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 2 , J anua ry 2 0 1 0

European pulse

IIIINNNNTTTTEEEERRRRVVVVIIIIEEEEWWWWEditor of the

Albanian "TopChannel"television

Mentor Kikia

AAAANNNNAAAALLLLYYYYSSSSEEEESSSSCan Montenegrojoin EU withoutdealing with the

property ofcriminals

EEEEUUUU CCCCHHHHAAAALLLLLLLLEEEENNNNGGGGEEEESSSSHungary - fiveyears after EU

accession

FFFFOOOOCCCCUUUUSSSS OOOOFFFF TTTTHHHHIIIISSSS IIIISSSSSSSSUUUUEEEEHow to prepare fornegotiations with EU

2Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0F o r eword / Ca l enda r

DDRRUUGGSSShould we allow the institutions ofthe system, from the Agency forNational Security (ANS), to police,prosecution, Directorate for the pre-vention of money laundering... to dotheir work and investigate the business-es of the drug boss DDaarrkkoo [[aarrii}} andpersons related to him?

Or, should we simply let thesepeople provide income for hundreds ofsportsmen, waiters, barmen, journalists,sailors, bodyguards, party activists, stockmarket speculators, landlords...

It seems that the peak of theMontenegrin government had no suchHamlet-like dilemmas when it came tothe institutions' approach to thisalready world-famous native of Pljevlja.

The second option in the analysisof relations between Montenegrin insti-tutions and [ari} is that this guy is nosecurity concern for the ANS, policeand other law-enforcement organs,although it is estimated that his drugsmuggling brought him 4.5 billion dol-lars only in the last few years (anequivalent of three-yearly budget ofthe republic of Montenegro).

I don't believe the second possi-bility, if for no other reason thanbecause of the rumours about [ari}'sbusinesses which by all accounts havereached everybody in this country butVVeesseelliinn VVeelljjoovvii}} and DDuu{{kkoo MMaarrkkoovvii}}.

The answer is, simply, the lack ofpolitical will to fight organised crime.

This chapter of the story on thestruggle of our institutions and govern-ment against organised crime doesn't fitthe usual refrain about a Europeansuccess story which is constantlybroadcasted by the local and ofteneven by some European officials.

This is cruel Latin Americanreality. VV..@@..

SSppaanniisshh pprreessiiddeennccyy iinn EEUU ((11JJaannuuaarryy)) - Spain has taken overthe helm of EU from Sweden forthe next six months. Among thepriorities of the presidency listedby Madrid are overcoming theeconomic crisis, supportingemployment and economicgrowth, but also the promise notto give up on support for furtherintegration of the WesternBalkans. Spain also announcedthat it will organise an EU-WestBalkans summit this May inSarajevo, 10 years after the lastmeeting in Zagreb.

NNoo sshhoorrttccuuttss ttoo BBrruusssseellss ((1122 JJaannuuaarryy)) - Montenegro is a success story when it comesto EU integration, but neither Montenegro nor any other country can get to the mem-bership by taking shortcuts, announced the candidate for the next EuropeanEnlargement Commissioner SStteeffaann FFuullee at a hearing before the European Parliament.He emphasised that there will be no artificial timelines for these countries' accessionto EU, but that progress will be continuously monitored.

PPrreeppaarraattiioonnss ffoorr NNPPII 22001100-22001144 ((1133 JJaannuuaarryy)) - Commission for European Integrations (CEI)adopted a framework plan for the preparation of National Programme for Integration ofMontenegro into European Union (NPI) for 2010-2014, which should be completed in thefirst half of this year. Minister for European Integrations GGoorrddaannaa \\uurroovvii}} presented the CEImembers with a framework plan of activities, beginning with seminars, analysis of the data-base of acquis communautaire and division of responsibilities according to future negotia-tions chapters. She said that the existing NPI for 2008-2012 as well as the past work onthe Questionnaire were valuable foundation for the preparation of the new document.

IIvvaannii{{eevvii}} iinn ccoonnttrrooll ooff IIPPAA ffuunnddss ((1133 JJaannuuaarryy)) - Deputy Prime Minister IIggoorr LLuukk{{ii}} andpresident of the Senate of the State Audit Institution (SAI) MMiirroossllaavv IIvvaannii{{eevvii}} signed theagreement establishing a special auditing body that would supervise the usage of themoney from EU IPA funds. This is one of the steps towards the so-called EU DecentralisedImplementation System (DIS), which is supposed to transfer the responsibility for the man-agement of European funds from EU Delegation to the recipient country.

IIttaallyy aanndd UUKK rraattiiffiieedd SSAAAA ((1155 JJaannuuaarryy)) - Parliaments of Italy and the United Kingdomratified the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Montenegro andEU. With that, of the 27 EU member states only Greece and Belgium are still to rat-ify the SAA.

CCrrooaattiiaa ggiivveess ttrraannssllaattiioonnss ((2288 JJaannuuaarryy)) - The Croatian Government decided to cedethe Croatian translations of acquis communautaire to Montenegro, Serbia and BiH, ifthey wish to make use of them. The documents in question consist of about 101 550pages of acquis worth 8 000 000 which Croatia translated between 2003 and late2009, and contain about 80% of European legislation.

EECCOOSSOOCC wwoorrkkiinngg oonn aa rreeppoorrtt oonn cciivviill ssoocciieettyy ((3300 JJaannuuaarryy)) - Between 28 and 30January in Podgorica delegation of the Economic and Social Council of EuropeanUnion presented its draft Opinion on the role of civil society in the relations betweenMontenegro and EU. The report was prepared by ECOSOC rapporteur VVllaaddiimmiirraaDDrrbbaalloovvaa, and was commented on by representatives of the civil society and govern-ment. In additional to Drbalova, the delegation consisted of MMeettkkaa RRookkssaannii}} (chair ofthe Study Group), BBaarraabbaass MMiikkllooss (member of the Study Group) and DDaalliibboorrkkaaUUlljjaarreevvii}}, executive director of CEE who contributed to this report as an expert onthe civil society sector.

Madrid

3Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0A t t i t ud e

The landslidevictory of IIvvooJJoossiippoovvii}} in theJanuary presi-dential electionsin Croatia bodeswell, not just for

the country, but also for the WesternBalkans as a whole - and not least forthe region's hopes for membership inthe European Union.

In the campaign, Josipovi} cameacross as a voice of reason and mod-eration. In a region where charisma hasoften been coupled with other, moreunpleasant personality traits, thisuncharismatic leader's appeal lies in hisdetermination to grapple with endem-ic corruption and organized crime andhis standing for a renewed sense ofjustice. His call for dialogue and coop-eration in the region also appealed tovoters tired of petty divisions.

In Brussels, the same week sawthe members of the new EUCommission being grilled by theEuropean Parliament - with specialattention to enlargement. CCaatthheerriinneeAAsshhttoonn, the new EU foreign and secu-rity policy High Representative, saidthat the future of the Western Balkans,and the region's move toward EUmembership, will be one of her prior-ities. SStteeffaann FFuullee, the designated EUCommissioner for enlargement, alsopromised to work toward membershipfor the Balkans. For the Western Balkancountries, that was a very importantmessage.

For, while Croatia is expected tobecome the EU's 28th member state in2012 (unless Iceland makes it inbefore), many of the other countries inthis region torn by war only a decadeago have been disturbed by talk ofenlargement fatigue and by harsh crit-

icism of the accession of Bulgaria andRomania in 2007.

Nonetheless, the Western Balkanshave already gained a remarkableamount of momentum on their waytoward Euroatlantic integration. Theend of 2009 saw several importantmilestones: visa-free travel forMacedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia;Serbia put forward its formal request forEU candidate status; Montenegro madea determined step toward achievingcandidacy by handing in the answers tothe European Commission's question-naire , and it was approved for aMembership Action Plan by NATO;Albania moved a notch further in thecandidacy process by receiving theCommission's questionnaire; and Bosniaand Herzegovina put in a request for itsown Membership Action Plan at NATO.

Which is not to say that all is

smooth. On the contrary, all of thesecountries still have serious problems. InBosnia and Herzegovina, for example,recent U.S. and EU efforts to help cre-ate a more self-sustaining political sys-tem have stalled. The name disputebetween Greece and Macedoniaremains intractable. And Kosovo lookslikely to need NATO soldiers and EUadministrators for a long time.

The Croatian president-elect Josi-povi}, on the other hand, has shownhis determination to move forward bysaying that he wants to improve bilat-eral relations significantly with Serbia.

All the governments in the regionhave clearly stated their commitmentto an EU future and to a peaceful,negotiated resolution of all outstandingbilateral and regional disputes. That iswhy the forward, if sometimes frustrat-ingly slow, movement toward the EUmust continue. It is what reinforces the

motivation of the majority of demo-cratically minded citizens and officialsto pursue the hard work of reform andchange.

Public opinion polls have system-atically shown clear majorities over thepast ten years for EU integration in allcountries, except, paradoxically inCroatia, which seems to follow the

adage that the closer you get, the morequalms you have. But again Josipovic'svictory seems to confirm that in spiteof those qualms the Croatian citizensstill stand by European values.

