things develop Agreements. Also, the EU Council has There is still a lot of structural home- much better in Montenegro than in adopted a European Partnership with work to be done in a country that has other areas of the Balkans. Yes, Montenegro on 22 January 2007. It was regained its independence after an inter- Montenegro has to change, if it wants to signed under the German Presidency but ruption of almost 90 years. We support become a member of the EU and if it negotiations leading to it had been con- that in many ways. Bilaterally through wants to compete internationally under ducted mostly under previous Pre- organizations like GTZ (Society for conditions of globalization. But the sidencies, especially the Finnish one. It Technical Cooperation), KfW (Credit problem of Montenegro is not a person. forms the basis of European financial and Institution for Reconstruction), HELP, or The problem is not a party. The main structural cooperation with Montenegro, our political foundations (such as KAS problem of Montenegro is: old habits, in the form of the famous IPA (Konrad Adenauer Foundation) or FES old networks and still inadequate legal and administrative structures. I am To modernize a society is always a long-tterm project. But we are always trying to point to these problems. optimistic that Montenegro will achieve these goals. We are opti- This is what will have to change if we mistic that Montenegro will be a success story, eventually want to get Montenegro successfully into the EU and into the modern world! And (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance). (Friedrich Ebert Foundation). But there are I am optimistic it will change, over time. And it provides for a three-year assis- many other organizations and persons After Thessaloniki in 2003, the tance program of around 33 million euro from Germany involved in this. European Union's policy of Stabilisation per year for Montenegro. Multilaterally, we do this through our and Association has contributed critically to Why do we do this? Why all these share in international organizations, where progress achieved throughout the region in promises, why all that money? I can, first we are one of the largest contributors. In promoting stability and in bringing the of all, speak for my country.

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