Albania and Croatia - new NATO members

Yesterday Albania and Croatia have completed the accession process, and have joined the Alliance as members.
Since 1949, NATO’s membership has increased from 12 to 28 countries through six rounds of enlargement. Albania and Croatia, which were invited to join NATO at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, formally became members when the accession process was completed on 1 April 2009.
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has, like Albania and Croatia, been participating in the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for a number of years to prepare for possible membership. At Bucharest, Allied leaders agreed to invite the country to become a member as soon as a mutually acceptable solution to the issue over the country’s name has been reached with Greece. A number of other important decisions concerning enlargement were taken at Bucharest. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro were invited to start Intensified Dialogues on their membership aspirations and related reforms. Allied leaders also agreed that Georgia and Ukraine – which were already engaged in an Intensified Dialogue with NATO – will become members in future.
A flag-raising ceremony marking the accession of Albania and Croatia will be held at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on April 7th.

See also: NATO enlargement

Balkan Reforms Lag, Economic Freedoms Weak

Economic freedoms in the Balkans are suffering because of bloated governments, state monopolies, inconsistent regulations and widespread corruption, said the 2009 Index of Economic Freedom report, which stressed that further economic and fiscal reforms were crucial at a time of global recession.

Out of all Balkan countries, Bulgaria was the front runner coming in at 56th place. There was respectable showings by Albania at 62nd place, Romania at 65th and Slovenia at 68th place, which however managed the biggest gains in economic freedom in Europe, improving its score by 2.7 points in 2008.

Macedonia and Montenegro placed in the middle tier, ranking 78th and 94th respectively. The biggest laggards of the region were Serbia at 109, Croatia at 116 and Bosnia-Herzegovina at 134, just ahead of Ethiopia.

"Business freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, and freedom from corruption are weak," the report said of Serbia, while on Croatia it noted that its "overall weakness stems from its outsized government", while "in addition to high levels of government spending, the government's presence in other key areas of the economy is considerable."

Bosnia's position at the bottom of the European pile, ahead only of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, was due to the "inefficient and high government spending, weak property rights, and widespread corruption" that "hold down overall economic freedom...and discourage entrepreneurial activity."

"As a result of sluggish privatization of state-owned enterprises, the private sector's contribution to GDP has grown rather slowly," the entry on Bosnia added. "Bureaucratic and non-transparent regulatory systems remain a problem for foreign investors and domestic entrepreneurs."

The report said the low flat tax rates of 10 to 15 percent – among the lowest tax rates in the world – along with strong focus on privatization and internal structural reforms were a driving force for strong growth in Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia in 2008.

source: BalkanInsight.com

Podgorica vraagt lidmaatschap aan

Montenegro heeft nu ook het lidmaatschap van de Europese Unie aangevraagd. Olli Rehn - verantwoordelijk voor de betrekkingen met de kandidaat-lidstaten en zaken betreffende de uitbreiding van de Europese Unie - reageerde alvast positief:

"Today Montenegro has reached a historical milestone marking the country's important engagement to common European values and fundamentals. [...] "Montenegro has made important progress in its preparations for the European integration"

In juni 2006 verklaarde de voormalige Joegoslavische republiek zich onafhankelijk van Servië en op 15 oktober 2007 werd het Stabilisatie en Associatie akkoord (SAA) getekend.

De Europese Commissie gaf wel reeds enkele knelpunten aan. Zo wees de Commissie erop dat het land de strijd met corruptie moet aangaan en de controle op het openbaar bestuur moet versterken - een issue in alle Balkanlanden.

De Montenegrijnse president Filip Vujanovic heeft in elk geval hoge verwachtingen van het Tsjechische EU-voorzitterschap dat de uitbreiding van de EU naar de west-Balkan als een van zijn prioriteiten heeft vooropgesteld.

Olli Rehn beklemtoonde verder nog het belang van Podgorica's voorbeeldfunctie:

"The European perspective of the western Balkan countries, including Montenegro, is essential for the stability and the prosperity of the region and for the EU [...] By making solid progress in economic and political reform and by fulfilling the necessary conditions and requirements, the remaining potential candidates in the western Balkans should achieve candidate status, according to their own merits, with EU membership as the ultimate goal."

Lees ook: Een overzicht van de relaties tussen de EU en Montenegro