The countries of the WesternBalkans are fully aware that there willbe no leniency on the way to Brussels.The experiences of Bulgaria andRomania have taught them that judicialreform and the twin scourges of organ-ized crime and corruption must bedealt with swiftly. Rule of law, trans-parency, and good governance - theseare conditions for accession, not proj-ects to be taken up (or not) afterentering the EU gates. Regional coop-eration efforts will help because theydemonstrate that the Balkans have trulychosen the European way.

Ivan Vejvoda directs the BalkanTrust for Democracy in Belgrade

A V I E W F R O M E U

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by Ivan Vejvoda

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Ivo Josipovi}

4Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

Montene-grin Go-vernment is atthe momentnot terriblypreoccupied by

the question of how and when toestablish the team for negotiatingwith EU and how to form theworking groups to prepare fornegotiations. Their efforts are stillfocused on consultations withBrussels regarding the answers tothe Questionnaire of the EuropeanCommission (EC) and preparation ofthe new National Plan forIntegration (NPI). According tosome sources, however, certainplans for the future already exist.

According to the minister forEuropean Integrations Dr GGoorrddaannaa\\uurroovvii}}, the deadline for the offi-cial selection of the team could bethe second half of 2010 at the ear-liest, given that EC announced itsOpinion on Montenegro's applica-tion for EU membership by autumn.

"However, bearing in mind thatthis is indeed a very demandingprocess, we will prepare the plan ofactivities well ahead, but its imple-mentation depends on when the ECwill set the date to begin negotia-tions", said \urovi} for the Euro-pean Pulse.

Should Montenegro get a posi-tive opinion from EC, probably in

September or October, the nexthurdles on the road to EU are get-ting the candidate status and thedate to begin negotiations.

The Government's optimisticexpectation is that the Council of EUmight grant the candidate status toMontenegro already by the end ofthe year, immediately setting thedate for the opening of negotiations.Should this scenario come true,given the experiences of other coun-tries, formal negotiations betweenEU and Montenegro could beginalready in the first half of 2011.

Accession negotiations willdepend to a large extent on theoverall political and economicdevelopment of Montenegro andthey are of great importance for all

of its citizens. This is the kind ofwork which requires participation ofa much larger number of people ofdifferent professions than was thecase so far.

Negotiating structures, consist-ing of administration, civil societyrepresentatives, business associa-tions and other should first definethe negotiating positions ofMontenegro that best protect andrepresent interests of the country.The next step is the formation ofthe team of negotiators who willdefend these interests before EUinstitutions and member states.

The reason that Montenegrohas not began work on the consti-tution of the negotiating teams isthat currently its efforts are still

H O W T O P R E P A R E F O R N E G O T I A T I O N S W I T H E U

by Mirela Rebronja

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Gordana \urovi}

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JEST

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5Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

focused on the consultation processfor EC Questionnaire and prepara-tion of the new NPI for 2010-2014.That means that acquis should bestudied very thoroughly and that weshould have a realistic assessment ofthe extent to which our regulationshave been harmonised with EU,come up with a clear plan toachieve sufficient harmonisationwith EU legislation by 2014 andallocate the people and the fundingnecessary for this process", \urovi}explained.

She added that it was alreadypossible to foresee and define the

next steps.According to her, "based on the

positive experiences with organisa-tion of work for the Questionnaire,

the Government should use thesame model to define future nego-tiating structures".

According to the current plans,the negotiating team will be creat-ed by the Government. The plan isto first appoint the head ofMontenegrin delegation as well asthe chief negotiator, and perhapsalso his or her deputies.

According to \urovi}, based onthe experience so far the teamsshould consist of experts in the spe-cific fields, most of them from theGovernment, but possibly also localexperts, well established in certainareas of policy.

\urovi} noted that, accordingto some experiences, the negotiat-ing team should not have morethan 15 people.

"In addition to this preparatoryphase, in order to improve efficien-cy, we will redefine the compositionof seven groups for European inte-grations which already exist, andwhich cover the areas of trade,industry, agriculture, transport, eco-nomic and financial matters, as wellas the sphere of social policy, envi-ronment, energy and regionaldevelopment", \urovi} said.

Macedonia, just like Croatiaand Slovenia before, organised itsnegotiating team and workinggroups after receiving the avis, butthey never had a chance to evalu-ate their choice, as Macedonia hasbeen waiting for the date to begin

European Commission adopted a positive opinion on Croatia's application formembership in the European Union in March 2004 and proposed openingpre-accession negotiations.

In June 2004 the Council of EU accorded this country the status of a can-didate for membership, with the conclusion that the date for the beginning ofnegotiations should be set by December of the same year. The negotiationswere to begin in March 2005.

Only three days before the start of negotiations presidents of the Croatianparliamentary parties agreed with the then president of Croatian GovernmentIvo Sanader on the names of 13 members of the negotiating team to leadnegotiations with EU.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi} was appointed the head of the negotiating team and Vladimir Drobnjak,a non-partisan personality and long-term diplomat, the chief negotiator.

"It was strictly their professionalism and expertise, and not party affiliation,that decided the choice of representatives for negotiations with EuropeanUnion", announced Sanader at the presentation of the Team of Negotiators.

The negotiating team is in charge of the technical level of negotiationswith EU institutions and members states with regard to all 35 chapters of nego-tiations. Team members are in charge, among other, of coordinating variousworking groups and preparing the negotiating positions for each round ofnegotiations, which are as many as the chapters - 35.

The composition of the working groups is decided upon by heads of thenegotiating team. Working groups participated in the analysis and assessmentof harmonisation of the Croatian legislation with that of EU (so-called screen-ing), which is the very first step of the negotiations - which means that themembership of these groups must be known well ahead of the process.

Even more importantly, the working groups participate in and have a largecontribution to the drafting of the proposals of negotiating positions of Croatia.Members of the working groups are the representatives of universities, scientificinstitutes, trade unions, Croatian companies, various associations and councils.

The number of members varies from one group to another. For instance,the Croatian working groups for negotiations on agriculture and rural develop-ment had 385 members, but the one on science and research had only 25.

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Slovenian experience is somewhat different. Namely, it is characteristic of theSlovenian approach that one of the preconditions for becoming a member of thenegotiating team, apart from expertise, was non-affiliation with any political party.

This country also started to form its negotiating team after it received apositive opinion from EC. Slovenia officially began its negotiations in late March1998, and became EU member in 2004.

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6Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

negotiations for more than fouryears, mostly because of the name-related dispute with Greece.

Former deputy prime minister ofMacedonia, now deputy speaker ofthe Macedonian parliament RRaaddmmiillaaSSeekkeerriinnsskkaa said in the interview forEuropean Pulse that negotiatingstructures should be created as soonas possible, if there's a chance thatthe date of negotiations will beannounced at the same time as theopinion on the candidate status.

When it comes to the structureand composition of the teams, sheexplains, the same criteria appliedin other countries of the regionwere used in Macedonia.

"I don't think one needs toworry so much about fulfilling someformal requirements of member-ship, in the sense that there oughtto be representatives of all interest-ed parties, regardless of the quality.The best thing is to have the mostcompetent individuals for eacharea", Sekerinska said.

She added that while compos-ing the negotiating structures Mace-donians took care first of all toinvolve all the best known and mostaccomplished representatives foreach area.

According to her, the first thingto decide is who will be the mainnegotiator and minister who will

lead the negotiations, and then letthem select the best and the mostcompetent members of the negoti-ating teams.

In order to lead successfulnegotiations, it is important to bearin mind that they always take placeon two levels.

The first, initial level is theinternal one, where the negotiatorscommunicate with the representa-tives of areas that are currently thesubject of negotiations, i.e. with themembers of the working groups.Only once they receive the relevant

inputs and suggestions do they con-tinue negotiations on the main,official level, that is, directly incommunication with EU represen-tatives.

Sekerinska warns that the inter-nal relations and discussions shouldbe conducted as carefully as thosewith the official Brussels.

"In Macedonia it was plannedthat representatives of the civil soci-ety, business associations and othersshould be part of the workinggroups, to ensure that their interestsare taken into account", she said.

Because of the bad experienceit had with Bulgaria and Romania,during negotiations with Croatia theEU decided to leave the talks onthe most difficult chapters, those onjudiciary and human rights, for thevery end.

The negotiations thus beginwith the "easier" chapters - educa-tion and culture, science andresearch. This probably means thatwe should already start questioningthe quality of our education, har-monisation with EU regulations,possible corruption...

Sekerinska explains that in Macedonia the selection of people who made itinto the negotiating team and working groups started well in advance, astheir composition is not very different from those that have worked on theanswers to the Questionnaire.

That, according to her, is very good practice as these people have alreadybeen trained, and they got to know the field though intensive and demand-ing work of several months.

"In principle, the members of the negotiating teams in Macedonia mostlycome from the administration since, as I already said, working groups thatworked on the Questionnaire were more or less transformed into negotiatingteams", Sekerinska said.

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Radmila Sekerinska

7Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Ana ly s e s

To what extentis Montenegrocapable of beco-ming a candidatefor EU member-ship, let alone amember of the

club, if its citizens, who are heading acocaine smuggling chain, have to bechased and arrested by Buenos Aires,Washington and Belgrade while the offi-cials in Podgorica blink in blissful igno-rance?

The answer is, of course, wellknown. As is the extent of the politicalwill of the Montenegrin Government, orat least a part of it, to deal with organ-ised criminal networks, which arebecoming so powerful that they reallydon't find it too difficult to controlMontenegrin institutions.

How can we measure this politicalwill to fight crime and corruption? Whyare we questioning the Government's willto do so?

Apart from the sad fact that nobodywho is high enough in the Governmenthas been as much as suspected, let aloneconvicted on corruption charges, thereare some very concrete tests of will,which \\uukkaannoovvii}}'s cabinet has beenstubbornly, and even impudently, avoid-ing. For instance, why is there no law inMontenegro that would allow the state toconfiscate the property of the membersof underground, unless they can prove itslegal origins?

Unlike Montenegro, where theGovernment ensures the right to proper-ty even when acquired through crime,the neighbouring Serbia and Croatia have

provisions for confiscating all illegallyacquired property of criminals.

Such a law is in force in Croatiasince 1 January 2009, and its purpose isto create some space for more efficientfight against organised crime and corrup-tion. The starting point is the suppositionthat all property of a person convicted forcrime or corruption could have beenacquired though illegal means. If the per-son in question has no means of demon-strating that his or her property has beenlegally acquired, it has to be confiscated.This applies not only to property relatedto the crime in question, but to entirepossessions of the convict. The Croatiancriminal code also introduces a provisionpreventing the possible circumvention ofthe above rule by transfer of property toanother person. In order to prevent thecriminals from transferring millions incash, real estate or businesses to a thirdperson in order to avoid confiscation, ifthe prosecutor can prove that transfer didindeed take place, regardless of whetherthe third person is a family member orsomeone else the property will be con-

fiscated.And while Croats are grabbing

ahead, harmonising their laws withEuropean practice, prime minister Milo\ukanovi} said last December that thestate of Montenegro cannot possibly takeaway money from anyone who in theearly nineties was involved in cigarettetrade because this business, he said, wasconducted fully in accordance with thethen laws of the country. Besides, theprime minister emphasised that it is notthe job of the Government, as given bythe Constitution, to evaluate how muchproperty in Montenegro was acquiredthrough criminal means.

"Not only because it is not our duty,but also because our goal is not to chaseaway, but to attract investors", warned thePrime Minister, adding that "neither the

judiciary nor other state institutions" should"foment this atmosphere of suspicion".

In Croatia, in the meantime, onehigher official was convicted for takingbribe amounting to 20 000 euros, andbecause he could not prove that hisproperty was legally acquired, 400 000euros worth of property was frozen untilthe process is completed at a court ofhigher instance. If the higher court rejectsthe appeal, the entire property will beconfiscated.

\ukanovi}'s message to all who gotreach smuggling tobacco not to worryabout their money is also a clear politicalmessage to the prosecutors and investiga-tors. The numbers, however, show thatbetween 1994 and 2002 Montenegroearned between 300 and 700 milliondollars from this business, while part ofthe money was diverted into the pocketsof privileged individuals.

The importance of seeing throughthe entire process of fight against crime isbest illustrated by words of RRuuppeerrtt VViinniinnggin his "Analysis of financial investigations",written for the Organisation for Securityand Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"Simply convicting the members andleaders of criminal organisations, withoutundermining their economic power, is notenough to eradicate crime and corrup-tion. Their temporary withdrawal intoprisons does not mean the end of theorganisation, because their primarymotive lays in financial benefits, whichserve them to strengthen their organisa-tions, but also to exercise political andeconomic influence on the society",warns Vining, former UK Prosecutor andadvisor to the president of Romania.

M O N T E N E G R O ' S D I L E M M A S O N T H E W A Y T O T H E E U R O P E A N C L U B

by Ne|eljko Rudovi}

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8Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0In t e r v i ew

Chief editor of the news programmein the most popular Albanian tel-evision "Top Channel" Mentor Kikiasaid the biggest problems of Albaniaon its road to European integrationwere related to the functioning ofdemocracy and the rule of law.

In the interview for the EuropeanPulse Kikia added that relationsamong the political parties oftenspark crises which represent severeobstacles for stepping up the pace ofthe integration process, but thebiggest problem, in his opinion, is therelationship between the Albaniangovernment and independent insti-tutions such as the judiciary, prosecu-tors...

"Experiences of the past fewyears show that the courts wereunder heavy political influence,which resulted in cancellation or pro-longation of several trials whose mainactors were high government officials.Another face of this problem is wide-spread corruption, which is closelyconnected to the non-functioning oflegal institutions. We still don't have asingle case of a high official who

ended up in prison on charges ofcorruption or fraud", Kikia said.

According to him, Albania al-ready has a modern legal framework,comparable to those of the mostadvanced countries of Europe, butwarns that the problems come with

implementation."Many new laws have been

adopted, but they are often blatantlyviolated, since there is no will toimplement them", Kikia added.

What is with the fight againstorganised crime, which is the prob-lem of all Balkan countries?

Here we have witnessed at leastone big step forward.

After 1997, when Albania wassinking into totalitarian chaos whichresulted in the collapse of the state,many criminal groups have appearedin the country. Today, nearly all ofthem have been eliminated and theirmembers put on trial.

Production of narcotic substanceshas been minimised, as well as drugtrade which passes through Albaniaon its way from the East to the West.

Also, five years ago Albaniaadopted a law forbidding the usageof large boats, thus finally blockingthe trafficking in human beings acrossAdriatic.

M E N T O R K I K I A , E D I T O R I N T H E I N F L U E N T I A L A L B A N I A N T E L E V I S I O N" T O P C H A N N E L "

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Mentor Kikia

What is the strategy of Albanian authorities in fighting corruption? Couldyou describe any positive actions on the part of the government?

Corruption is still the cancer of the state, in spite of government's initiativesand public announcements of the prime minister that it will be eradicated.

There were a few moves, such as simplifications of the procedure for reg-istering a company, introduction of on-line applications for public tenderswhich eliminated some corruption linkages.

Similarly, the Albanian prime minister called on the citizens to report allcases of corruption in public administration to a special phone number con-trolled by his cabinet.

All these moves resulted in some progress in diminishing illegal practicesin public administration, but I would emphasise once against hat we still don'thave a single high official who was convicted in large-scale corruption cases,such as those concerning corruption in assigning contracts for road construc-tion or other investments involving large amounts of money.

PPOOSSIITTIIVVEE EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS

9Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0In t e r v i ew

What are the biggest advan-tages of Albania when it comes toEuropean integrations?

Albanians are a people whichhas always cherished great humanvalues.

Their willingness to offer shelterand protection to the Jews during theWorld War II will remain a brightepisode in the entire modern historyof Europe.

I believe that Albania's advan-tages lie in its history and geostrate-gic position. The creation of the stateof Kosovo makes Albania an impor-tant player in the region, and it facil-itated its membership in NATO,which is also an important positivefactor.

Montenegro and Iceland retu-rned their answers to the Questio-nnaire of the European Commission,Albania is still working on theanswers, Serbia is waiting for theopinion on its application, Macedoniais waiting for a date to begin negoti-ations. Do you believe that Brusselswill stick to individual assessment ofeach country's merit?

Yes. Albania is working on itsanswers to the Questionnaire, andthe government announced that theywill be ready for submission to EC bythe end of March. We don't knowwhat will be Brussels' opinion on ouranswers, but that will determine thenext steps.

As for a "package" accession ofthe West Balkan countries to EU,there are many people who suspect,in Tirana as well as in Podgorica, thatthis will indeed happen. In fact, thatwould be the best way to do it.

However, if we bear in mind theprocess of visa liberalisation, wereBrussels continues to apply selectivemethods, I doubt that we will all joinEU together. In the cases of Albaniaand Bosnia, the European officialswere very insistent on the fulfilmentof each and every criteria from theRoadmap.

However, should Albania get apositive opinion on its answers to the

Questionnaire, there is a chance thatAlbania, Montenegro and Macedoniawill proceed simultaneously in thisprocess.

In my opinion Serbia mightreceive a more privileged treatmentand fast-track its integration process,as a consequence of EU's efforts todiminish the Russian influence in theBalkans via Serbia.

A group enlargement now seemsto me more like wishful thinking thanas a real possibility. Still, I believe thatselective integration of some coun-tries of the Balkans could cause moreproblems in the region, by isolatingneighbours who would remain out-side of EU borders, and I believe thatBrussels would not allow somethinglike that to happen.

Has NATO integration spedup the process of EU integration inthe case of Albania? Advocates ofNATO in Montenegro always empha-sise that these two processes arealmost inseparable.

There's no doubt that NATO hasa strong positive influence onEuropean integrations. I don't thinkthat memberships in EU and NATOare inseparable, because sometimesmilitary alliances are more advanced,

complex, and sometimes they areforged without much attention toother factors.

Albania's membership in NATOis a consequence of finalisation ofsome important geostrategic eventsthat happened in the Balkans in thelast decade, and which culminated inthe establishment of the state ofKosovo. In this, the decisive factorwas the influence of USA which sup-ported the enlargement of NATO tothe Balkans, although, let's face it,military potentials of Albania orMacedonia (which is still being heldhostage by Greece) were not and arenot worthy of a NATO member.

This makes it obvious that on themilitary front there was a bit of rush,while it doesn't seem that Brussels isin a hurry to take in Albania,Montenegro or any other country ofthe region, individually or collective-ly, unless they fulfil all the conditions.

NATO accession is more than apassport for EU. In Albania, it servesas a means of raising the accounta-bility of the political class for the ful-filment of demands coming fromBrussels.

V. @UGI]

What is the relationship between the Albanian authorities and themedia? Do public officials often sue the media and journalists for libel or"damage of reputation and honour" as is the case in Montenegro?

I would say that in Albania we have one typically Balkan relationshipbetween the media and authorities. Politicians expect the media to serve them,to be useful tools, and don't want strong and independent media.

As for the court trials, the Albanian government adopted a law prohibit-ing officials from raising charges against journalists or the media, regardless ofwhat they write. The government announced this as a "historical moment" withregard to freedom of the media.

In the meantime, however, the authorities used another strategy - theybought up the owners of the media, offering them economic privileges, whileexerting financial pressure on those owners who did not let themselves bebought up.

This created an unfortunate climate and let to abuse of the role of themedia, transforming an important part of it into a tool of politicians, both thosein power and those in opposition.

PPOOLLIITTIICCIIAANNSS DDOONN''TT WWAANNTTSSTTRROONNGG,, IINNDDEEPPEENNDDEENNTT MMEEDDIIAA

10Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Ev en t s and p e r s on s who shap ed Eur op e

All great rulersof Europewere obsessedby the idea ofbrining theentire old conti-

nent under the rule of a single crown,nation or ideology - from Charles Vto Louis the XIV and Napoleon. Inspite of being inspired by differentambitions, plans and ideas, all theseconquerors shared the same mainmotivation for forging together thesedisparate territories which in the civil-isational sense represented "Europe" -a unique cultural space, in spite of allethnic, religious and linguistic differ-ences, a cultural trademark of what inthe modern understanding werefer to simply as WesternEurope.

Even with the establishmentof colonial empires, encom-passing territories hundreds oftimes greater than the conquer-ing country, territories with anabundance of natural resourceswhich the Europeans could onlydream about, the desire todominate and integrate this sin-gle cultural space never sub-sided.

The roots of WesternEuropean culture stem from thecivilisational achievements ofancient Greece and Rome, butits core was shaped throughsymbiosis with the barbariancultures of Celts and Germans,and under significant influenceof the newly formed Arabic cul-

ture and, most of all, the CatholicChurch.

It is hard to imagine that theyoung civilization of the EuropeanWest, which arose on the ruins ofthe Roman Empire, would have everbecome what it is today had it notbeen for one crucial factor of itshomogenization: Charlemagne (771-814) and the cultural prosperity thathis rule brought about.

During nearly half a century ofhis reign, his rule stretched across theentire free territory of the EuropeanWest where the process of state for-mation had begun, with the excep-tion of the British Isles. Among thelands that became part of his king-dom (empire from 800) are the ter-ritories of today's France (exceptBretagne), Benelux countries, Ger-many until Elbe, Austria, Slovenia,Switzerland, parts of Croatia, northernand central Italy and northern Spain.

Under his rule Western Europeexperienced a period of culturalprogress, economic prosperity andrelative peace, unparalleled in its his-tory since the fall of the RomanEmpire. Although himself illiterate,Charlemagne was a fervent supporterof literacy which started to spreadthrough the influence of newlyfounded monasteries. Peace, pros-perity and growing educational levelsbrought new breakthroughs in thefields of art, literature and architec-ture. This period of flourishing cul-ture, known in history as theCarolingian Renaissance, was not onlyfirst cultural revival of Western Europesince the collapse of the WesternRoman Empire, but it also represent-ed the beginning of cultural homog-enization of this area. Political unifi-cation of the European space alsomeant cultural rapprochement, whichresulted in strong foundations for

future cultural unity, and forged acommon identity against thethreats that were already loomingon the horizon.

Charlemagne built on thegood relations with the Papacy,which were already establishedduring the rule of his father, firstby destroying the Kingdom of theLombards which at the time pre-sented the greatest threat to thePope. Charlemagne relinquishedthese territories in favour of thePapal States, and in return thePope pronounced Charlemagnethe Emperor. The Holy See ben-efited in many ways from thisact, as it acquired new territories,a powerful ally and a protector,allowing it greater autonomywhich in the past was oftenthreatened by the ByzantineEmpire (an empire which was

by Milo{ Vukanovi}

////////

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

Dibsmfnbhof!boe!uif!Dbspmjohjbo!Sfobjttbodf

Charlemagne

11Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Ev en t s and p e r s on s who shap ed Eur op e

already in decline but maintained afirm grip on the Balkans andSouthern Italy). By freeing the Papacyfrom the threats of the Lombards andpressures from Byzantium, Charle-magne paved way for absolute dom-ination of Catholicism in the West,not only in spiritual but also, later on,in political terms. This was to be the

hallmark of European culture all theway until Reformation.

To understand the full signifi-cance of this period for Europe today,we must take into consideration thebroader context of the old in theninth century. Beside the FrankishEmpire and a few smaller dominions,there was no other significant stateformation embodying the Westernculture. Spain was ruled by theMoors, on the British Isles, where

many small states still fought fordominance, the influence of pagan-ism contributed to the rise of a dis-tinct variety of Christianity, paganSlavic and Scandinavian tribes occu-pied vast expanses of the North,Central and Eastern Europe and theBalkans, while the hostile ByzantineEmpire, although in retreat, still rep-

resented a powerful factor in EasternMediterranean. It was within thisconstellation of external forces thatEurope had to face one of the mosttrying periods of its history - theViking conquest. Bearing all this inmind, it was the strong cultural andpolitical foundation forged in theperiod of Charlemagne's reign thatallowed Western Europe not only tosurvive this period and resist theonslaught of Normans, but also to

begin a period of cultural expansion,especially towards Central andEastern Europe.

The states which were createdwith dissolution of the Charlemagne'sempire are considered to be thebeginnings of modern Europeanstates, and on their outer frontiers wecan also observe newer attempts atstate-building (such as Sam's estab-lishment of Greater Moravia).

A close look at contemporaryWestern Europe clearly reveals thecultural consequences of Charle-magne's rule. The foundations laiddown during his rule are the veryfoundations for development of WestEuropean culture.

Cultural unity always inspireseconomic and political integration,sometimes even by force. AfterCharlemagne and before EU Europewill only be united in a similar wayonce more, under Napoleon.

TThhee aauutthhoorr iiss aa pprrooggrraammmmee aassssoo-cciiaattee iinn CCeennttrree ffoorr CCiivviicc EEdduuccaattiioonn

IItt iiss hhaarrdd ttoo iimmaaggiinnee tthhaatt tthhee yyoouunngg cciivviilliizzaattiioonn ooff tthhee EEuurrooppeeaannWWeesstt,, wwhhiicchh aarroossee oonn tthhee rruuiinnss ooff tthhee RRoommaann EEmmppiirree,, wwoouulldd hhaavveeeevveerr bbeeccoommee wwhhaatt iitt iiss ttooddaayy hhaadd iitt nnoott bbeeeenn ffoorr oonnee ccrruucciiaall ffaacc-ttoorr ooff iittss hhoommooggeenniizzaattiioonn:: CChhaarrlleemmaaggnnee ((777711-881144)) aanndd tthhee ccuullttuurr-aall pprroossppeerriittyy tthhaatt hhiiss rruullee bbrroouugghhtt aabboouutt

Charlemagne's empire at its peak

12Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Eur op ean ba r ome t e r i n Mon t en eg r o

The fact that we're less and lessprone to throwing dynamite for theNew Year's and that we gave up ontaking carbines to weddings is thegreatest civilisational achievement ofMontenegro in the last ten years.Greater than the state itself.

Why did Montenegrins leave theirweapons behind is a question for soci-ologists, but these are either hiding inthe libraries or foaming at party debates.

I spent the night of 31 Decemberin traditionally well-armed Bar and Icould see for myself that people arenot shooting any more, and that eventhe children are less sanguine aboutfirecrackers. Fireworks and signallingrockets from the ships still scarred theskies, but that only scared @u}ka, mywell fed and simple dog.

On the atomic shelter behind thepanel blocks a small group of adoles-cents set a few torches alight and the

red light revealed tiny balconies on theconcrete blocks in the background. Allin all, a pleasant visual event with nodanger for your hearing. I was content:a disc jockey from London, warm PoireWilliams from the brotherly Serbia. Ontop of it: insanely warm weather, sowarm that we left the gas chambers forthe streets. Several spontaneous gather-ings into groups, especially by themonument in St Vladimir. Girls in shortskirts and red heats squeezing guys infancy coats, and if I hadn't smelledeverywhere that Bar specific stuffinessthat will remain with me as long as Ibreathe, I would have thought thatwe've been somewhat cultivated.

And if anyone remembered toorganise a nice little stand with wine,

dried figs and guitars, even the citizensof Bar aged 50+ could have enjoyedthe party.

It's terribly sad that on those New

Years you never see the elderly, what-ever that means, come out on thesquares. In this country it is a customto spend the blissful age of menopauseseriously considering the shape of your

tombstone. Man and women start toslowly bury themselves very early on,following the advice of the media. Justthink how many TV presenters agedabove 50 have you recently seen onMontenegrin channels.

Generations of our parents were

mostly ran over during the nineties,while the young political elite was stillgrowing up with Doris Dragovi}, cocainand cheese in olive oil. Relying on thetradition of the Great Trouble whichsucked them in at the time, many ofour elderly friends have made peacewith the idea that squares are onlymade for drunken adolescents. For allthe youngsters for whom an emptywallet isn't such a tragic obstacle not tocelebrate the arrival of a new decade.

This is exactly the most remarkabledifference between Montenegro andour beloved Europe. European streetsare pulsing with life of every genera-tion. You must have seen, at least onthe TV, those satisfied grannies charm-

ingly swinging their hips to the rhythmof some polka or waltz, and dreamilywatching the fireworks with eyes ofgrown-up children. It has been saidlong ago: Europe has the culture ofpublic squares, US the culture of high-ways. Now it's time to find out what

EEuurrooppeeaann ssttrreeeettss aarree ppuullssiinngg wwiitthh lliiffee ooff eevveerryy ggeenneerraattiioonn.. YYoouu mmuusstthhaavvee sseeeenn,, aatt lleeaasstt oonn tthhee TTVV,, tthhoossee ssaattiissffiieedd ggrraannnniieess cchhaarrmmiinnggllyysswwiinnggiinngg tthheeiirr hhiippss ttoo tthhee rrhhyytthhmm ooff ssoommee ppoollkkaa oorr wwaallttzz,, aannddddrreeaammiillyy wwaattcchhiinngg tthhee ffiirreewwoorrkkss wwiitthh eeyyeess ooff ggrroowwnn-uupp cchhiillddrreenn.. IItthhaass bbeeeenn ssaaiidd lloonngg aaggoo:: EEuurrooppee hhaass tthhee ccuullttuurree ooff ppuubblliicc ssqquuaarreess,,UUSS tthhee ccuullttuurree ooff hhiigghhwwaayyss.. NNooww iitt''ss ttiimmee ttoo ffiinndd oouutt wwhhaatt oouurrssqquuaarreess aarree ffoorr aanndd wwhhoo iiss wweellccoommee ttoo hhaavvee ffuunn oouutt tthheerree

OOllddeerr ggeenneerraattiioonnss ooff cciittiizzeennss ddoo nnoott ppaarrttiicciippaattee iinn tthhee cciittyy lliiffee,,wwiitthhoouutt aa cchhaannccee ttoo jjooiinn tthhee nneeww mmyytthhoollooggyy ooff tthhee ssttrreeeett.. TThheemmeeddiiaa aarree mmoossttllyy ooffffeerriinngg iinnffaannttiillee rreeggrreessssiioonn iinnsstteeaadd,, aanndd tthheeCCaappiittaall CCiittyy - sshhooppppiinngg mmaallll DDeellttaa,, oorr ffoollkkssoonngg eevveenniinnggss oorrggaanniisseeddbbyy hhoommeellaanndd aassssoocciiaattiioonnss

Fvspqfbo!fmefsmz!po!uif!tusffutby Brano Mandi}

13Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Eur op ean ba r ome t e r i n Mon t en eg r o

our squares are for and whois welcome to have fun outthere.

Two months ago therewas a fair in Podgorica ded-icated to honey. I wastouched by so many oldpeople inspecting thecombs, bargaining over littlepumps and other beekeep-ing trinkets, well-dressedgrey ladies buying thistle andwildflower honey and dis-cussing the benefits ofpropolis. It was all very no-ble and lively, because peo-ple gathered around normal,everyday things, and not forthe purposes of meetings,burials or investigations, likethey usually do.

Imagine Podgorica with-out boutiques and cafes and you'll seethat cultured people have learned thatit's best to stay at home, cut up theFrench salad and listen to hystericallaughs from the TV set.

Besides, for most of them it's beentwenty years that they go to bed andget up in the morning worried aboutbasic things like food and heating, mostof them have a phobia of postboxes,electricity bills, voting registration andother demons. And they're also welladvised by public authorities on thenew year's eve to just stay at home andcut their carrots and pickled cucumbersinto small and smaller cubes, since theyalready failed to save enough to pay fortwo nights in a Russian hotel. It's dif-ficult even to imagine the many colour-ful cubes that have been drowned inmayonnaise these days: just rememberthat the latest census counted some 200000 citizens with more than half a cen-tury of this worldly existence.

We'll probably have to wait for2030 for our streets to host suchcheerful celebrations of the civic spiritwhich doesn't know age. By that timeeven my generation will be entering thefifth decade, so let's see whether mid-night degustation of the French saladwill still be in fashion. For starters, it'sgood that we stopped shooting and weshould be sincerely proud of that fact...

Last year in Strasbourg there was a

festival of national cuisines and villagefolklore from all over Europe. I had topick my way through the smoke fromRomanian grills towards the cathedralsurrounded by Italians throwing flags.Troupes of French peasant culturalassociations and tin orchestras were allover the place. African immigrants wereselling hats in the colours of Europeanflags, offering Rolex watches on the

side for 25 euros, and ready to sellthem for five. That was an experienceof a real crowd which does not offendthe senses, in the midst of Alsacewhere Europe really met itself and con-firmed the dream of coexistence of oldenemies. Even the authorities ofStrasbourg respected human rights andallowed a strange group of homelesspeople to spend the whole day lyingon their leather jackets on the sidewalkby the main square...

And what would we have, thinkagain, if they took away the shops andcafes from Podgorica? It will be a sadplace without any particular culture ofliving. A good way to face emptystreets cubical high-rises looking for

purpose. This is no surprisein places where concrete isthe main ingredient ofprogress and the final proofof urbanism. The mayor ofPodgorica will say, in fullhealth and sanity, that he'smade the city in to ametropolis. Is he serious oris it just a joke?

Older generations ofcitizens do not participate inthe city life, without achance to join the newmythology of the street. Themedia are mostly offeringinfantile regression instead,and the Capital City - shop-ping mall Delta, or folksongevenings organised byhomeland associations.

European culture isbased on cultural achievements of itscities, as the key nodes of progresswhere the experiences of different cul-tures and generations meet. New Years'celebrations in Montenegro have shownus once again how far we still are froma harmonious society where everybodyfeels integrated, useful and welcome.This task is beyond all European docu-

ments and regulations. It is not in theQuestionnaire. It will take a long timeto re-educate a nation which gave upon the normal life for the last twentyyears, leaving the brain back in thecupboard. The most tragic thing aboutEuropean integrations is that they areso slow that the benefits will nevercome to those who have fought for it.The transitional gap is eating up entiregenerations, and the biggest losers arethose who were in the prime of lifewhen the first shots were fired. Doesanybody worry about all the potentialthat the country is losing with them?

The author is a journalist of thedaily newspaper "Vijesti"

TThhee mmoosstt ttrraaggiicc tthhiinngg aabboouutt EEuurrooppeeaann iinntteeggrraattiioonnss iiss tthhaatt tthheeyy aarreessoo ssllooww tthhaatt tthhee bbeenneeffiittss wwiillll nneevveerr ccoommee ttoo tthhoossee wwhhoo hhaavveeffoouugghhtt ffoorr iitt.. TThhee ttrraannssiittiioonnaall ggaapp iiss eeaattiinngg uupp eennttiirree ggeenneerraattiioonnss,,aanndd tthhee bbiiggggeesstt lloosseerrss aarree tthhoossee wwhhoo wweerree iinn tthhee pprriimmee ooff lliiffeewwhheenn tthhee ffiirrsstt sshhoottss wweerree ffiirreedd.. DDooeess aannyybbooddyy wwoorrrryy aabboouutt aallll tthheeppootteennttiiaall tthhaatt tthhee ccoouunnttrryy iiss lloossiinngg wwiitthh tthheemm??

Whenever wetalk aboutreform of highereducation, theBologna Declara-tion invariablypops up.

Unfortunately, most people, includingmany university professors do not reallyunderstand what it means.

Bologna declaration and its accom-panying documents were aimed at thestrengthening and harmonisation of stan-dards and quality of higher education,mutual recognition of exams and diplo-mas and mobility of students and facultywithin the unified European space ofhigher education.

In short, the Bologna process is agreat idea, which was deeply compro-mised here through the implementationof "Bologna Montenegrin style". Initially,we were all big enthusiasts and amongthe first in the region to start the reform.Everything was carried out throughemployee's dedication, without adequatesupport of the state, which was supposedto contribute to high-quality reformsthrough increased financial support forthe University of Montenegro (UniverzitetCrne Gore - UCG). While the process

was still "on paper" everything was goingwell. With implementation we began thestage of improvisations. This is very wellillustrated by the fact that in 2005 at theconference in Bergen we were amongthe best in the regions while only twoyears later, at a conference in London,

we found ourselves at the very bottom ofthe list. This year, in Leuven, we againreceived a lot of criticism.

Implementation of the Bolognaprocess requires adequate standards - interms of faculty, space and finances. Thenew study programme requires trans-formed, engaged professors, who keepup with contemporary trends in educa-tion and science. Is that possible? Andcan we expect it for our faculty, bearingin mind that their salaries are between500 and 700 euros, that they have noaccess to contemporary literature noraccess to the databases of scientific jour-nals, that the equipment in our labora-tories is scarce, outdated and often unus-able? Can we expect our faculty to bemobile if most of them do not speak asingle foreign language? Can we expect

our students to go on exchange to someof European universities, if they parentscannot afford to finance it? And as forthe recognition of diplomas, for timebeing we will have to be satisfied withthem being recognised withinMontenegrin borders.

On the other hand, the reformbrought the appearance of a great num-ber of private universities. Montenegrinmarket for higher education is alreadyoverpopulated - currently we have morethan 40 such institutions. This is way

above the real needs. The future studentshave a hard time making the rightchoice. Many young people have optedfor getting their diplomas from the "pri-vate hands". This should be quite normal,but in Montenegro, where this area is notadequately regulated and monitored,

there is quite some cause for concern.Namely, the nouveau riches, hungry

for profit and prestige, are using theirpositions and the unjustifiably generousattitude of the Ministry for Science andEducation which is all too easily handingout licences to private institutions. Themain argument of these founders of pri-vate universities is that the market andmarket relations will bring about quality.Of course, they invoke the examples ofthe world's most prestigious institutions,which are light years ahead of anythingwe can offer.

In a small, economically and tech-nologically backward Montenegro, thedrive for competition can easily turn intoits opposite. Disregard for the existing,already low, standards which regulateestablishment of new universities, can

lead to the final result being just a diplo-ma, not an expert. We are right in fear-ing that such liberal mushrooming of pri-vate institutions of higher education willresult in chaos, without increasing thequality of education, which was the pri-mary goal of the new Law on highereducation. Of course, that does notmean that state universities are by defi-nition of higher quality. The problem isthat we don't have the slightest ideaabout the quality of education and canonly guess, since there is still not encom-passing assessment of performance thatwould take into account both the con-tent of the study programmes and thevalue of students' diplomas on the labourmarket. Nor have we shown muchreadiness to allow some accredited inter-national agency which monitors stan-dards and quality in higher education toevaluate our programmes - which wasthe biggest reproach we got at the min-isterial conference in Leuven.

Instead of private institutions raisingthe level of quality through competition,it seems that the final outcome of this

14Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Educa t i on i n f o cu s

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

by Dr Branka Bo{njak

////////Rvboujuz!jt!op!tvqqmfnfou!gps!rvbmjuz

MMoonntteenneeggrriinn mmaarrkkeett ffoorr hhiigghheerr eedduuccaattiioonn iiss aallrreeaaddyy oovveerrppooppuullaatt-eedd - ccuurrrreennttllyy wwee hhaavvee mmoorree tthhaann 4400 ssuucchh iinnssttiittuuttiioonnss.. TThhiiss iiss wwaayyaabboovvee tthhee rreeaall nneeeeddss

PPrrooffeessssoorrss ooff tthhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMoonntteenneeggrroo ffeeaarr tthhaatt tthhee ppaarreennttsswwiillll ssttaarrtt sseennddiinngg tthheeiirr cchhiillddrreenn ttoo pprriivvaattee sscchhoooollss,, wwhheerree tthheeddiipplloommaa,, tthhaatt ddrreeaamm ooff eevveerryy ppaarreenntt,, iiss mmuucchh mmoorree eeaassiillyy aattttaaiinn-aabbllee.. TThhee ssttrraatteeggyy iiss tthheenn ttoo ppuusshh tthhiinnggss ttoo tthhee ooppppoossiittee eexxttrreemmee,,ttoo eennrrooll aann eennoorrmmoouuss nnuummbbeerr ooff ssttuuddeennttss iinn cceerrttaaiinn ddeeppaarrttmmeennttss

15Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Educa t i on i n f o cu s

market race will be a decline in qualityof relatively well performing publicdepartments.

Professors of the University ofMontenegro fear that the parents willstart sending their children to privateschools, where the diploma, that dreamof every parent, is much more easilyattainable. The strategy is then to pushthings to the opposite extreme, to enrolan enormous number of students in cer-tain departments, which results in impos-sible working conditions, but alsoimproves the material standing of theinstitution. The next step is to open updepartments in other, smaller cities, whileit is nearly impossible to maintain a rea-sonable level of quality with the existingand, I would say, meagre teachingpotential which is supposed to cover therequirements of the curricula.

Another cause for concern is that anumber of professors feel under pressureto increase the passing rates at theirexams. It is inadmissible to lower the cri-

teria in order to fulfil the prescribed"reform" quotas and in order to make thedepartment more "attractive"! We cannotallow those programmes which are mosteasily completed, the exams most easilypassed and the professors which requirethe least knowledge to become the mostattractive ones.

We should be especially careful withprivate universities. Analysing the qualityof the faculty in these institutions we canobserve that it consists of the same, usu-ally already retired professors of UCG,but also of some other universities in theregion. These places typically also hireteachers from among those who havefailed to fulfil the criteria to be employedby UCG, as well as retired politicians andpublic servants from various levels of thegovernment. This way, those who haveacquired their PhDs in a shady manner,

unfortunately also from UCG itself, areovernight converted into "renown" uni-versity professors.

Montenegro is a tiny market, whichcannot handle so many higher educationinstitutions with such similar profiles. If

our goal is to create a society wherealmost everyone will have the universitydiploma, while the criteria are beingdragged down by "market competition",the results will soon come to haunt us.This form of improvisation does will notbring progress, neither to the universitynor to the society.

The chaos will become even worsewith the lately fashionable "voucherisa-tion", i.e. the proposal to finance privateuniversities from public funds by award-ing each potential student with a vouch-er which would be valid for any univer-sity. There is no similar example any-where in the region.

Every serious country is trying tostep up investments to strengthen publicuniversities, which should be the stan-dard of quality on the market for highereducation. In this case, private universi-

ties whose quality surpasses those ofpublic institutions would indeed be con-sidered elite universities. This is the case,for instance, with Harvard, Yale orPrinceton in the US, but let us not for-get that there are also hundreds of pri-vate universities in the USA whose diplo-mas mean almost nothing, as they are noguarantee of quality.

The current Law on higher educa-tion foresees this possibility in the Article68, which states that "a private institu-tions can receive Government funds forteaching and research purposes whichare in public interest, upon proposal bythe Council for Higher Education". Sinceall private universities offer only thosecourses which are already offered byUCG, the question is: what is the publicinterest in question, which is not alreadyserved by UCG?

All this undermines the already frag-ile system of higher education inMontenegro. Tiny Montenegro cannotafford the luxury to give up on knowl-edge. We should therefore urgently dosomething to preserve the quality of ourhigher education which the University ofMontenegro has been painstakinglybuilding for decades. The loss thatMontenegro would suffer with thedestruction of one of the most valuableresources in its educational system wouldbe irredeemable.

The author is the scientific council-lor in the Rectorate of the University ofMontenegro

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16Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 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

Po d g o r i c a ,1992: "Mom,mom, please byme Euro-cream,here, I have ple-nty of dinars."

Podgo r i c a ,

2006: "What will you do with that Facultyof European Studies, dear, where will youwork afterwards, here, there's law, eco-nomics..."

That's how it all started. There wasnot too much thinking, instead ofBocconi, University of Zagreb, Sarajevo,Belgrade, the closest to my heardremained - Podgorica. Except for the loveI feel for my city, there are a few morereasons, but there's no need to expandon them here. Most people know themvery well. The few who never felt thesereasons can boast that the country hasbeen like a mother to them. But, as theadage goes, mother to some, stepmotherto others, and most of the population ofthis country has felt its rough hand foryears, but the country didn't quite wantor dare display itself in this role in full,wrapped up in its provincial mentality,consoling itself with its historical identity,those "Examples of Humanity andBravery" (the emphasis is on "examples"!).While people "common-sensically"accepted these two faces of the state,they forgot that the state is, as welldescribed by JJoohhnn LLoocckkee, the "necessaryevil", that it is there to protect the rightsof its citizens, and not to play some pos-itive role. Its only positive role should bethe protection of individual rights andfreedoms, never the existence of fear ofthe state as such and the possibility thatone day it might forget and take awayfrom us what every man acquires by hisbirth. Well, I don't want that kind ofstate, I don't want it for myself nor for us.

