South East Europe

Detailed proposals for EU style cohesion policies for the Western Balkans were outlined by Gerald Knaus of ESI at the conference. For a copy of their most recent paper on cohesion policy, The Road to Thessaloniki click here.

This cohesion approach was endorsed by John Bradley, Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin. For him the key issue for the Western Balkans remains economic development and addressing structural problems; "The Western Balkans have to start now", said Professor Bradley, drawing on his research into EU cohesion policy in the Irish Republic and in Central Europe. That means they must ;

• Focus on the overriding goal of raising income per capita;
  
• Take steps to identify their main constraints, such as peripheral location, poor infrastructure and institutions;
  
• Adopt suitable policies to increase investment in infrastructure, human capital, and communications;
  
• Carry out rigorous monitoring of policies to ensure effectiveness.

This requires a comprehensive development plan to be agreed with the EU. That in turn requires a shift to evidence-based policy-making. Detailed work is required immediately to gather the key statistics required to start the planning process. Click here for John Bradley's presentation (.pdf approx. 82kB).

The cohesion style approach adopted by the Greek EU Presidency, has been endorsed by the five Presidents of the region at their summit in Ohrid on June 2nd 2003; in which they

"welcome those in the European Union who have suggested for pre-accession mechanisms to apply on the cohesion in our region. We fully accept the conditionality that must accompany any shift from reconstruction to cohesion, including a commitment on our part to co-finance European projects".

For the statement click here

The Ohrid statement is part of a series of joint lobbying by regional leaders.