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Comment: Enter the Regional Co-operation Council

Erhard Busek

08 10 2007  The replacement of the Stability Pact by a new body sends out the message that regional co-operation in South-eastern Europe is alive and kicking.

By Erhard Busek in Brussels

Regional co-operation has been a vehicle of reconstruction, reconciliation, stabilisation and economic growth in South-eastern Europe, SEE, since the end of the 1990s. Regional co-operation has also been the core business of the Stability Pact since its launch in 1999. But, seven years down the road, the time has come to review the framework of the Stability Pact, adapting it to the evolving situation in the region.

South-eastern Europe is today a more stable, economically viable and secure region. Individual countries and the region as a whole still face a number of complex challenges, starting with the issue of defining the future status of Kosovo.

However, general progress in democratic standards, macroeconomic stability and the improvement of the security environment imply that the region is ready to take matters into its own hands, also in the field of regional co-operation.

This has been the guiding principle of the transformation of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe into a regionally-owned and led framework, the Regional Co-operation Council, RCC.

The transition process is a joint process involving the wider Stability Pact community, composed of SEE countries and the main international actors involved in SEE, and is giving new impetus to the South East European Co-operation Process, SEECP, the main framework for political consultation in the region.

Key decisions have already been taken: the RCC today has a Secretary-General coming from and chosen by the SEE, Hido Biscevic, currently State Secretary at Croatia’s Foreign Ministry; an RCC Secretariat located in Sarajevo; and a legal basis in the form of a Host Country Agreement between Bosnia-Herzegovina and SEECP countries that was signed in Plovdiv September 14.

The RCC Board, which will provide strategic and operational guidance and supervision to the RCC, will gather in Sarajevo for its first, informal meeting on Tuesday, October 9. It is composed of representatives of all SEE countries, EU institutions and prospective RCC international donors. And a day later, a formal ceremony will celebrate both the selection of Sarajevo as the site of the RCC Secretariat and the recent signing of the Host Country Agreement.

These are very tangible signs that the future of regional co-operation is taking shape. The Stability Pact’s transformation is happening according to the agreed timetable, and the process is enjoying the full support of SEE countries and the international community.

In particular the EU, fully represented on the RCC Board, has been involved in all phases of the transformation, will contribute financially to the budget of the RCC Secretariat and sees the RCC as its main interlocutor on regional co-operation in SEE.

This clearly shows the importance the EU attaches to regional co-operation. It means that the RCC, thanks to its diverse membership made by countries that are already EU members, candidate and potential candidate countries, will be an important training ground for European integration for all the countries involved, and will once again prove that regional co-operation and European integration are two mutually complementary processes.

The stage is set for the final handover from the Stability Pact to the Regional Co-operation Council that will take place in February 2008.

But progress in transforming the overall framework will not divert attention from the substantial work under way in several thematic areas as part of the framework of the Pact.

These constitute the real backbone of regional co-operation, from trade liberalisation and the promotion of investments, to parliamentary co-operation and electronic government, the fight against crime and corruption, and the prevention of natural and man-made disasters.

I would like to give you just a few examples of ongoing concrete co-operation where some landmark achievements have been reached.

An important component of the economic dimension of the regional co-operation agenda is the new Central Europe Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA 2006), which has been ratified by all parties.

The first meeting of the CEFTA 2006 Joint Committee took place in Ohrid on September 28, and Ministers of Trade took key decisions to implement the agreement.

These included establishing high-level sub-committees to deal with priority issues such as agriculture, customs co-operation and non-tariff barriers, and a commonly agreed list of mediators who can, in line with the Agreement, assist the Parties to settle disputes if requested.

Liberalisation of trade and investment is a cornerstone of economic prosperity in SEE, and is closely related to attracting badly-needed foreign direct investment to the region as well as promoting domestic investment and regional investment flows.

Co-ordination, peer-review mechanisms and exchange of best practices between the countries of the region have a major role in improving the investment climate in each of them, and in identifying and implementing key reforms.

This is the aim of the recently launched SEE Investment Committee, a modern tool assisting SEE countries in developing policy guidelines and implementing reforms in the field of investments, mirroring in SEE mechanisms already adopted by the most advanced economies of the world.

Complementing these efforts is the encouraging work ongoing in the information and technology area, which is so important to the development of the knowledge economy of the future.

SEE countries of the region also established a Focal Point on Parliamentary Co-operation hosted by the National Assembly of Bulgaria, that will facilitate networking and information exchange between parliaments of the region.

It is intended to enhance their co-operation at different levels, and help improve the lawmaking process throughout the region and the ability of parliaments to oversee their governments’ activities - a pillar of modern democracy and a pre-condition of getting closer to the EU.

Last but not least, action is being taken to critically upgrade SEE countries’ capacities to respond to natural and man-made disasters. Devastating forest fires this summer, as well as the extensive floods of the Danube and its tributary rivers in recent years, not to mention the region’s vulnerability to earthquakes, all highlight the need for a co-ordinated regional approach in this area.

SEE countries signed on September 24 a Memorandum of Understanding on the Institutional Framework of the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South Eastern Europe (DPPI SEE).

The Memorandum will further enhance regional co-operation and regional consultation in the field of disaster management and commit the participating countries to assume more technical and financial responsibility for preventing, preparing for and dealing with disasters.

All these thematic activities and initiatives are, by now, mainly regionally owned and are designed to meet the priorities for cross-border co-operation identified by the region itself. While until now they used to operate within the framework of the Stability Pact, they will now move under the RCC umbrella.

In sum, regional co-operation in SEE is gaining increased energy and substance.

Its importance is now widely recognized by the region itself, which was not the case only a few years ago. The transformation of the Pact into the RCC is catalysing new political energy into the many dimensions of regional co-operation. International support, far from vanishing, will instead be facilitated and made more concrete by the region assuming more direct responsibility.

By the same token, increasingly working together to tackle and resolve common problems, SEE countries are paving their way to a credible and closer European future.

Erhard Busek is Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication