E l e c t r on i c mon th l y maga z i n e f o r Eu r op ean i n t e g r a t i on - No . 5 9 , Augu s t 2 0 1 0

European pulse

IIIINNNNTTTTEEEERRRRVVVVIIIIEEEEWWWWExecutive

Director ofBelgrade Centrefor Euro-Atlantic

Studies (CEAS)Jelena Mili}

AAAANNNNAAAALLLLYYYYSSSSEEEESSSSWhy is

economiccitizenshipa problem

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States' troubleswith ambitious

educational goals

FFFFOOOOCCCCUUUUSSSS OOOOFFFF TTTTHHHHIIIISSSS IIIISSSSSSSSUUUUEEEEHow the Governmentmade a lot of trouble inthe process of digitalisationof electronic media

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2Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0F o r eword / Ca l enda r

IIMMAAGGEEWould an MP in Bundestag raise inprotest, or would the EuropeanCommission demand an urgent meetingwith the representatives of theGovernment of Iceland, which is a stepahead of Montenegro regarding EU inte-gration, if this tiny republic announced itsintention to grant citizenship to investorswilling to bring at least half a millioneuros to the country, as they did inMontenegro's case?

It's very likely that Iceland wouldnever receive such a negative reactionfrom the international, as well as thenational public. The reason, or one ofthem, is that Iceland doesn't have theimage of a corrupt state (cf. BBC and theNew York Times), although its nowdefunct banks devoured fortunes of tensof thousands British and Dutch citizens.

Montenegrin Government is wellaware that, to cite its Communicationstrategy for informing the public aboutEU and preparing the country for mem-bership, it ought to "invest further effortsto improve the international image of thecountry".

In the absence of which a single EUmember can easily find a reason to blockMontenegro' further progress towardsmembership.

But the Government needs toremember that it can't sell a Yugo engineas Mercedes.

The sketch of a new engine modelin the shape of European legislationtransposed into the Montenegrin onealready exists, and it only takes a bit ofwill for a variety of institutions to startmoving.

Removing defunct bits off theMontenegrin car and letting the Europeanmedia know about it would already go along way towards improving Monte-negro's international image. And wouldcertainly bring many more healthy invest-ments and investors who aren't into buy-ing Montenegrin passports. V.@.

SSttrraatteeggyy aaggaaiinnsstt ccoorrrruuppttiioonn wwiitthh MMaauurreerr ((55 AAuugguusstt)) - The Government submitted theAnti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for the period 2010-2014 to the EUDelegation in Podgorica. These documents are of key importance for the EU acces-sion process, and their contents have already been criticised by some non-govern-mental organisations and civil society.

OOppppoossiittiioonn ccaammppaaiiggnnss ffoorr ccaannddiiddaattee ssttaattuuss ((66 AAuugguusstt)) - During the meetings with anumber of representatives of EU member states Montenegrin opposition parties willargue in favour of Montenegro acquiring the candidate status, said the president ofSNP SSrr||aann MMiillii}} after a meeting with the UK ambassador to Montenegro CCaatthheerriinneeKKnniigghhtt-SSaannddss. Three opposition leaders - Mili}, AAnnddrriijjaa MMaannddii}} and NNeebboojj{{aaMMeeddoojjeevvii}} are planning working visits for this autumn to London, Paris, and perhapsother European capitals.

1100 000000 eeuurrooss aaccrroossss tthhee bboorrddeerr ((99 AAuugguusstt)) - Montenegro's Central Bank (CBCG)decided that from now on the residents and non-residents can take in and out of thecountry up to 10 000 euros in cash (also in other currencies) without reporting it tothe police or the customs. Until now, the limit was 2 000. The decision came intoforce on 25 August. "This means further liberalisation on regulations for carrying cashand is in line with the EU directive on this matter", CBCG said.

MMoonntteenneeggrroo ccaalllleedd ttoo rreeppoorrtt oonn eeccoonnoommiicc cciittii-zzeennsshhiipp ((1122 AAuugguusstt)) - Representatives of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs and EU Delegation inMontenegro have exchanged information regar-ding economic citizenship, announced thespeaker of the Delegation DDrraaggaann MMuuggoo{{aa. Hesaid the Delegation requested a working meet-ing, but that it wasn't going to release any pub-lic announcements or statements, while theGovernment said they will harmonise each stepwith EU requirements. Earlier, the Governmenthad announced that it will initiate a programmeof "economic citizenship", granting businessmenwhose "credibility and origin of their capital areunquestionable" a Montenegrin citizenship, afterthey invest at least half a million euros intoMontenegro. The Government's decision wasseverely criticised in some EU circles.

MMoonntteenneeggrriinn iinn aa ppeeaaccee mmiissssiioonn ((1177 AAuugguusstt)) - Officer of the Montenegrin Army(VCG), second lieutenant MMiirroossllaavv RRaaddoojjii~~ii}} is the first officer of VCG to join an EUpeace mission. He was appointed for a four-month mandate in the EU peace mis-sion "EU NAVFOR ATALANTA". He was assigned to the Greek frigate as a naviga-tion officer.

EEvveerryytthhiinngg iinn wwrriittiinngg ((2244 AAuugguusstt)) - At a request by the European Commission, Ministryof European Integrations will submit a report on all activities implemented in order toanswer the remaining questions from the EC Questionnaire the latest by 6 September,announced the Ministry after a meeting between Minister for European IntegrationsGGoorrddaannaa \\uurroovvii}} and the head of the EU Delegation in Montenegro LLeeooppoolldd MMaauurreerr.The overview will be formatted according to the chapters of the acquis and will beaccompanied by translations of all laws that have been adopted in the meantime.

RReemmoovvee BBaallkkaannss ffrroomm tthhee lliisstt ooff pprriioorriittiieess ((3300 AAuugguusstt)) - There is no reason for theBalkans to remain among the top priorities of EU foreign policy, said Slovenian pres-ident DDaanniilloo TTuurrkk. In an interview for the Austrian press agency APA, he said that anyslowdown in the accession negotiations "is mostly to be blamed on the candidatecountries". According to him, EU priorities should be aimed primarily towards the EU'sstrategic partners, especially Russia and Eastern neighbours.

Dragan Mugo{a

3Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0A t t i t ud e

Western Ba-lkan cou-ntries are strug-gling to attractmore direct for-eign investmentdespite big pub-

lic campaigns in western media, lowertaxes and other incentives.

The EU is warning the countriesthat the financial crisis is not the onlyproblem. The high level of corruption,illegal state protection of some domes-tic tycoons and dysfunctional judiciariesare also considerable obstacles toinvestment.

Several EU governments and theEuropean Commission in its annualprogress reports have complained thatthe backlog of cases in the courts, theinability to enforce court decisions anddiscrimination against foreign companiesin public procurement as well as cor-ruption in the public sector are prevent-

ing many companies from investing inthe region.

Serbia is a particular problem withmany foreign investors complainingabout long and slow bureaucratic pro-cedures and the poor judiciary system.For some of them, it is practicallyimpossible to get payment even whenthey have a court decision in theirfavour. Court proceedings in Serbia take

an average of eight years. More than 1.5million court decisions have yet to beenforced. This is an unacceptable situa-tion for those wanting to invest andwork with free competition rules.

In the last European Commissionprogress report on Serbia and in someexpert studies, the state of the judiciaryin the country was identified as a factorthat not only put into question the ruleof law but also put off potentialinvestors.

One of the big foreign investors inSerbia, the German WAZ Media Group,has indicated it intends to withdrawfrom the country. The Committee ofEastern European Economic Relations, an

organisation representing German busi-ness, says it regrets the planned move:

"We hope that the announcedwithdrawal is a warning signal and leads

to an improvement in conditions forinvestors."

Macedonia, meanwhile, attractedjust €200 million in foreign investmentin 2009, the lowest in the region. Andthis was despite tax incentives. Therewere serious problems with twoinvestors, one from Switzerland andanother from Austria.

The companies complained that

the government did not stick to its obli-gations. Both cases contributed to aworsening of the already bad investmentclimate in Macedonia. The unpre-dictability of the political situation in thesmall country is also a problem. Effortsto becoming a NATO member andstarting EU accession talks are stuck.

The situation is not better in Kosovowhere investigators from the EU rule oflaw mission, EULEX, are looking intoseveral cases of corruption in big privati-sation processes. Several big companieshave withdrawn from competing in a callto build a big power plant in Kosovo.

In Croatia, the situation is better asthe country is getting closer to EU

membership. Zagreb recently closednegotiations on bringing the country intoline with EU rules on public procure-ment and opened talks in the area ofcompetition. But EU companies can stillface unnecessary informal obstacles inCroatia. Enforcing court decisions hasbeen taking too long and problems withownership continue to be a concern.

It is essential for investors to trustthat their investment will have legal pro-tection. This is what they expect alsofrom the countries in Western Balkanswhere they invest and those countrieshave to do much more to meet thisexpectation.

The author is a Brussels-bbased cor-respondent for Jutarnji list, Koha Ditore,and many other media

A V I E W F R O M E U

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by Augustin Palokaj

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4Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

Montenegrois onlynow beginningto digitalisebroadcasting ,although the

Government committed itself in theStabilisation and AssociationAgreement (SAA) with EU to com-plete this complex and expensivetask by the end of next year.

The same process is almostcomplete in most EU countries, aswell as in the neighbouring Croatia,while on the other side, among thelaggards, stand Montenegro andmost countries of the WesternBalkans and South Eastern Europe.

In the European Union digitali-sation of the broadcasting sector isseen as part and parcel of citizens'rights, mandating that every citizenhas access to basic telecommunica-tion services at affordable prices.

Preparations for digitalisation inMontenegro started three years agowhen the then Public BroadcastingAgency adopted a strategy for digi-talisation. Since then, hardly any-thing was done about it and it isalmost certain that the entire jobcannot be completed by the end ofthe next year, which is the deadlineset by the European Commission.

The countries that fail to meet

this deadline have one last addition-al deadline set by the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU) -2015.

Deputy minister of transport incharge of telecommunications, SSrr||aannMMiihhaalljjeevvii}} admits that the work can-not be completed by the end of2011 and that the government isalready counting on ITU's deadline.

"The state was trying to decidewhich platform to use for theprocess of digitalisation - DVB T,which has enough for the public TV

and its two channels plus anothercommercial television, or the newerDVB T2 technology, which couldaccommodate more channels.Representatives of the EuropeanCommission thought it was too lateto change, because the tenders werealready scheduled for mid-September, and insisted that weshould stick to the Strategy forDigitalisation which was adoptedthree years ago. That means that wewill almost certainly proceed withone DVB T platform", says Mihaljevi}

T H E G O V E R N M E N T W O N ' T M E E T T H E S A A D E A D L I N E F O R D I G I T A L I S A T I O N O FE L E C T R O N I C M E D I A

by Miodrag Babovi}

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JEST

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Sr|an Mihaljevi}

5Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

for European Pulse.The other, bigger dilemma -

where to find the money for digital-isation - is yet to be solved. In addi-tion to 1.6 million coming from theEU, the Government should haveprovided another million from thepublic coffers in order to completedigitalisation of the network of trans-mitters owned by the PublicBroadcasting Centre.

That money was not in thebudget for this year, it remains to beseen whether it will appear in thenext year's budget.

"In the Stabilisation andAssociation Agreement we commit-ted ourselves to digitalising thebroadcasting sectors by the nextyear. Based on this, the EuropeanCommission allocated 1.6 millioneuros through IPA funds for digitali-sation of the network of transmitters.To cover the costs in full, theGovernment should have addedanother million euros. This year,there was no space for it in thebudget, and we need to see whetherwe can find it next year. If the stateputs the money together we couldfinish the bulk of work on digitalisa-tion by the end of next year. I otherwords, we could digitalise some 40

transmitters covering larger cities, outof 130 in total, which mean thataround 60% of Montenegrin citizenswould be covered. However, if wedon't find the money, it won't hap-pen", Mihaljevi{ explains.

He reminds that digitalisationbecame an issue in EU some tenyears ago, as the growing electronic

media sector used up a lot of fre-quencies.

"Digitalisation frees up a lot ofspace in the broadcasting sector andallows it to be used by other servic-es. In this way, the citizens get bet-ter sound and picture and new serv-ices, and the state gets new sourcesof income", Mihaljevi} adds.

On top of the uncertaintyregarding the public funds for digi-talisation another, equally seriousdilemma is what will happen to pri-vate televisions.

"Commercial broadcasters havetwo options. The first is to organisethemselves, by the equipment tobroadcast their signal and install it onthe sites of the Public BroadcastingService. The other option is to askthe Agency for ElectronicCommunications to open a tenderfor an operator who could providetechnical support and whom theywould then pay for the broadcastingservice. It is up to them to decide",Mihaljevi} said.

The countries which do not

Although the government has been saying that it feels obliged to assist certaincategories of the population with meeting the costs of digitalisation, it is hardto find anybody in the government who would be willing to talk about it.

"It was estimated that around 45 000 households in Montenegro receivesocial assistance. They probably won't be able to afford receivers what will allowthem to watch the new digital programmes on their old TVs. The costs of cov-ering this for them will be around two million euros. There's no money for thatin the Budget, and everything suggests that next year there won't be any either.That means that even if we cover all the cities with a digital signal there willstill be many families unable to watch the new television", Mihaljevi} said.

The Government says that there's simply no money, and that this is themain reason for not adopting the law on digitalisation.

"The Croatian government supported every household in need by paying50% of the price of the receiver. I don't know how it will go here, becausethere is no money for it, and there's also no money to cover the million miss-ing from the necessary funds for the digital network, which is why the law ondigitalisation has been postponed", Mihaljevi} explained.

Earlier, he suggested that the money for assisting the citizens in need cancome from selling concessions for the freed-up frequencies.

DDIIGGIITTAALLIISSAATTIIOONN AASSAA SSOOCCIIAALL QQUUEESSTTIIOONN

Abaz D`afi}

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JEST

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6Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

complete digitalisation of broadcast-ing by 2012 will have both systems,the digital and the analogue, func-tioning parallel to each other in thenext three years. That will be aproblem for the country as well asfor the regulator and for the elec-tronic media, because the parallelfunctioning of the two system caus-es technical problems and doublesthe consumption of electricity.

Mihaljevi} explains that the fateof private televisions cannot be, infinancial terms, responsibility of thestate, and points at the example ofneighbouring Croatia.

"They started digitalisation withDVB T technology. This platform firstprovided the space for the twochannels of Croatian Radio-Television (HRT). Two private televi-sions, Nova and RTL, paid for aplace on the same platform. Theprimary responsibility of the state isthe public service, and there is noEuropean standard which says thatthe state ought to do the work for

the private media", Mihaljevi} said.Regarding the choice of plat-

forms for digitalisation director of theAgency for Electronic Media AAbbaazzDD`̀aaffii}} said that the Strategy forDigitalisation, which was draftedwith assistance from experts of theOrganisation for Security andCooperation in Europe (OSCE),

envisages digitalisation process onDBV T platform.

"Of course that doesn't meanthat the country only needs thosemedia that will find a place on theplatform. The state should assist or atleast have understanding for theother media because without itshelp they won't survive digitalisation.It doesn't have to mean financialassistance, they can be helped inother ways, for instance, by settingclear rules and procedures. Withoutsuch clear rules, nobody has theright to decide which private televi-sion can be added to the platformtogether with the two public chan-nels, and which ones will have topay for their own. It's clear that notevery one of them will survive digi-talisation, but it's important that asmany as possible do", D`afi} said.

His words partly beg the ques-tion who will be the ones to survive.It's no secret that some televisionsare backed up by large businessesand the authorities, that others areonly there for entertainment purpos-es, etc.

What will happen to thosewhose main work is to keep thepublic informed about the everydayproblems seems to be a question theauthorities would rather avoid.

\uro Vu~ini}, president of the Board of Managers of the Association ofCommercial Broadcasters says "the only way out is DVB T2 technology"."Strategy for Digitalisation allows for introduction of DBV T2 system, which

provides for twice as many programmes within the single frequency as DBV T.However, the economic situation and the EU donation of 1.6 million euros areforcing us to agree to the DBV T system. All countries have helped the citi-zens transfer to digital televisions, but our own says it has no money for it, noranother million to contribute towards digitalisation of the network of transmit-ters. This is a huge problem, and it means that 30% of the citizens won't becovered by the digital signal. If this is such a huge financial obstacle, how willwe get the money for DVB T2, which is the only rational solution in the caseof Montenegro, and which has been offered as an option by some decisionmakers. We will be stuck with the system we choose now for many years tocome", warns Vu~ini}.

He cites the latest issue of a well known expert magazine "DVB Scene",in which a leading expert for digitalisation process in EU, Prof Dr UlrichReimers, analysing the situation in every country of the Western Balkans saysthat Montenegro and Serbia will opt for the T2 system, which is the onlyrational solution for them.

"However, he was wrong in case of Montenegro, because we went for theless rational solution. I'm afraid the "lobbyists" and not the experts for telecom-munications had the final word in Montenegro's choice of a less rational solu-tion", Vu~ini} warned.

NNOOBBOODDYY AASSKKEEDD TTHHEE EEXXPPEERRTTSS

7Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0Ana ly s e s

It's been a whilesince a decisionof the Govern-ment in Podgo-rica stirred up somuch controversyand so much

interest from Brussels as the recent acro-batics of awarding Montenegrin passportsto the foreigners who invest 500 000euros in Montenegro.

Apart from being the most recentexample of the habit of \ukanovi}'s cab-

inet to keep the economy floatingthrough constant improvisations, it is alsostriking in its audacity. Nobody in theGovernment remembered that it wasnecessary to consult the EuropeanCommission and EU member states who,eight months ago, decided to abolishvisas for the citizens of Montenegro.

Not even the municipality of [avnikcan afford such a lack of elementarypolitical seriousness, let alone the "pro-European Government" of PM \uka-novi}.

As soon as it was announced thatthe Government prepared the Guidelinesfor Acquisition of Montenegrin Citizen-ship, the MFA official Neboj{a Kalu-|erovi} had to plunge in to safe the sit-uation and explain to the EC representa-tives that it's all perfectly clean and sole-ly aimed at attracting foreign investments.

He also tried to convince them thateverything will be done to prevent themembers of organised crime networksand those who took part in money laun-dering from acquiring a citizenship of acountry that aims to become an EU

member.In addition to this, Europeans have

been struck by the low amount requiredby the Government decision and it'sprobable that Brussels will later ask forperiodical reports on all who acquiredMontenegrin citizenship in this way. Ofcourse, Brussels cannot ask the Govern-ment to reverse the decision, since thereare no uniform EU standards in this areaand every member state regulates it inde-pendently, but it wants to have a clearoverview of the procedures grantingMontenegrin passports which allow theholder to travel to almost all EU countries.

And after almost three weeks ofuproar in the domestic and internationalmedia about the strange moves of

\ukanovi}'s team, he announced thatthe Guidelines will not come into forceuntil the terms of application have beenagreed with EC.

Amateurism at work again. Andeverything was already prepared -according to the Government's decision

the investor, in addition to 500 000, musthave an impeccable reputation and aproof of origin of the money. Investor'scredibility will be ascertained, accordingto the Government's announcements, bythe independent consultancies or legaloffices, as well as by the Montenegrinministries of economy and interior affairs.

Then the "New York Times" anno-unced that "Kroll" will be one of the com-panies to vet the credibility and soundnessof the potential new Montenegrins. This isthe same company which, according to

Felix Salmon, a blogger of the UK newsagency Reuters, had contacts with theCanadian businessman Peter Munk, aclose friend of the Prime Minister\ukanovi}. To make the deal evenshadier, Kroll is the company that helpedAllen Stanford to perpetrate an 8 billiondollar Ponzi scheme, adding wind to theworld economic crisis. The gist of thePonzi schemes is that "earnings" are givento the shareholders out of their ownmoney or out of those of another share-holder, not out of any kind of profit.

Nobody in the Government re-sponded to this information, insistingthat their economic citizenship pro-gramme has been designed by re-nowned consultancies from UK andCanada. The negotiations are ongoingand once they are completed theGovernment will make the names ofthese consultancies public.

The key question here is whether inorder to attract investments one needs asound business environment or a prom-ise of a Montenegrin passport. Whoneeds the passport of a country where it'snecessary to pay "protection money" inorder to get the permission to start the

business or to stay in the business? Or didthe Government ever consider the possi-bility that what the investors are actuallyafter is the rule of law, an open market,lower taxes and grace periods?

And finally, which EU citizen needsa Montenegrin passport? Or are we onlycounting with the dirty money fromRussia and with the "investments" of run-aways from the assorted Asian states whoare rapidly turning Montenegro's imageinto that of an oasis for shady charactersrunning away from the law?

QU E S T I ON S R A I S E D B Y T H E GOV E RNM EN T ' S D E C I S I ON TO AWARD MONT EN EG R I NC I T I Z E N SH I P I N E X CHAG E FO R H A L F A M I L L I ON E U RO S

by Ne|eljko Rudovi}

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8Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0In t e r v i ew

Executive director of Belgrade Centrefor Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS) JelenaMili} said that all countries of the WesternBalkans should realise that the UnitedStates of America are supporting theirintegration into EU, and should not losethis support. Mili} isn't worried about theever more frequent signs of cooling-offfrom some EU members, including themost recent one by the Slovenian presi-dent Danilo Turk who said the WestBalkan enlargement policy shouldn't beamong EU priorities.

"This is after all something that willbe decided by the bigger and more pow-erful EU members, whose public opinionalso has greater influence on decisions.And we should definitely not forget aboutthe US. I believe that all countries of theWestern Balkans should be aware of theUS support for EU integrations, and makesure not to lose it" said Mili} in the inter-view for European Pulse.

What would be the consequencesof a slowdown or delay of EU enlarge-ment for the West Balkan countries?

Enormous. I don't think that we areproperly aware of the fact that not alltransition countries in the world have achance to carry out its process until the

very end, with support mechanismsoffered by EU integration process.

Most of these countries are stuck ata stage which requires deeper examina-tion of all non-transparent relationsbetween politics and illegal businesses,i.e. better regulation, more liberal marketsand more transparent procedures. It's this,

not the boastful attitude, that showswhich elites in the region are genuinely infavour of EU integrations.

Serbia and its citizens are certainlynot keeping up with the fruits of globali-sation, global interrelations and interde-pendencies, not to mention mobility, andthe pressure this creates for at least eco-nomic integration.

If we don't join EU we will remainsmall peripheral countries, irrelevant interms of demographics or size of ourmarkets, and obviously unable to inte-grate better with each other, in order tofind at least some stronghold to respond

to the challenges of globalisation.Russia, as the key partner and alter-

native to EU is a reckless fiction propa-gated by anti-EU forces and by an oli-garchy which is against order and control.This option is completely unviable, fromthe geographical reasons to the fact thatRussia itself lags in the democratisation

process, which is a requirement for afunctional response to the challenges ofglobalisation.

How would you evaluate coop-eration between West Balkan countries?

Bearing in mind the complexity andsimilarity of challenges which are aheadeach one of the West Balkan countries,one would expect much higher levels ofcooperation than is currently the case.

Unfortunately, the RegionalCooperation Council, which was estab-lished after the Stability Pact was disman-tled, did not grow into an effective coor-dinator of cooperation.

To make the things even moreabsurd, all these countries are in favour ofEuropean integrations, and they oftenaccuse EU of being slow and indecisivewith regard to their membership perspec-tive, but they forget that regional cooper-ation is one of the preconditions andexpectations which they are doing verylittle to fulfil.

There are many reasons for this:from sluggish transitional justice whichalso had to be imposed from the outside,instead of being an expression of ourreadiness to face the past, to the twogiant elephants in the room which eventhe international community prefers toignore - the status of Kosovo and thedefunct constitution of Bosnia andHerzegovina.

In addition to this, Serbia often"punished" the countries of the region thathave recognised Kosovo or became inde-pendent, like Montenegro, further under-mining the potential for cooperation. Icould also list the examples of the Serbianrelations with the Macedonian andMontenegrin orthodox churches.

What could be done to improveregional cooperation?

I just came back from a conferencein Prishtina that was organised by the

E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R O F B E L G R A D E C E N T R E F O R E U R O - AA T L A N T I C S T U D I E S( C E A S ) J E L E N A M I L I ]

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Jelena Mili}

MMoosstt ooff tthheessee ccoouunnttrriieess aarree ssttuucckk aatt aa ssttaaggee wwhhiicchh rreeqquuiirreess ddeeeeppeerreexxaammiinnaattiioonn ooff aallll nnoonn-ttrraannssppaarreenntt rreellaattiioonnss bbeettwweeeenn ppoolliittiiccss aannddiilllleeggaall bbuussiinneesssseess,, ii..ee.. bbeetttteerr rreegguullaattiioonn,, mmoorree lliibbeerraall mmaarrkkeettss aannddmmoorree ttrraannssppaarreenntt pprroocceedduurreess.. IItt''ss tthhiiss,, nnoott tthhee bbooaassttffuull aattttiittuuddee,,tthhaatt sshhoowwss wwhhiicchh eelliitteess iinn tthhee rreeggiioonn aarree ggeennuuiinneellyy iinn ffaavvoouurr ooff EEUUiinntteeggrraattiioonnss

9Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0In t e r v i ew

Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and whichbrought together think tanks from almostall countries of the Western Balkans,except Croatia. We discussed the keybarriers to cooperation and possibilities toovercome those through joint action.

Among the more important steps is,naturally, lobbying the EU to send thequestionnaires to the countries that stillhaven't gotten them, in order to spur themtowards more intensive reforms andregional cooperation on the one hand, andon the other to make them face, throughtheir replies and the screening process, theinternal problems that are holding themback in the process of EU integrations -such as weak institutions, overpoweringmonopolies, lack of transparency in publicexpenditures as well as constitutional limi-tations, such as those present in Serbia andBosnia and Herzegovina.

Part of the Montenegrin publicbelieves that Serbia has more developedadministrative capacities and is doing wellin fighting corruption and organisedcrime, unlike Montenegro, and that itwould be well ahead of Montenegro in

the integration process, if it wasn't for thelack of cooperation with the Hague.What is you opinion?

What do you mean by cooperationwith the Hague? Serbia has recentlyreceived ministers of foreign affairs ofGermany and UK, the State Departmentcontacted us through Pahor, Tadi} evenmet with Catherine Ashton and not one

of them had mentioned Ratko Mladi} asan obstacle to Serbian European integra-tions. They didn't even suggest that theymight consider it in deciding on the can-didate status, or postpone this conditionfor some future stage. There was nowarning, although we know that Gotovinawas a precondition for Croatia's progress.

Everything Serbia did to strengthenits capacities in this area is a consequenceof pressures from the West. The readinessto fight corruption only goes so far, untilthe investigation reaches the criminals in

their own ranks. I don't think this is anydifferent in Montenegro.

And because in Serbia everybody isin fact in power, there is a selective con-sensus. If there was will, we wouldn't haveturned the reform of the judiciary into afarce. Democratic Party would like to bethe leader in EU integrations, but doesn'twant to let go off its control over judici-ary. These things can't go together. It's notenough to apply a misshapen law on con-fiscation of criminally acquired property tobe the "success story" of the region.

Advocates of NATO in Monte-negro insist that membership in theAlliance is a precondition for membershipin EU. Would you agree?

No, and I think this is a bad argu-ment. The fact that all East Europeancountries turned towards EU andembraced NATO as soon as they escapedfrom the Soviet dominance is a result ofa particular historical moment. Theybelieved NATO was a guarantee that theSoviets or Russia can never again asserttheir power over them.

The history of the Western Balkans issomewhat different - we never experi-enced such a totalitarian regime in formerYugoslavia, nor did we view NATO as apath to escape towards democracy andEU. I can't say, "unfortunately", because Ithink living in one of the former membersof the Warsaw Pact was too high a priceto pay for that, if we compare it to all thegood things Yugoslavia did for this region.

The reason for advocating somethinglike that is partly that the Western politi-cal agents, primarily those EU countriesthat refused to recognise Kosovo, are

uneasy when it comes to talking aboutthe NATO intervention in 1999.

We should join the NATO becausethis is also a political, not only a militaryalliance, which responds to the challengesof the 21st century on the grounds of thecommon values of its members, muchlike the EU. We should join becausethese challenges are of such proportionsthat only the very big countries, such asChina, can hope to weather them alone.

V. @UGI]

What do you think are the key problems of Serbia in terms of Europeanintegrations?

The false hopes fuelled by an elite which is simply not ready to give upon its current positions in monopolies and partitocracy, and instead rants aboutthe "defence of Kosovo". The defence of Kosovo has become an excuse fortoo many non-transparent deals and double standards, but most of all for sti-fling the democratisation of the society, replacing it by a total partitocracywhich in turn is nothing else but striping away public resources for personaland party benefits.

Recent developments in the UN are good news, but we still have to seewhether they were a result of the current situation in our budget and puttingup pretences for EU or an honest, courageous step forward on the part ofPresident Tadi}.

The problems is also that the remaining five EU countries which refusedto recognise Kosovo are legitimising the current behaviour of the Serbian polit-ical elite. After the decision of the International Court of Justice, which wasexplicitly based on Resolution 1244, they have no excuse in the internationallaw to remain with their current position. Obviously, this is their way to pur-sue their own interests within EU.

A clear EU-wide position on Kosovo would be of great help to Serbia.Unfortunately, the Serbian public also is also refusing to connect the out-

comes of the recent political decisions with its situation and living conditions.They are more likely to respond to populism and false hopes than to face theirown backwardness, lack of competitiveness and the like.

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TThhee rreeaaddiinneessss ttoo ffiigghhtt ccoorrrruuppttiioonn iinn SSeerrbbiiaa oonnllyy ggooeess ssoo ffaarr,, uunnttiilltthhee iinnvveessttiiggaattiioonn rreeaacchheess tthhee ccrriimmiinnaallss iinn oouurr oowwnn rraannkkss.. II ddoonn''tttthhiinnkk tthhiiss iiss aannyy ddiiffffeerreenntt iinn MMoonntteenneeggrroo

10Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

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TThe FrenchR e v o l u t i o n(1789-1799) wasa period of radi-cal social andp o l i t i c a lupheaval in

French and European history. Theabsolute monarchy that had ruledFrance for centuries collapsed in threeyears. French society underwent anepic transformation as aristocratic andreligious privileges evaporated under asustained assault from liberal politicalgroups and the masses on the streets.Old ideas about hierarchy and traditionsuccumbed to new Enlightenmentprinciples of citizenship and inalienablerights.

The French Revolution began in1789 with the convocation of theEstates-General in May. The first yearof the Revolution witnessed membersof the Third Estate proclaiming theTennis Court Oath in June, the assaulton the Bastille in July, the passage ofthe Declaration of the Rights of Manand of the Citizen in August, and anepic march on Versailles that forced theroyal court back to Paris in October.

The next few years were dominat-ed by tensions between various liberalassemblies and a conservative monar-chy intent on thwarting major reforms.A republic was proclaimed inSeptember 1792 and King LLoouuiiss XXVVIIwas executed the next year. Externalthreats also played a dominant role inthe development of the Revolution.The French Revolutionary Wars startedin 1792 and ultimately featured spec-tacular French victories that facilitatedthe conquest of the Italian peninsula,the Low Countries, and most territories

west of the Rhine-achievements thathad defied previous French govern-ments for centuries. Internally, popularsentiments radicalized the Revolutionsignificantly, culminating in the brutalReign of Terror from 1793 until 1794.After the fall of RRoobbeessppiieerrrree and theJacobins, the Directory assumed controlof the French state in 1795 and heldpower until 1799, when it was repla-ced by the Consulate under NNaappoolleeoonnBBoonnaappaarrttee.

Historians widely regard theRevolution as one of the most impor-tant events in human history, and the

end of the early modern period.Within France itself, the Revolutionpermanently crippled the power of thearistocracy and drained the wealth ofthe Church, although the two institu-tions survived despite the damage theysustained.

After the collapse of the FirstEmpire under Napoleon in 1815, theFrench public lost the rights and privi-leges earned since the Revolution, butthey remembered the participatorypolitics that characterized the period.Some historians argue that the Frenchpeople underwent a fundamental

Prepared by Milo{ Vukanovi}

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F R E N C H R E V O L U T I O N A N D N A P O L E O N

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11Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

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transformation in self-identity, evi-denced by the elimination of privilegesand their replacement by rights as wellas the growing decline in social defer-ence that highlighted the principle ofequality throughout the Revolution.

Outside France, the Revolutioncaptured the imagination of the world.It had a profound impact on theRevolution of 1848, the RussianRevolution and its ideas were imbibedby MMaaoo ZZeeddoonngg in his efforts at con-structing a communist state in China.

The Napoleonic Wars were aseries of conflicts declared againstNapoleon's French Empire by opposingcoalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815.As a continuation of the wars sparkedby the French Revolution of 1789, theybrought about unprecedented transfor-mation of European armies. Frenchpower rose quickly, conquering most ofEurope, but collapsed rapidly afterFrance's disastrous invasion of Russia in1812. At the peak of its power,Napoleon's empire encompassed all oftoday's France, the Benelux countries,Iberian and Italian Peninsula, Germany,Poland and Dalmatia. He also foughtwars in Egypt and the Middle East, inthe Caribbean and India. If all theresources and men the warringEuropean powers brought from theircolonies are taken into consideration,this was the first global war. Theempire suffered a complete defeat afterthe battles of Leipzig in 1813 in

Waterloo in 1815, resulting in restora-tion of the Bourbon monarchy inFrance and partial abolition of thereforms brought about by theRevolution.

The wars resulted in the dissolu-tion of the Holy Roman Empire andsowed the seeds of nascent nationalismin Germany and Italy that would leadto the two nations' consolidation laterin the century. Meanwhile the SpanishEmpire began to unravel as French

occupation of Spain weakened Spain'shold over its colonies, providing anopening for nationalist revolutions inSpanish America. As a direct result ofthe Napoleonic wars, the BritishEmpire became the foremost worldpower for the next century.

The Napoleonic Wars broughtgreat changes both to Europe and theAmericas. Napoleon had succeeded inbringing most of Western Europe underone rule-a feat that had not beenaccomplished since the days of theRoman Empire, although CChhaarrlleemmaaggnneecame close to it. However, France'sconstant warfare with the combinedforces of the other major powers ofEurope for over two decades finally

took its toll. By the end of theNapoleonic Wars, France no longerheld the role of the dominant power inEurope, as it had since the times ofLouis XIV. In its place, the UnitedKingdom emerged as by far the mostpowerful country in the world and theRoyal Navy gained unquestioned navalsuperiority across the globe. This, cou-pled with Britain's large and powerfulindustrial economy, made it the mostpowerful economic force in the world.

In most European countries, theimportation of the ideals of the FrenchRevolution, brought about mostlythrough the Napoleonic wars, left amark. The increasing prosperity andclout of the middle classes becameincorporated into custom and law, andthe vast new wealth built on bourgeoisactivities, such as commerce andindustry, meant that European mon-archs found it difficult to restore pre-revolutionary absolutism, and had tokeep some of the reforms enacted dur-ing Napoleon's rule. Institutional lega-cies remain to this day: not only is itone of the fundamental principles of allEuropean states, but the EuropeanUnion was also based upon the respectfor civic rights and the legal systemfounded upon this principle.

A relatively new and increasinglypowerful movement became significant.Nationalism would shape the course ofmuch of future European history; itsgrowth spelled the beginning of somestates and the end of others. The mapof Europe changed dramatically in thehundred years following the NapoleonicEra, based not on fiefs and aristocracy,but on the basis of human culture,national origins, and national ideology.After the war, in order to preventanother such war, Europe was dividedinto states according to the balance ofpower theory. This meant that, in the-ory, no European state would becomestrong enough to dominate Europe inthe future. This was a theory that wouldcome into play several times through-out European history, and reach itspeak during the Cold War.

Finally, in the same period anoth-er concept emerged-that of a unifiedEurope. After his defeat, Napoleondeplored his unfinished dream to cre-ate a free and peaceful "Europeanassociation" sharing the same princi-ples, the same system of measurement,the same currency with differentexchange rates and the same CivilCode. Although his defeat set back theidea by one-and-a-half centuries, itre-emerged after the end of theSecond World War.

The author is a programme asso-ciate in Centre for Civic Education

AAfftteerr hhiiss ddeeffeeaatt,, NNaappoolleeoonn ddeepplloorreedd hhiiss uunnffiinniisshheedd ddrreeaamm ttoo ccrree-aattee aa ffrreeee aanndd ppeeaacceeffuull ""EEuurrooppeeaann aassssoocciiaattiioonn"" sshhaarriinngg tthhee ssaammeepprriinncciipplleess,, tthhee ssaammee ssyysstteemm ooff mmeeaassuurreemmeenntt,, tthhee ssaammee ccuurrrreennccyywwiitthh ddiiffffeerreenntt eexxcchhaannggee rraatteess aanndd tthhee ssaammee CCiivviill CCooddee.. AAlltthhoouugghhhhiiss ddeeffeeaatt sseett bbaacckk tthhee iiddeeaa bbyy oonnee-aanndd-aa-hhaallff cceennttuurriieess,, iitt rree-eemmeerrggeedd aafftteerr tthhee eenndd ooff tthhee SSeeccoonndd WWoorrlldd WWaarr

12Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

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11..What's up with the parties that

haven't made it into the parliament?Once the editor ordered me to do aresearch on that, like it were some polit-ical delicatessen. The article was sup-posed to go in an easy Sunday issue. Itwas summer, Blueberry Days andbungee jumping reigned supreme overthe cover pages, and I felt at a loss likea man who has to milk out whateverarticle, give a birth to soft news, or, toput it bluntly, fill up a column in a dryseason.

That was then, and now, partiesthat couldn't pass the puny Montenegrincensus are all over the media, wailing,calling to arms and resistance. Theirleaders are the centre of all cameraflashes, as if they were some kind of ashadow government, with the sun offreedom just about to dispel the shadesand hand them the absolute power.

How is it possible that a personwho after fifteen years cannot evenreach a parliamentary seat can appear

on the cover page of a popular dailyscreaming that genocide is pending overthe heads of Serbs in Montenegro.Which criteria, if any, accords morespace to a vice president of a tiny partythan is becoming of Prime Minister, forexultations over the initiative for inde-pendent Sand`ak? Or, take famous MrPP.. PPooppoovvii}}, of the people's party, withnew glasses, who resurges every daywith some wise words regarding theunity of the opposition, as if he were atthe peak of his power and not wipedout, depraved, humiliated and removed

from the political scene. Just when thecitizens have decided to simplify thepolitical circus a little and kick a fewclowns out of the parliament, here theyare again, riding and saddling in news-papers, littering with commonplaces, allof them scowling. I'm not a fan of the

proverbial "this doesn't happen any-where else" - because you can eventu-ally google any one of our troubles andfind an equivalent on some meridian, ifnot in the near neighbourhood, but Ireally think it's rare that political losersget so muc space and credit in themedia. The damage is, need we men-tion it, enormous. Even the little eager-ness the voter can glean, that they wantto change the opposition, if alreadythere's no taking the government out oftheir hearts, everything falls apart andkills the last shred of hope that the elec-

tions are there to decide on something.Who would know better than myselfhow difficult it is to fill up the pages inthe summer, but I think the Montenegrinpapers could be a tat more attractive (ifthat is at all possible), if instead of con-fessions of the above mentioned figuresthey just published blank pages. A suc-cinct political message: they're no more,dear citizens, the place is empty, dopolitically organise yourselves.

22..More interesting than politicians

without votes are the non-governmen-tal organisations whose names surfacefor the first time in some historicalmoment. One civic initiative is fightingagainst NATO membership, but wehave no idea who the members are orwhy they're doing it, except that theyhave a semi-literate leader (yes, leader!)who immediately got space to glorifythe Russian arms and expound on hisknowledge of Internet, i.e. readingthough anti-globalist websites. AnotherNGO, my favourite, is active in preser-vation of state symbols. Their work is areal example of how to help the citizens

MMoonntteenneeggrriinn ppuubblliicc ssppaaccee hhaass nnoo ffiilltteerrss tthhaatt ccoouulldd pprrootteecctt uuss ffrroommtthheeiirr bbuucckkeettffuullss ooff aammaatteeuurriisshh vvuullggaarriittyy.. MMeeddiiaa aannaallyyssttss aanndd ssttoonn-eerrss mmiigghhtt bbee ssttiillll iinntteerreesstteedd iinn tthheessee iinnddiivviidduuaallss'' ppuubblliicc bbuuiillddiinngg,,ggrraadduuaall ppoolliisshhiinngg aanndd ccoonnssttrruuccttiioonn ooff aa ppuubblliicc aappppeeaarraannccee,, bbrrooaadd-eenniinngg ooff tthheeiirr vvooccaabbuullaarriieess,, eevveennttss aanndd hhaappppeenniinnggss.. BBuutt lleett uussbbeewwaarree,, ffoorr tthheeyy aarree ffaarr ffrroomm nnaaiivvee!!

Foufs!Tboenfoby Brano Mandi}

13Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

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- through press releases on the flag andthe coat of arms.

Then comes along one Suljevi} andsays Sand`ak is ours! - but who caresabout SSuulljjeevvii}}, nobody in Montenegroknows. Hordes of ambitious blokes aremarching in front of our noses and get-ting a chance to snap, snub, turn furi-ous or bashful, depending on their sen-sibility and mission they have chosen forthemselves. Montenegrin public spacehas no filters that could protect us fromtheir bucketfuls of amateurish vulgarity.Media analysts and stoners might be stillinterested in these individuals' publicbuilding, gradual polishing and con-struction of a public appearance, broad-ening of their vocabularies, events andhappenings. But let us beware, for theyare far from naive. A few days agoSSttaannoojjeevvii}} had cautiously appeared onthe stage, defender of the Roma, alsofamous for having split one woman'shead. Running away from the law, abrute and a bully, he raised a big issue:the death of the Roma who once triedto leave this paradise for Italy and all ofthem died unjustly at the hands of theocean gods. The select few are upset

that such a brute is slandering ourcountry, questioning our honour, blam-ing the authorities, all along with thepolice at his heels. Crucially, however, acountry could not wish for a better manto attack it, and let's not forget aboutthat. That's why I'm paranoid to thebone: I suspect that once again the stateis hand-picking its enemies. Is there abetter way to shrug off a crime than toentrust the prosecution to a man whocommunicates with his wife through abat?

Nobody is wondering how it waspossible to smuggle out people withoutthe police's blessing and logistics, andthey're instead focusing on whosemouth the accusations are coming from.We'll defend the state against discredit-ed critics, even if they're talking abouta crime that requires the organisers to

come from the state, if there's one.That, or a few youngsters got togetherand decided to smuggle people, thepolice missed out on it and eventuallyeverything got a little out of control, asit happens on the coast because thereare crowds and it's hard to tell whichboat is loaded with tobacco, which one

with Roma, and which with aHolywood diva cheering forMontenegro.

33..Not everything can be a coinci-

dence, the cuckoo eggs always layingthemselves on their own, there must besomeone to at least pat our losers onthe shoulder and prop them up in frontof the camera. The production of pre-tences that there's something like a civicdebate going on here has its laws, likeany other process. Mostly everythingbegins with small game. Then comesone public debate, ten journalists andten cameras show up, and that's how itall begins. Montenegrin media are thewilling or unwilling accomplices in thecreation of a new brand of sandmen.They are something for our reason to

laugh at, but their words remain in thesubconscious and are spread throughrepetition. Eventually, we will start tak-ing some of them seriously, like thecommercials we don't trust and yetevery day we see that washing powdersin the hands of a young maiden takingout the most stubborn stains. Mediasandmen have limited shelf life, but areresilient and work like pre-paid: they'reoccasionally resurrected and drawn inwhen necessary. That's why it is theduty of the media to uncover these guysfirst, to ridicule their petty but very dan-gerous games without which the situa-tion would be much clearer for anybodyto grasp. Typically attached to somecentre of power, various extra-parlia-mentarians, phantom NGO rainmakers,experts at war with grammar are aplague that spreads quickly and easily.They're showing a lot of solidarity andthey are not to be underestimated.Ignoramuses are banding together, help-ing out each other by mentioning eachother, whether in a direct curse in theopinion article or through a memoran-dum on cooperation quoted by thenews agencies. If you give them any fin-ger but the middle one - you havethem free hands. Like when you dressedthe criminals into police and army uni-forms and gave them guns.

The author is a journalist of thedaily newspaper "Vijesti"

MMeeddiiaa ssaannddmmeenn hhaavvee lliimmiitteedd sshheellff lliiffee,, bbuutt aarree rreessiilliieenntt aanndd wwoorrkklliikkee pprree-ppaaiidd:: tthheeyy''rree ooccccaassiioonnaallllyy rreessuurrrreecctteedd aanndd ddrraawwnn iinn wwhheennnneecceessssaarryy.. TThhaatt''ss wwhhyy iitt iiss tthhee dduuttyy ooff tthhee mmeeddiiaa ttoo uunnccoovveerr tthheesseegguuyyss ffiirrsstt,, ttoo rriiddiiccuullee tthheeiirr ppeettttyy bbuutt vveerryy ddaannggeerroouuss ggaammeess wwiitthhoouuttwwhhiicchh tthhee ssiittuuaattiioonn wwoouulldd bbee mmuucchh cclleeaarreerr ffoorr aannyybbooddyy ttoo ggrraasspp

The Government is seriously planning towork on improving the image ofMontenegro in EU member states, as theeventual membership will also depend onthe support of public opinion in thesecountries.

Also, the Government is planning tofocus on Internet as the main channel ofcommunication to market its achieve-ments, exchange information and promoteEU at home.

These are the main pints of the newCommunication strategy for informing thepublic about European Union andMontenegro's membership preparations forthe period 2010-2014, adopted by theGovernment in early summer 2010.

Although the government doesn'tmention it, the new strategy was adoptedbecause the existing one dates from 2004and was never really implemented, and inthe meantime Montenegro has moved alot closer to EU.

Among the main goals listed in thedocument are: offering reliable, easilyaccessible and sensible information; over-coming unfounded and mistaken stereo-types related to the integration process;and raising the level and quality of thepublic debate.

Another goal of the strategy is toemphasise the advantages of EU member-ship, as well as the responsibilities andduties ensuing from it.

Its task is to moderate unrealisticexpectations on the part of theMontenegrin public and to raise the levelof general and expert knowledge amongthe individuals and within the academia,business and the civil sector.

The document also warns that the"general tone" of the communicationshould reflect realistic optimism regardingfurther development of the accessionprocess.

The Government said the communi-

cation with the public will be taking placeboth on the national and internationallevels.

On the national level, theGovernment decided to focus on threetarget groups - youth, groups sensitive tochanges and multipliers.

Multipliers, i.e. the "movers" of thepublic opinion are those elements of thepublic that have substantial influence onmobilization of other groups and formula-tion of their attitudes, which is why theyshould be involved as partners in the com-munication strategy, states the document.

The multipliers identified by theGovernment are the media, MPs, politicalparties, trade unions, economic and pro-

fessional associations, educational institu-tions (all levels), non-governmental organ-isations, religious associations, public insti-tutions, local governments and local asso-ciations.

The youth, which according to theGovernment includes primary and second-ary school and university students are thetarget group which in the long run willprofit the most from EU membership. "The

youth will influence participation of theirfamilies, friends, colleagues and all othersin their environment. Communicationactivities will be aimed at the concreteneeds and expectations of the young peo-ple", states the strategy.

Groups sensitive to changes are thosecategories of the population which are"more difficult to reach and who needmore information about the reasons forjoining the EU". According to theGovernment, these are pensioners, farm-

ers, rural populations, unemployed,employees of small and medium enterpris-es, managers of large economic complex-es and persons with disabilities.

As for the international target groups,the Government believes that furtherprogress towards EU integrations, especial-

ly the acquisition of the candidate statusand the opening of the negotiationsprocess will require greater support forMontenegro among the citizens of EUmember states. This will require, accordingto the strategy, greater efforts to improvethe image of the country in the interna-tional public and publicise its successes inthe adoption of EU standards and values.

On the international level theGovernment identified two target groups -the general public in EU member statesand the creators of international publicopinion and decision makers.

"The latter target group consists offoreign diplomatic representations inMontenegro, EU Delegation, EU institu-tions and officials, representatives of inter-national organisations in Montenegro, for-eign academic institutions, internationalnon-governmental organisations and for-eign media. Trend-setters in the interna-tional public opinion and the decisionmakers are an important target group,because their judgements have a directimpact on the formulation of the public

14Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0Do cumen t s

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S T R A T E G Y F O R I N F O R M I N G T H E P U B L I C A B O U T E U A N DM O N T E N E G R O ' S P R E P A R A T I O N S F O R M E M B E R S H I P 2 0 1 0 - 22 0 1 4

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15Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

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opinion in EU member states, as well ason the decision making process itself. Ourgoal in communicating with this targetgroup is to raise awareness about theprogress Montenegro made in fulfilling EUaccession requirements, to build a net-work of EU contacts and conduct all otheractivities which are necessary to promoteand strengthen the positions and capaci-ties of institutions and organisations inMontenegro", states the communicationstrategy.

The document also emphasises that,in relation to this target group, an impor-tant role should be played byMontenegrin diplomatic missions to vari-ous EU members.

On the other hand, the general EUpublic is perceived as a conglomerate ofdifferent target groups.

"Having a separate communicationapproach to each of these individual tar-get groups within this larger categorywould require deployment of significanthuman and material resources. It is there-fore necessary to identify communicationpriorities and general messages. In thatsense, communication activities should bedeveloped in two directions: improvingthe image of the country, i.e. rising aware-ness on the part of the EU general publicabout the general civilisational, historical,cultural, economic and natural character-istics of Montenegro on the one hand,and on the other communicating aboutconcrete areas which could be of interestto the public in certain member states"states the Strategy.

The strategy is not meant to providedetailed guidelines for Montenegrin publicdiplomacy or nation-branding, but it doesaim to coordinate additional activities inorder to create a competitive identity ofthe country in the international public,which it judges to be necessary for thesake of better perception of Montenegro in

the EU member states and greater supportby the international public to its accessionto EU.

The document also notes a publicopinion poll published in February 2009and conducted among the citizens of EUmembers states on the question of themost important factors for future EUenlargement. The results varied tremen-dously from one country to another, withthe citizens of Italy, Malta and UK beingmost focused on the matters of immigra-tion, while Slovenians, Estonians, Greeksand Fins worried more about stability ontheir borders.