This is exactly the first and mostimportant thing that drew me towardsEuropean Union. In a multilateral world,

where everybody takes up the right placeas if on a chessboard, there's also EU.Unlike the other big powers which assim-ilated the differences of their nations intoone, the EU is unique in its motto: "Unityin Diversity".

I too would like to feel great oneday, for it is in the nature of the humansto identify with something like that, justat the thought of being present there onthe chessboard whose purpose is not tocelebrate the victorious side in a war (forthere will be no war), but to celebratethe best things in all of us in one place.

Today it is a Union of 27 memberstates, with 22 official languages, withmore than 500 million inhabitants whoall share a European citizenship. A citi-zenship which, in addition to the fourbasic freedoms (the freedom of move-ment of labour, goods, services and cap-ital) offers them many more opportuni-ties, chances and privileges.

I want these boundless opportunitiesfor my country and my people, with areservation - this is no European Unionas a structural form which is heaped onus from the TV sets on daily basis.Because in addition to the form, there isalso the substance which is contained inthe institutions of European Union, andin another special aspect of integrations -the EU law.

The law that every country whichjoins the family of European states oughtto respect, because this law is directlyapplicable and has precedence over thenational law. Although it means anotherlayer of power above our heads, it is thekind of power which can often help us inthe best possible way by shielding usagainst abuses by our own states, andmuch more than that. This is not onlyabout legal protection, having somebodyto punish the state. The very idea of suchpunishment will create a new awareness inour society, a kind o reality where repres-sion of own citizens will become past,while reminding us that we're living in abetter future. A better future which beganwith visa liberalisation as the first step offull integration of Montenegro and its pop-ulation into a system of European values.

Eventually, in addition to all the newwords - European integrations, member-ship application, questionnaire, acquis...we will learn a much more important les-son, the undoing of the bad habits.

This time, all bad habits need to beunlearned at once, and knowing the psy-chology of our people I doubt we areready to join EU. The moment whenodes to EU have calmed down, themoment the level of support for EUmembership starts to decline (for theydon't want to get rid of their habits), onlythen will I know that we are ready to jointhe Union of European countries. Finally,we too live on the European continents,we also deserve the chance which, Ihope, the citizens of this beautiful coun-try will know how to use!!!

For, while the Maastricht Treaty wasbeing signed in 1992, also known as the"Treaty of EU" one child in the WesternBalkans was hoping to get her sweets, notunderstanding why the adults are talkingabout the collapse of SFRY, war, inflation,economic embargo, isolation...

That is why I want to be inEuropean Union, so that such a scenecan never happen again!

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by Anita Brajovi}

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17Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0O f f t h e w i r e

Every sixth inhabitant of EuropeanUnion, or 17% of all population livedbelow the poverty line in 2008, accord-ing to the Eurostat.

Poverty is especially pronouncedamong children and people above 65:20% of children and 19% of elderly citi-zens in EU are poor. The highest percent-age of poverty-stricken citizens is found inLatvia - 26%, Romania - 23% andBulgaria - 21%. The situation is similar inGreece, Spain and Lithuania, where everyfifth citizen is poor. Czech Republic hasthe fewest poor - 9%, followed by Slo-

vakia and Netherlands (11% ).The Eurostat classifies as poor those

whose income is below 60% of averageearnings in the country, but the averagevaries widely from one country to another.

DDiissaaggrreeeemmeennttoonn ssccaannnneerr

EU members are divided overwhether to install full-body scan-ners at European airports. The issuetook on some urgency after the sui-cide-bomb attempt on Christmas lastyear on the flight to Detroit.

Belgian state secretary for transportEEtteennnnee SShhoouuppppee described these morestringent measures as "excessive", whileUK and Netherlands already announcedpreparations to install the scanner.

EU allowed the member states todecided individually whether to usefull-body scanners for passenger con-trol on airports.

CChheeaappeerr rrooaammiinngg

Thanks to the EU measures to bringdown the charges for roaming, theprices of sms messages and calls abroadwithin Europe fell by 50% since 2007.

However, most of these services(90% of them) still charge the maximumamount set by the European authorities,which became the "standard".

In addition to this, telecommuni-cations companies now increased theroaming charges for countries outsideof EU which used to be in the sametariff zone in order to make up for thelost profits. The target countries areNorway, Switzerland and USA, as wellas Asian and countries of the Pacific.

TTaass ttyy `̀ll ii kkrrooff ii

Slovenian culinary specialty similar toItalian tortellini, but with a saucewhich adds parsley, spices, bacon andcracklings to the potato batter has beenrecently put on the list of EU specialtiestogether with two Czech cheeses andItalian brand "The Peach of Verona".

The specialty is the "Idrian`likrofi", which in the 19th century thefood of simple and poor people, butare today known as a very tasty spe-cialty usually served to dear andimportant guests.

With this, the Idrian `likrofijoined the list of almost 900 culinaryproducts with a "guaranteed tradition-al quality" status granted to them bythe European Commission.

The population of EU 27 has for the firsttime crossed the 500 million mark,announced the French National StatisticalInstitute (INSEE). According to the datafrom 1 January 2010, the total number ofEU inhabitants was 501.26 million.According to the European statistics insti-tute Eurostat the size of European popula-tion in 2009 was 499.7 million.

Germany is the most populous coun-try of EU (81.7 million), ahead of France,which has 65.4 million inhabitants withoverseas territories, and 62.8 million with-out them. United Kingdom comes thirdwith 62 million inhabitants.

In the last decade the population ofIreland (4.45 million) and Spain (46.08million) increased by 15%, while Germanpopulation stagnated.

The highest ratio of newborn childrenper woman is found in France and Ireland,which top the list with two children perwoman, slightly ahead United Kingdom.

The increase of European populationis due to both immigration and naturalgrowth. In France, most of the growth isjudged to be the consequence of anincrease in birthrate, whereas in Spain,Portugal and Italy the immigrants accountfor much of the increase.

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EU justice ministers are divided overthe plan to "intensify cooperation" inorder to introduce common rules fordivorce of couples where partners havedifferent citizenships.

The clause on "intensified coopera-tion" introduced by the Treaty ofAmsterdam in 1997 enables a group of atleast eight member states to request fromthe Commission to introduce a regulationspecifically for them, if the EU as a wholedoes not wish to adopt it.

The law that would decide whichlaws apply when citizens of two memberstates want to divorce has been request-ed by Austria, Belgium, France, Greece,Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovenia,Spain and Romania, and is beingopposed by UK, Finland and Sweden.

Around 350 000 marriages take placeannually between EU citizens of differentnationalities, and around 170 000 suchmarriages are divorced every year.

18Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0EU cha l l eng e s

An analysis ofthe effects ofaccession toEuropean Unionon Hungaryought to tackleseveral questions

at once: economic performance, socialand regional disparities, foreign policyand attitudes towards the EU, as wellas several side issues which can helpus acquire a more complete picture ofthis complex process.

Economic performanceHungary's GDP per capita in

2007 was 63.5% of the EU27 average.This level means a considerable devel-opment compared to the level of onedecade before (in 1997 HungarianGDP was only 51.6% of EU average),but we should bear in mind that thisindicator has not changed much since2003: indeed, since 2006 it has evendeclined. The forecast for 2008, evenbefore the financial crisis, was lowerthan the level in 2003. It means that

in the first years of EU membership,instead of acceleration of the catch-ing-up process, the country experi-enced a decline in its relative devel-opment level.

The causes of this negative trendshould be sought in the recent lowrate of economic growth after 2006:following the average 4-5% real GDPgrowth per year in the period 1998-

2006, the growth rate fell to 1.1% in2007. It is estimated to be around1.9% in 2008. This is a consequence,among other, of the stabilisationmeasures announced in 2006, whenthe Government introduced a conver-gence programme, the main objectivebeing stabilization of public financesand a decrease in expenditures.

The real causes are not, however,related to EU membership, but are theresult of undisciplined domestic eco-nomic policy since at least 2002.Fortunately, the duties stemming fromEU membership constitute an impor-tant control mechanism, and limit thepossibilities for irresponsible gover-nance. The most visible and at pres-ent most important tool in this respectis the precisely the programme ofmonetary convergence.

Employment levels in Hungaryincreased slightly after EU accession(from 56.8% in 2004 to 57.3% in2007), but is still much below the EUaverage. The unemployment rate alsoincreased from 6.1% in 2004 to 7.4%in 2007, but this change was mostlydue to internal factors (slowdown ofgrowth, changes in labour market andsocial benefits regulations), and not toEU accession as such.

Unlike most other new member

states, Hungary did not experiencemass migration from the country toother member states of the EU.According to estimations, the numberof Hungarians in permanent employ-ment in the EU member states afterthe EU accession of the country doesnot exceed 15 000, which is very low,especially when compared with othernew member state which are often

even smaller than Hungary. The pres-ent trends also indicate that mostHungarians return to the country aftersome years of work abroad.

