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Environmental Governance in the Western Balkans

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Environmental Governance in the Western Balkans ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS Olivera Kujundzic1 Introduction: History and Steps forward The European Commission adopted the term “Western Balkans”2 to describe countries from the former Yugoslavia minus Slovenia but with the addition of Albania. Countries of the former Yugoslavia are quite inter- esting due to their federal heritage. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was composed of eight federal units: six republics, that is, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and two Autonomous Provinces within Serbia, that is, Kosovo and Vojvodina. The breakup occurred in several phases from 1991 to 2008, including intensive armed conflicts in some phases of the dissolution. Starting in early 1990s, the first conflict was followed by the secession of Slovenia, Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on the same day: 25 June 1991. They were followed by FYR Macedonia on 25 September 1991 and Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 March 1992. The rest of the former Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) by Serbia and Montenegro on 28 April 1992. The second conflict phase in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) ended with the Dayton Peace Agreement in December 1995. The third conflict phase (1996–1999) in Kosovo ended with the Kumanovo Agreement which put Kosovo under the administra- tion of the United Nations. The final dissolution phase began with renam- ing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 4 February 2003 as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The State Union was a temporary cre- ation and broke up in 2006 with the declaration of independence of Montenegro on 3 June 2006. In Kosovo, a unilateral declaration of inde- pendence was made on 17 February 2008 but is not recognized by Serbia and still has limited recognition across the international community. 1 Legal Advisor, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, Rome, Italy/ Montenegrin Ministry for Spatial Planning and the Environment, Podgorica, Montenegro. 2 European Commission, Western Balkans: Enhancing the European perspective, COM (2008) 127 final, 5 March 2008; European Commission, The Western Balkans on the road to the EU: consolidating stability and raising prosperity, COM (2006) 27 final, 27 January 2006. 236 olivera kujundzic After having been unified under the same administrative structure, the countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia took separate paths of State organization that fit their political, institutional and geographical circumstances. Considering the geographical size of the countries, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia and Montenegro became unitary States with quite simple State organization divided into two layers: State and munici- pal. The bigger constituents (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) had to choose more complex models. In Croatia, in addition to the central State government, a regional mid-layer and a municipal layer exist. In the former Yugoslavia, Serbia had two Autonomous Provinces (Vojvodina and Kosovo). Currently, the Republic of Serbia includes the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which has an unresolved relation with Kosovo and an internal model of regional/municipal administrative division similar to the Croatian one. This similarity is easy to explain because both models are part of the common heritage. The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most complicated one. Post-war Federation is a political creation that left the country with many organizational and functional troubles to be resolved. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a parliamentary republic with limited central power. It consists of two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with a third Region, the Brčko District, governed under local government. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of federal units (Cantons), whereas in the Republika Srpska, administrative division is simple and the basic unit is Municipality. All of these countries are on the road to EU membership. Croatia, Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are candi- date countries. Although accession negotiations with Croatia were closed on 30 June 2010, negotiations with Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have not started yet. The other countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99 – have all been promised the prospect of EU membership as and when they are ready. They are known as potential candidates.3 To analyse governance models and compare how varying institutional assets affect environmental protection, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were chosen to represent the Western Balkans countries. 3 See Countries on the road to EU membership at http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/ the-policy/countries-on-the-road-to-membership/index_en.htm..
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