European Commission
Malmström

I am on my way home from Kosovo after two interesting days. The media attention here on the launch of the visa dialogue was huge. In the Spring we will begin formal negotiations, but the Government is already working on the many reforms needed. Kosovo is a young state and a lot of the democratic infrastructure and legal reforms have yet to be put into place.

Yesterday I had a very interesting working dinner with representatives from different parts of civil society in Kosovo. It was a lively discussion and they were far from united. Their picture of developments and challenges in the country is of course different from the image the government portrays.  But that was the very purpose of the visit: to listen to different opinions in order to get a full picture of the complex situation in the Balkans.

This morning I visited a school that works with integration of ethnic minorities (not only Serbs and Bosnians but also Roma, Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians) and ensuring that these children attend school. I had a good opportunity to talk to kids in the fourth grade. It was a mixed class with Albanian-speaking children as well as those from minority groups, many of whom had been returned from various European countries. It was very interesting.

I also visited an NGO that works on micro projects for Roma women in order for them to get a small income, rather than begging. The women I met made soap, which they sold on a small scale. They were very proud that they had managed to get some bigger orders from a a couple of hotels in Pristina. It means they don’t have to beg, they learn to read at night and their children are in school. The pride they radiated could not be mistaken, and I bring a small bag of scented soap as well as these memories back home.

This type of project is of course impressive and extremely needed. The unemployment in Kosovo is over 40 % and among minorities almost 90 %.

I am in Pristina, Kosovo for two days. The purpose of the visit is to launch a visa dialogue with the country. All Balkan countries today, except for Kosovo, enjoy visa freedom with the EU. Being able to visit family and friends or go for a holiday or a business trip without having to go through complicated visa procedures, is an excellent way to increase people to people contact. My aim is to remove as many visa requirements with countries outside the EU as possible.

In order for visa freedom to work, there are of course conditions. We require (as all countries do) that the country in question has a well functioning border control, that they fight corruption and organized crime, that there are proper asylum procedures in place etc. Kosovo has just fulfilled the first conditions for initiating a dialogue, which I launched today with the Prime Minister Thaci.

The next step is to develop a so-called Roadmap where further areas of reform will be listed. With that list, which must be approved by the Council of Ministers, we can then start the real negotiations. It will probably take some time but from the Commission side, we will do everything possible to support reforms, which also involves a consolidation of the democratic development of the country.

I have also met with several Ministers, I have visited the EULEX (the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo) and visited a centre for rehabilitation of trafficking victims. It was very emotional talking to the girls at the centre who are now getting help returning to normal life after the horrific experience.

Tonight awaits a dinner with a number of representatives of civil society, journalists, NGOs, etc.

Serbian President Boris Tadic

Late last night I came back from a trip to Belgrade. The purpose of the trip was to attend a regional conference on corruption and organized crime, which is an annual conference organized by the Interior and Justice Ministers of Serbia. It is a forum where Ministers from across the Balkans, but also the wider region, discuss and exchange experiences. I had several interesting meetings, including with the Interior Minister, Ivica Dačice. We talked about crime, asylum and migration, cooperation with Europol and visa issues. With the Minister of Justice, Snezana Malovic, I spoke mostly about corruption and the importance of involving the whole community in the fight against corruption, not only the Minister of Justice. Serbia is currently working on creating an ambitious plan to fight corruption, so we exchanged ideas about what should be included.
 
The mood in Serbia is anxious right now, partly because of the unrest between Serbs and KFOR at the border with Kosovo, but above all because the European Council, at its summit on the 9th December, will decide whether Serbia should receive candidate status. It is my strong conviction that Serbia belongs in the European Union, but of course there are still many reforms to be made. The Commission has recommended that Serbia be given this status, but this is something that the Member States unanimously must to adopt, and that unity is not yet there. It is important that Serbia continues to engage in dialogue with Kosovo in trying to find a constructive solution to simplify everyday life. There is a new round of negotiations taking place today.
 
I also made two very interesting study visits; one to the Red Cross, which, for several years, has been running a project with young volunteers providing information on trafficking. It is a very ambitious project, and since 2005 the young volunteers have met with almost 100 000 children and adolescents. They also showed a film, Sisters, which tells the story of two young sisters who are lured to Western Europe and forced to work as sex slaves. The film’s producer, Bojana Maljevic, has received many awards and was there to speak about the film. We saw a clip which had a real impact, showing the brutal reality that sadly too many young women face today.

We also visited a refugee camp for Roma, where 250 Roma from Kosovo have been living for 15 years in very basic conditions. No electricity, no water and very simple houses. The camp will now be closed to build new houses and the Roma have no place to go. There are unfortunately many Roma who live that way, not only in Serbia, but in many countries in the region. In Belgrade alone there are over 130 camps with Roma. These are temporary camps in parking lots or landfills that gradually just become the permanent home of young and old alike. The EU supports Serbia in implementing various projects and building housing, but progress is very slow. Images of small, scantily-clad children playing among the garbage, and the concerns about what will happen to them, are not easy to let go.
 
The trip to Belgrade ended with a conversation with President Tadic. We talked of course about Kosovo.

This summer we announced that we will welcome Croatia as the 28th EU Member State in 2013 if the remaining reforms are implemented according to the timetable. The news on EU enlargement from today’s meeting with the College of Commissioners is that we recommend candidate status for Serbia which means that, with the provision that the relationship with Kosovo is improved, we could start membership negotiations. We also recommend that accession negotiations are opened with Montenegro. Towards the end of the year I also hope to be able to launch a visa dialogue with Kosovo, with the long term goal of achieving full visa liberalisation. The report points out the enormous progress made by the countries in this region, which was torn apart by war not so long ago. At the same time there remains a lot to be done in all of these countries to strengthen the rule of law, to fight organised crime and corruption and to strengthen the minorities’ rights.

With Turkey it is unfortunately not going as well as I would wish for but we continue to cooperate within my area of responsibility, on things like visa issues and migration and I hope that in the near future we will be able to move forward with accession negations as well.

Today we also adopted a new policy on agriculture. Together with colleagues and allied Commissioners I have fought hard for important improvements. I had hoped for a greater reform and market adjustments but taking into account how difficult our previous discussions on this topic has been, I am very happy about the changes we managed to get through today. For example we are earmarking money for environment and climate measures and there will be greater flexibility to move money to environmental and more long term projects. We will also be removing the quota system on sugar by 2015 which currently only makes it more expensive for consumers. These are significant improvements, although they are not, in my opinion, enough.