The Montenegrin Governmentbelieves that Montenegro-related informa-tion for the EU public should be targetedtowards freedom and democratic values,economic issues, emigration and culturaland religious issues.

Regarding communication channels,the Government favours television andradio which are "the most accessible mediafor the largest number of presently identi-fied target groups".

"Besides, television and radio are themost suitable media for initiating publicdiscussions and debates in relation to var-ious aspects of Montenegro's accession toEU, thereby offering the opportunity tooffer meaningful arguments to the citizensabout the positive sides and advantages ofEU membership", states the document.

According to the Strategy, the pressshould be used in order to offer the mostcomplete information on the EU system

and its functioning. It adds that the Internet ought to be

one of the main communication channelsin the process of accession to EU.

"This channel offers the possibilitiesfor interactive and two-way communica-tion which ought to be present in everyphase of the implementation of thisStrategy. The Internet is also a mediumwhich allows to present all the relevantinformation on the process ofMontenegro's accession to EU in oneplace. In addition to the already "tradition-al" internet communication channels suchas web portals, presentations and e-mail,more attention should be given to theincreasingly popular web 2.0 (internetcommunities, social networking websites,sharing platforms for video and photomaterials, wikis, blogs etc), especially incommunication with the youth and withthe foreign public. The rapid pace ofdevelopment of this area requires contin-uous harmonisation of the communicationapproach to the current developments andinnovations in information and communi-cation technologies", warns the Strategy.

The Government recommends thatpublic events, as well as personal contacts,should also be used to promote EU.

According to the Strategy,Government's partners in communicationwith the citizens should be public insti-tutions media, NGOs, business sector,academic community, local self-govern-

ments and organisations and religiouscommunities.

"In order to bring the Strategy in linewith the real needs, it is necessary for theMinistry of European Integrations to pre-pare every year, in cooperation with non-governmental organisations and other part-ners, annual action plans. These will con-tain, in addition to the findings of opinionpolls, a detailed overview of activities, toolsand templates for communication, targetgroups, project leaders, potential partnersand the mode of financing", states theCommunication strategy.

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The first task the Government set to itself was to get the foreign media inter-ested in the events in Montenegro. "International media have a decisive impact on the development of inter-

national public opinion. The first communication-related task is to attract theirinterest to the events in Montenegro, bearing in mind the newsworthiness ofpotential information for the international public and specific interests of con-crete target groups", states the Strategy.

It adds that the annual Action plans should contain separate media plansfor informing the foreign media.

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16Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0F r om my p o in t o f v i ew

W H Y D O I W A N T T O B E A C I T I Z E N O F E U R O P E A N U N I O N

Montenegro isan unalien-able part ofEurope. But we areso far from theideals and valuesrepresented byEuropean Union

that it is about time that we seriously startworrying about it and get down to sortingout our problems and cleaning up our back-yard, because nobody else will do it for us.

Although it seems we will not do iteither. Too many things let to pass. Wetucked ourselves into private survival tacticsinstead of plunging into life that demandsand produces the necessary changes.

Recently, during the first spring session,Montenegrin Parliament adopted more than90 laws, among others Changes andAmendments to the Law on GeneralEducation, re-centralising educational sys-tem. For more than 120 primary and 47 sec-ondary schools the choice of directors isagain up to the ministry, instead of being theresponsibility of the school boards and localcommunities. These are precisely the kindsof decisions that take us further away fromEU, decision taken by the same people whokeep telling us about European integrationsand their importance.

I believe that development of a countrydoesn't only depend on its economy or roadinfrastructure, or on the survival of some fac-tories, but primarily on education. Economycan recover, and the factories can be rebuilt,but how do we give back education to gen-erations of student, if we destroy it now?

Apart from taking us a step backwards,this centralisation is also dubious from thestandpoint of the public good. Even if theminister was the best, could we realistically

expect him to be able to choose the mostsuitable people for every school, people whowill be able to respond to the daily needs ofstudents and teachers in different environ-ments. Is he more familiar with all thepotential candidates in Plav or Kotor, or anyother municipality of Montenegro than theteachers' collective, the students and theparents? They ought to have the right todecide on the issues important for theircommunity. And this right, which theyacquired though the previous law, shouldn'tbe taken away from them!

We ought to learn from the past mis-takes and understand that the entire systemcannot be entrusted to one man, becausethat makes the system vulnerable. We oughtto learn from the contemporary positiveexamples and good practices where the cit-izen's don't only exercise their power onceevery four years in front of the ballot box,but on a daily basis, influencing a myriad oftiny issues which are of importance to their

communities. We have to learn from EU,which is based on the power of institutionsand active citizenship.

The law has been adopted without abreath of protest from teachers, although theyare the ones who are responsible for theeducation of young people. And the parents?

Taking their cue from the teachers' silence,they followed the same line of thinking - thatit is better for them not to meddle. The EUhas no use for such citizens. Perhaps it is bet-ter for us to stay where we are, if we're finewith it and if we chose silence voluntarily.

Between flawed laws and obedient cit-izens we find ourselves at a crossroads whereany road we choose will be wrong and con-trary to what the EU stands for. I want to andI'm able to become a citizen of EU, becauseI want the kind of education from the pri-mary school to university where everybody

has right to an opinion, without having tofear the consequences. Just like the second-ary school students in Cetinje, who took theresponsibility and fought for their rights. Theright that has existed since ancient Greece:the right to decide. And they won. That'sone more reason for us to join the fight.

As a member of a CCE youth group Irecently visited the Gymnasium in Cetinjewhere we showed a few films on humanrights. The director, the school psychologistsand other staff were professional, friendly, andready to help us out with anything we need-ed. I talked to somebody about it, and hereplied: "Well, so what, it's their job". Maybe,but they are among the few who do it well.

The facts are already in the books, wedon't need people to reproduce themmechanically, the society needs to hear thevoice of youth, my peers, because we are theones who stand to gain or lose the most fromEU membership, we are the ones who showwhether we are worthy of it. Now is the timefor us to show that we can use our head for

thinking, that we are the ones who makedecisions in our own environments, in ourstreets, and that the times when the respon-sibility was shifted to others have now passed.

The balance between fulfilling ourduties and demanding our rights is the wayto EU. That is why I want to get there.Because of myself, but also because of thosewho don't think that way.

The author is a student of the LawFaculty in Podgorica and a volunteer inCentre for Civic Education

by Danilo Ajkovi}

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17Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0O f f t h e w i r e

Around five million citizens of Moldova,Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine and Turkeyhave a chance to get an EU passportthrough shortened citizenship proceduresoffered by three EU states to the ethnicgroups or minorities outside their borders,reports the Associated Press.

The analysis shows that, as a conse-quence of special citizenship laws imple-mented by Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary,around five million "outsiders" couldbecome EU citizens, mostly people fromthe poorest European countries that willtake many years to become EU members.

Romania and Bulgaria are already giv-ing citizenships to the related ethnic groupsof minorities living outside their borders,and Hungary is planning to do the samefrom January.

The number of 4.7 million of poten-

tial citizens is a sum of all Moldovans whospeak Romanian, Slavs in Macedonia,Hungarians living in Serbia and Ukraine andTurks who left Bulgaria during communism.All of them are entitled to EU citizenshipsthrough preferential programmes.

In Moldova, where 2/3 of the citizensspeak Romanian, around 120 000 holdsRomanian passports. The government inBucharest said that another 800 000 peopleout of the total population of 4 millionMoldovans applied for Romanian citizenship.

Around 1.4 million Macedonians ofSlavic origin is also entitled to the citizenshipof Bulgaria, which maintains that Macedoniansare Bulgarians who speak a different language.Budapest is planning to offer dual citizenshipand passports to millions of ethnic Hungariansliving outside of its borders - among them 300000 in Serbia and around 160 000 in Ukraine.

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European Commission has recentlyinitiated comprehensive consulta-tions to find out what are the barriersto development of electronic com-merce in Europe.

Ten years after the start of theimplementation of the Directive on e-commerce, it still accounts for less than2% of total income from retail trade inthe EU, and the EC will try to find outwhat are the obstacles to its development.

SSaammee cchhaarrggeerrss

From the next year most mobile phonesbeing sold in Europe will be using thesame charger, announced the EC recent-ly. It believes the universal charger will"make the consumers' lives much easier"but also constitute a substantial environ-mental improvement, reducing the num-ber of unnecessary chargers.

