Albania An Eu Member In 2011?

TIRANA, April 26 – A group of influential European experts and former statesmen have urged the European Union to set 2012 as the year Albania and other Balkan countries enter the bloc.
According to the experts of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the Union should redefine the Balkans by dividing the countries into two groups, the Adriatic Peninsula and Central Balkans.
The Adriatic Peninsula group would include Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia, where the EU has made some progress, according to an article entitled, “Goodbye Balkans, Hello Adriatic Peninsula”, written by Daniel Korski from the ECFR.
He suggests the EU give the three countries of the Adriatic Region a target date for joining the EU: Croatia’s could be 2010, Albania’s 2011 and Macedonia’s 2012.
The Central Balkans group would include Serbia, Kosova and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
ECFR says the current enlargement strategy is working in the Adriatic Region. “On the other hand, the intractable territorial and ethno-political problems of the ‘Central Balkans’ have proven immune to the EU’s Stabilization and Association process,” ECFR says.
New thinking is required, which must recognize the difference between the two Balkans.
On the one hand, the “Adriatic Peninsula” (Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia), continual progress has taken place and the current enlargement strategy – with some adjustments – is likely to work. On the other hand, the “Central Balkans” (Serbia, Kosova and Bosnia-Herzegovina) have intractable territorial and ethno-political problems that have proven immune to the EU’s Stabilization and Association process, the hands-on ESPD missions and light-touch protectorates, Korski says.
Re-branding the region will, of course, not solve anything by itself. But the “Western Balkans”, a term invented in the late 1990s to describe the wedge-shaped peninsula, has outlived its usefulness. Changing it would be a first, conceptual step towards a new approach. But other, more radical changes are required.
Korski notes that, for some analysts, there is no reason to change the EU policy. Macedonia, Croatia, Albania and Montenegro seem to be making progress. In the Central Balkans, the billions of Euros spent may not produce results, but they seem to keep a lid on any fighting.
Besides, some analysts say, what is the hurry? If it takes another decade for the region to move towards the EU, then this may be a small price to pay for compliance with norms and values – like cooperation with ICTY – which lie at the heart of the EU. But progress in the Adriatic Peninsula is not yet self-sustainable while things can get a lot worse in the Central Balkans. To avoid both, new thinking is needed, Korski says.
The members of the European Council on Foreign Relations include Giuliano Amato, former Italian Prime Minister; Joschka Fischer, former German Foreign Minister; Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland and former UN Special Envoy for Kosova; and Chris Patten, former EU Commissioner.