Open Letter on Montenegro
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 19:08:17 +0200 (EET)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Open Letter on Montenegro
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Boris Pajkovic <[email protected]>
Open Letter on Montenegro
media release
EU pressure on Montenegro is "unwise"
Brussels, 14 February, 2002: A group of prominent European politicians
and activists today sent an open letter to the Secretary General of
the Council of the European Union, Dr Javier Solana Madariaga,
expressing extreme concern about the EU's approach to
Montenegrin-Serbian relations. Among the signatories are members of
the European parliament, former foreign ministers and the Chairman of
the Irish parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
The drafting of the letter was coordinated by the Centre for European
Policy Studies (CEPS) and the International Crisis Group (ICG). A copy
of the letter accompanies this media release.
Peter Palmer, ICG's Montenegro analyst, said: "The priority for the EU
should be to help Montenegro and Serbia to find a stable solution
which both sides can live with. By seeking to impose a solution by
applying extreme pressure to just one side, the EU is actually
polarizing the parties and making a tense situation worse."
Nicholas Whyte, Research Fellow and Communications Manager at CEPS
said: "The EU must not force unwilling partners into a new federation.
Too often in history, the great powers of the day have tried this
approach and then had to deal with the consequences. European values
surely require the EU not to take a stand on the final status of
Yugoslavia but to facilitate peaceful resolution of the problem. There
is still time for this to work."
For interviews:
Nicholas Whyte, CEPS, Brussels
+32 (0) 2 229 3911 (CEPS)
+32 (0) 2 229 3942 (direct)
+32 (0) 495 544 467 (mobile)
Peter Palmer, currently at ICG Pristina
+381 (0) 38 243 561
For information:
Katy Cronin or Sascha Pichler, ICG Brussels
+32 (0) 2 536 0064 or 70 (direct)
An Open Letter to Dr Javier Solana Madariaga,
Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and
High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy
14 February 2002
Dear Dr Solana;
We have been following with strong interest your efforts to try to
resolve the present impasse over the future of Montenegro-Serbian
relations. We are extremely concerned that the EU is trying to
bull-dozer Podgorica in a direction that would be economically and
politically unwise.
On the economic side, Podgorica has already moved faster towards the
open European market (tariff average 3%) than Belgrade (tariff average
10%), and should not now be required to move backwards.
Podgorica has already introduced not only the DM as its currency two
years ago, but now successfully - and without external help - moves
onto the euro for its budget and replaces DM by euro notes and coins.
It should not be forced back onto the Yugoslav dinar, a currency with
a very bad track record.
Economic openness and the euro as currency make sense for a small
coastal Adriatic economy, which can build a prosperous future with
tourism as its main export industry. There is no reason why a small
economy of this type cannot be viable - in population Montenegro is
about the same as Cyprus and much bigger than Malta.
Re-integration of the region together with its integration with the
EU, are objectives that we all support. But the EU should not push for
a federation between unwilling partners. As you will remember surely,
history is littered with failures of this type, mostly imposed by the
European great powers of the day.
A different scenario is entirely possible, and suggested in fact by
the Montenegrin statement of 5 February 2002. If a constitutional
agreement cannot be found today, it would be better to welcome the
perspective of progressive convergence of Serbia and Montenegro over
the time horizon ahead for preparing for EU accession (i.e. at least
ten years). In the meantime, there would be several options including:
(1) a loose confederation, allowing for different economic policies
for the time being, and (2) independence. Either one would have to be
legitimised by a referendum. We strongly believe that the people of
Montenegro should be allowed to exercise their democratic right to
decide on the future of their republic.
In all cases the outcome could be supported by an agreement between
the parties to resume re-integration talks after some years as EU
accession becomes a closer prospect. The EU should abstain from
expressing any further preference over which should be the solution,
but simply facilitate an amicable resolution without more delay, and
agree to be supportive in all cases.
In all cases Belgrade should get on with the job of rationalising its
own government structures, eliminating the overlap of Yugoslav and
Serbian governments.
Finally we must express our alarm at the undoubted fact that EU
pressure for a federal solution is playing into the hands of political
factions in both Belgrade and Podgorica that are the least progressive
in terms of modern European values, rather than the reverse.
Yours sincerely,
Ersin Arioglu, Chairman, Yapi Merkezi, Turkey; International Crisis
Group board member Emma Bonino, Member of the European Parliament;
former European Commissioner; International Crisis Group board member
Richard Caplan, Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies,
University of Oxford Michael Emerson, Senior Research Fellow, CEPS
Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group; former Foreign
Minister, Australia Daniel Gros, Director, Centre for European Policy
Studies, Brussels Tim Judah, Journalist, London, England Desmond
> O'Malley TD, Chairman, Joint Foreign Affairs Committee, Irish Parliament Peter Palmer, International Crisis Group Montenegro Analyst Heidi R�hle, Member of the European Parliament, B�ndnis 90/Die Gr�nen P�r Stenb�ck, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finland; International Crisis Group board member Ed van Thijn, former Minister of Interior, The Netherlands; former Mayor of Amsterdam; International Crisis Group board member Nicholas Whyte, Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels
==========================================================
Boris Pajkovic E-mail:[email protected]
Newcastle University Tel.:++(0)191/222-8510/222-6359
Geography-Daysh Building Fax:++(0)191/222-5421
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU England/UK
==========================================================
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================