The novelty concerns the newer ge-nerations of mobile phones which have aUSB connection to computers. Theagreement was supported by the leadingproducers such as Apple, LGE, Motorola,NEC, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, SonyEricsson,Alcatel and Texas Instruments.

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After the end of the summer holi-days European Commission willreveal its proposal for the strengtheningof EU's capacities to deal with naturaldisasters, announced the EC represen-tative FFeerrrraann TTaarrrraaddeellllaass in mid-August.

French President NNiiccoollaass SSaarrkkoozzyyrecently called on EU to assemble arapid response force for natural disas-ters, after the recent floods in Pakistanand forest fires in Russia.

Taradellas said that EC had start-ed working on the initiative longbefore Sarkozy's proposal.

Grain production in EU will remain sta-ble this year compared to a five-yearaverage, and the yield is expected to rise inspite of draughts and floods affecting manyparts of Europe, EC announced.

The EC experts estimate that Spain,Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria willhave exceptionally good harvests of wheatand barley, and only Greece and Portugalwill do worse than average.

EC said these estimates were based ondata collected before 10 July, and that draughtsand floods affecting certain parts of Europeafter this date could change the forectast.

The report doesn't contain an assess-ment of the success of the harvest on theprices of grain which are bound to rise asRussia, one of the world's leading exportersof grain, has been hard hit by the warmestsummer in the last 130 years.

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European governments cut down the EUbudget for 2011 by almost four billioneuros, which is bound to slow down theEU's ambitious plan to become a globalplayer and downsize the subsidies for agri-culture and expenditure on administration.

The governments agreed the budgetwill be 126.5 billion euros, or 3.6 billionless than requested by the EuropeanCommission.

Next, the Budget will be discussed inthe European Parliament, and the negotia-tions with EC, which doesn't want to give

up its requests, must be completed byOctober.

Seven EU members, including UK andDenmark, refused to sign the budget pro-posed by EC which envisaged a 2.91%increase compared to last year.

More than a half of overall cuts, or abit less than two billion euros, is in cohe-sion funds - mostly assistance for the poor-est EU regions. The Common AgriculturalPolicy (CAP), which is the largest item onEU budget, will be reduced by more than800 billion euros, to 57.3 billion.

18Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0EU cha l l eng e s

While some of the EU's Easternmember states are confidentabout achieving the bloc's 2020education targets, others - Hungary,Bulgaria and Romania - may struggleto satisfy the European Commission'sexpectations, reports EurActiv.

The agreed goals in the 'Europe2020' strategy - reducing the shareof early school leavers to 10% andmaking sure that at least 40% of 30-34 year olds have a degree or diplo-ma by 2020 - are EU-wide averages.National targets are to be agreedwith the European Commission,meaning that lower results in certainmember states can be balanced outby above-average ones in others.

Poland, the Czech Republic andSlovakia are leading the way when itcomes to school dropout rates - allthree are well within the EU-widegoal of 10% - although neighbouringHungary could struggle to meet itsnational target of 8.4%, as proposedby the European Commission.

As for the higher education goal,the Poles have set themselves anambitious target of 45%, while theCzechs and the Slovaks are aiming

for lower - and for them seeminglymore challenging - targets of 32%and 30% respectively.

For Bulgaria and Romania, theEU's newest arrivals, reducing theproportion of early school leaverswill be a difficult task. Particularly inRomania, many children leaveschool before finishing their educa-tion, a trend which has not beenaided by the onset of the globaleconomic crisis.

The higher degree of poverty in

those two countries, the Roma factorand the difficult rural environment -especially in Romania - appear to beholding back progress in access toeducation.

At its last summit in mid Junethe European Council committeditself to the EU education targets butexplicitly stressed that national edu-cation goals and education systemsare the responsibility of memberstates. Germany and Austria, both ofwhich are federally-structured coun-tries, had initially resisted the EU-wide goals owing to concerns abouttheir federal competencies.

Poland is one of the leadingmember states when it comes toeducation statistics. Its authoritieshave welcomed both the 'Europe2020' education targets and have setthemselves even more ambitiousnational goals. Currently, just 5% ofpupils in Poland do not finish sec-ondary school - the lowest rateamong the EU's 27 member states -and its education authorities areaiming to reduce it by a further halfpercentage point.

As for tertiary education, Polandwants to reach a higher level thanthe EU-wide goal, and is aiming tosee 45% rather than 40% of 30-34year olds with a degree or diplomaby 2020. In 2008, 29.7% of 30-34year old Poles held such qualifica-tions

However, Poland is performingless impressively in other areas ofeducation. The share of Polish 3-5year olds attending kindergartenstands at 60%, compared with an EUaverage of over 90%. Another prob-lem is lifelong learning among adults:the EU average is 9.5%, while inPoland it is only 4.7%.

The Czech Republic is not wor-

C A N T H E E A S T E R N M E M B E R S F U L F I L E D U C A T I O N A L G O A L S S E T B Y T H EE U R O P E A N C O M M I S S I O N

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Romania appears to be the most difficult case among the EU's Eastern coun-tries, with the rate of early school leavers on the rise. Between 2000 and2007, the number of early school leavers increased threefold, according to theMinistry of Education, Research, Youth and Sport.

According to the country's Institute for Statistics, in 2008 more than436,000 children aged between three and 17 were not enrolled in any kindof education institution, be that kindergarten, school, secondary or profession-al school. The economic crisis, which hit Romania hard, appears to have wors-ened the situation.

The NGOs warn that the number of early school leavers sharply increas-es after the age of 13 and reaches a peak at 16-17 years. Only a quarter ofchildren from rural areas make it to secondary school, as many of them arealready working instead of studying.

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19Eur op ean pu l s e N o 59

Augu s t , 2 0 1 0EU cha l l eng e s

ried about the EU's 2020 educationtargets and is confident of attainingits goals regarding both schooldropouts and tertiary education.

The number of early schoolleavers in the country stands at just5.6%, second only to Poland. TheCzechs are thus well within the EU-wide target, although educationexpert Eva Richterova believes thatthe rate can be improved furtherwith more parental support and bet-ter student performance.

Meeting the second goal -ensuring that at least 40% of 30-34year-olds have a degree or diploma- could prove more challenging, yetthe Czech Ministry of Education,Youth and Sports is confident thatthe national target of 32% will beachieved.

The new centre-right coalitiongovernment is planning major reformof the education system - it plans toraise teacher salaries and introduceuniversity fees - yet the country'stargets are unlikely to change.

Slovakia is a front-runner whenit comes to early school leavers, butwill have to double the proportion of25-34 year olds with tertiary educa-tion qualifications to meet its agreednational target.

The rate of school dropouts inSlovakia is 6%, only slightly higherthan in Poland and the CzechRepublic. According to the SlovakMinistry of Education, the country''has very good results in this indica-tor, since graduation from secondaryschool has significant social valueand the acquisition of at least thevocational certificate is a prerequisiteof being able to get a job''.

On the other hand, OECD sta-tistics show that only 13% of 25-34year olds in Slovakia hold a univer-sity degree, though higher educationenrolment rates have significantlyimproved in the last few years - tojust under one in three secondaryschool leavers. The Slovak target is30% and the education ministry isoptimistic it can be achieved.

Hungary's national educationtargets based on Europe 2020 will bedifficult for the country to meet:while the higher education goal maybe achievable, the proposed earlyschool leavers one is "not realistic,"according to the Ministry ofEducation.

The higher education target pro-posed by the European Commissionfor Hungary is 33.8%, which wouldrequire a significant increase fromthe current rate of 22.4%. Yet theMinistry of Education believes thisgoal can be attained - as demo-graphic trends predict a positiveeffect in the coming years.

''The Ministry takes on the chal-lenges of the EU target,'' an officialin the office of Rozsa Hoffmann,state secretary for education, toldEurActiv when asked about the earlyschool leavers' target.

As for school drop-outs, the ratehas stagnated in the last few yearsfollowing a steady improvementsince 2000. In 2009, it stood at11.4% and the Commission has pro-posed 8.4% by 2020, but Hoffmannwants it to be a more modest 10%.

Bulgaria and Romania, the last

members to join the Union in 2007,both face a real challenge to reducetheir numbers of early school leavers- though the latter is confident ofreaching the EU's higher educationtarget.

In Bulgaria, 93.4% of all 7-10year-olds attended school in theacademic year 2009-10. Yet the fig-ure falls to 82.4% for children aged11-14 and only 78.6% of all young-sters actually completed secondaryschool, according to research by theNational Statistical Institute.

This means that currently 21.4%of young Bulgarians do remain insecondary school for the duration -more than double the EU-wid