Social and regional disparitiesEU accession in itself did not

change the situation regarding socialand regional disparities in Hungary.Social inequalities are rather a conse-quence of other factors, related first ofall to domestic policy measures. Theonly effect of EU membership in thisrespect can be in principle related torestrictive measures which limit theability of the government to use fiscalpolicies to counter the growth ofinequality.

As for the regional disparities,access to EU structural fund should inthe long run contribute to develop-ment of disadvantaged areas.However, although Hungary is one ofthe best performing new membersregarding the absorption of EU funds,for the time being no positive effectscan be observed. Perhaps it is alreadya success that territorial disparities didnot increase significantly. This can beseen as a positive result of the changesin Hungarian territorial developmentpolicy which have occurred since thesecond half of the nineties.

A D V A N T A G E S A N D D I S A D V A N T A G E S O F E U M E M B E R S H I P : H U N G A R Y , F I V EY E A R S A F T E R A C C E S S I O N

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EEUU aacccceessssiioonn iinn iittsseellff ddiidd nnoott cchhaannggee tthhee ssiittuuaattiioonn rreeggaarrddiinngg ssoocciiaallaanndd rreeggiioonnaall ddiissppaarriittiieess iinn HHuunnggaarryy.. SSoocciiaall iinneeqquuaalliittiieess aarree rraatthheerr aaccoonnsseeqquueennccee ooff ootthheerr ffaaccttoorrss,, rreellaatteedd ffiirrsstt ooff aallll ttoo ddoommeessttiicc ppoollii-ccyy mmeeaassuurreess

Budapest

////////

by Dr Tamas Szemler

19Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0EU cha l l eng e s

EU Funds can also contribute tothe overall catching-up process of thecountry, including modernization ofthe infrastructure - in this latterrespect, much depends on the futureimplementation of the Lisbon Strategy.

Foreign policyEU accession did not significant-

ly change the direction of Hungarianforeign policy, except that with theaccession one of its main objectiveshas been fulfilled. In most cases,Hungary's interests are in line withthe official EU policies, and disagree-ments popped up only in a very smallnumber of specific cases. One of suchcases was the issue of the recognitionKosovo's independence: for historicalreasons, as well as because of the stillconsiderable Hungarian minority liv-ing of Serbia, it was not easy toaccept the decision of the majority ofEU member states to recognizeKosovo.

Russia is another key area whichis of high importance for theHungarian foreign policy, most of allfor economic reasons. The Hungarianapproach to this matter is quite cau-tious, and the same can be said aboutEU's attitude - except that it is verydifficult to say whether there is any-thing like a common European opin-

ion on this issue. The same is true ofrelations with Ukraine where Hungary,together with Poland and other coun-tries which have a specific interest inthis country could play a more impor-tant role than in the past.

Attitudes towards the EURecent Eurobarometer results

show a decline of EU's popularityamong Hungarian citizens. By autumn2007, to the question "Generallyspeaking, do you think that member-ship in EU is a good thing for yourcountry?" the share of those whoanswered "yes" was 40% in Hungary.This was clearly below the EU27 aver-

age (58%). By spring 2008, the situa-tion got worse: the EU27 averagedeclined by 6 percentage points (to52%), but support for EU membershipin Hungary dropped by entire 8% (to32%). To a more concrete question"Taking everything into account, wouldyou say that your country has on bal-ance benefited from being a memberof the European Union?", the share ofthose who answered "benefited" was42% by autumn 2007 and 36% by

spring 2008 in Hungary (the EU27average being 58% and 54%, respec-tively).

The reason for such high dispar-ities should be sought primarily in thegeneral dissatisfaction with recentdevelopments in domestic politics, aswell as in generally superfluous infor-mation Hungarian citizens haveabout EU.

Final remarksFrom the above analysis it is clear

that one has to be cautious withestablishing direct links between EUaccession and simultaneous economic,social and political developments.

Such links surely do exist, but not allchanges since 2004 can be seen sim-ply as results of EU accession. Thereare other factors - global develop-ments on the one hand, domesticprocesses on the other - that influ-ence development of a country, evenan if it's an EU member. Naturally,these processes also impact the pub-lic opinion.

Once you are a member of EU, itis always easy to find the reasons fornegative developments in Europeanattitudes and policies, which is veryclearly observable on the plummetingpopularity of EU among Hungariancitizens.

Last but not least, we should alsoemphasized the impact of the interna-tional crisis, which has changed dra-matically the image of EU amongHungarian citizens. The crisis demon-strated the advantages, but also thelimits of membership, and it seemsthat it dealt a final blow to all illusionsabout EU as a magical solution to allproblems. At the moment, it is still dif-ficult to tell what consequences willthis have for future developments.

The author is Scientific Director atthe Institute for World Economics ofthe Hungarian Academy of Sciences inBudapest

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EU membership did not change much the trade patterns of Hungary withthe EU15. On the other hand, the spectacular change could be observedin trade relations with those Central and Eastern European countries thatjoined the EU together with and after Hungary. Although the rapid increaseof these trade relations was to a certain extent unexpected, there are expla-nations for it: the former free trade agreement practically never functioned asit was supposed to, free trade of agricultural products became possible onlyafter EU accession, trade in services also developed rapidly, and last, but notleast, in the single market, small and medium enterprises also became moreactive, and the neighbouring or close countries were among their most impor-tant new targets.

Hungarian imports from the new member states increased from 4 billioneuros in 2003 to 9.7 billion in 2007. At the same time, Hungarian exports tothe new member states increased from 4 billion in 2003 to 13.7 billion in2007. This meant a significant improvement for the overall trade balance ofHungary, reducing the overall trade deficit in 2003-2007 period from 4.2 bil-lion to 309. The positive trends continued in the first half of 2008, andHungary closed that period with a 453 million trade surplus.

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20Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 2

J anua ry , 2 0 1 0Re s e a r ch e s

While the overwhelming majorityof citizens of West Balkan coun-tries are convinced that new armedconflicts in the region are unlikely, thepublic's mood in the region is gloomy.With the exception of Kosovars andAlbanians, most inhabitants of theWestern Balkans are unhappy withtheir living standards, and few of thembelieve that situation could get betterin the near future.

Those are the findings of the latestopinion poll conducted in the WesternBalkans by Gallup Europe in coopera-tion with the European Fund for theBalkans. The authors warn that suchpessimistic mood is not the best envi-ronment for democratic reforms andadvocate "shock integration", or acceler-ated rapprochement between thesecountries and EU in order to revive thetrust in development and progressamong the citizens of the region.

General dissatisfaction is alsoreflected in the steadily declining trustin national political elites, as well as EUinstitutions. The majority of citizenshave experienced reduced living stan-dards in the last year and a growingnumber of them believes that betterlife lies beyond the borders of theirown countries. Pessimism is alarminglyhigh among young people, many ofwhom believe not to be able to findemployment in their own country.

Gallup, which conducts such pollsevery year, warns that in the last threeyears the level of satisfaction with the

living standards hasnot improved. Albani-ans in Kosovo (67%)and in Albania (54%)were the only groupsin which a majoritywas satisfied with theirstandard of living in2009. Among themost dissatisfied arethe citizens of Serbia(31%), Montenegroand Macedonia (37% each), wheremore than 60% of the population is dis-satisfied with the personal standard ofliving. Most of the citizens in the regionhave a hard time making ends meet:37% of the respondents in Bosnia andHerzegovina and more than 50% inMontenegro, Macedonia and in Kosovohave difficulties paying their utility bills.

Support for EU accession hasremained high in all countries of theregion except Croatia, where the per-centage of those who believe thatmembership in EU would be good fortheir country is below 26%. Comparedto the previous years, there is alsosome decline in support among thecitizens of Serbia and Macedonia.

As for the national institutions, theattitudes vary from one country toanother: more than two fifths of the cit-izens of Kosovo (52%), Macedonia(45%) and Montenegro (48%) judgedtheir governments' performances to be"good" or "excellent", but the picture isvery different in Serbia, Bosnia and

Croatia: as many as 65% of Croatianssaid their government's performancewas "poor". Paradoxically enough, how-ever, those most satisfied with the situ-ation in their country are most likely toemigrate: only 11% of Croatian citizensexpressed their wish to move elsewhere,while the number of Albanians whowould like to move out stood at 38%.

Overall, the citizens of Monte-negro are generally happy with politi-cal developments in their country, butmany are worried about the economy,shows Gallup poll.

In 2008, the same study showed agenerally optimistic outlook, high levelsof trust in politicians and overall positiveassessment of the life in general. A yearlater, however, the financial crisis took itstoll and the situation is far from bright:while 43% of Montenegrin citizens saidthey were satisfied with their living stan-dard in 2008, in 2009 the number hasdropped to 37%. More than a half of therespondents (54%) have difficulties pay-ing their utility bills, but so far there areno indications of many people wantingto emigrate: only 16% of the respon-dents in 2009 said they would prefer tolive elsewhere, compared to 2006 whentheir number was 37%.

Most citizens of Montenegroattribute the negative developments tothe economic crisis, and not to politi-cal factors: 67% of the respondents stillbelieve that membership in the Unionwould be good for Montenegro.

V.[.

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