All essays are based on the question: send us in 300 words your personal view on the EU - elargement regarding Western Balkans?

Brigita Bajuk
Western Balkans is an extremely unstable area where numerous military conflicts took place in the past centuries. The fundamental aim of European Union in this region is to expand the area of peace, stability, prosperity and freedom and to create a situation where military conflict would be unthinkable. European Union has already taken various actions in previous decade in order to improve stability and implement reforms. The 2004 enlargement involved many more countries than previous ones and most of these countries have little experience of the kinds of obligation which Union membership entails. With the adoption and implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process, European Union repeats the approach used on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Since the European Council at the Tessaloniki Summit recognised the aspirations of the countries of the Western Balkans to join the Union there was already made progress with Croatia who became EU candidate country. This is also a clear signal to the other countries of the Western Balkans that they will become Member States if they meet Union's conditions. European Union became a heterogeneous union of 25 member states and this proves the fact, that the Union has an extraordinary capacity to adapt.

Kenan Dizdarevic
Without a doubt, the future of the region lies with the EU. Unfortunately, our starting point is not so good, and a lot of things need to be improved. A little hope was born with Croatian status as a candidate and likely entry of Bulgaria and Romania. However, the major problem of my country Serbia and Montenegro, besides lack of economic progress is the issue of the Hague war crimes tribunal. This and many other issues require determination and action on the part of government, which seems reluctant, and aims for preserving the loyalty of centre right electorate. Of course, this is only one example, the problems that Bulgaria or Croatia face are completely different. What is common for all the countries in the region is trying to cooperate on all these issues and realize that our future is in a united Europe.

Hristina Dojcinovac
The sole aim of the unification of the countries of Europe is to make life better for all the people living on the European continent. However, belonging to Europe geographically -is not an equivalent of membership in the European Union. Before a country is granted the right to be integrated in the big happy family, there are many hurdles to be overcome.

For the countries of the Western Balkans, the conditions that have to be met in order to access seem to be endless. The fact that until recently most of these countries had legal systems dating back to the communist era and also have been and still are dealing with major minority and human rights issues and on top of that have unstable and week market economies, just makes the integration a "mission impossible". Another aspect which pushes the accession date further in the future for the countries in the Western Balkans is the enlargement which took place six months ago and was the most ambitious enlargement ever. Even if the necessary progress is achieved and the specific criteria are fulfilled, the EU retains the right to decide that after all, it does not favour another enlargement in the near future. The EU institutions wonder if the outcome of further EU enlargement would be export of stability or import of instability. This question is not hard to answer: the EU will export stability to the region rather than vice versa. Nobody can claim that the unity within the EU can be upset by any instability that might be exported from, for example, the Balkans, but hopefully one day the EU will have all of Europe in its framework and everybody will be given their share of the benefits from membership in such an entity.

Therefore, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, are supposed to work together and gradually make the unavoidable alterations in their legislations in the light of the acquis communautaire. The main point is that there is political will and everyone is determined to overcome the obstacles through forward-looking policies and through new efforts.

Christoph Duerr
The EU enlargement towards the balkans is a necessary step in an enlarged and peaceful europe. The EU has to help with an improvement of the living standards and the general situation (human rights, law, etc); we have seen that the EU accession is a very motivating motive to take the necessary steps.

Nenad Gavrilovic
We live to see how the EU with every enlargement wave nears our borders, but we always finish left outside. Practically, we have one more opportunity to join as result of our work, and not because of charity. The opportunity that we, the countries of Western Balkans, have is to work together in accomplishing our task. /The last enlargement was the largest and it will surely be the most difficult to digest for primary EU members. Countries with great differences found themselves living in a same family. It shows, in the other hand, that Europe is ready to face new challenges. Now the Western Balkans has to put together an efficient strategy on approaching as a group. The interest of all countries involved is that the route is to be, as far as it could, faster and with fewer obstacles. The prospect of common integration is it seems the ideal model. /Western Balkan now must face greater and stronger EU. The enlargement process, in addition, cannot be observed set aside from the EU Constitution negotiations. All the same, which concept will prevail, in the future we will be looking in a more unified Union. That kind of Union will be our negotiating partner. We also must have in mind that the ten new members will not have a compassionate attitude toward Western Balkans mostly because their awareness that they got where they are only on behalf on their own efforts and they cannot expect any less from us. /Therefore, Western Balkans stands before a rather laconic option: prompt, efficient and unified intergovernmental cooperation in solving common problems. Besides, it is the only prospect that we have and is likely to succeed.

Marco Gosparini
the topic of this conference for me is really intersting...I am working for the UN in Kosovo in the most important prison, and I really wish to get more information about that and why not I guess that I can give a personal contribution to the other participant cause I have a completyely different point of View of the other people...but also the other topics are interesting...and I also wish to visit Sarajevo if it will possible...I have already take the Holidays to come there :-)

EU for me it is a dream but it is possible to do something really good if every country will take seriuosly this engagement but I am not to much positive like the things are going...if U look in one side we are doing the EU but in a lot of country like Italy for example a lot of people are still talking about some stupid separation and staff like that...so it is hard to say what it is going on...but I am sure that if the politics guys will stop to look just to the economic(private) problems everything will go in the right way...but this is not so easy so I guess we must "wait"(but not too much) that the old politicians will "pension off" and the new fresh people will drive the countries in one positive way...anyway the most wrong mistake it will be o take like example the USA that are defenetely a country that will drive this world to the total collapse!!!! !

Jörg Heeskens
The onlyest chance for the Western Balkan is the complete integration into the EU. This integration only can be succesfull when all states of the Western Balkan go, work and stay together. That means that first we need something like a "little EU" between Albania, BiH, SCG, CRO and Makedonia. In this "little EU" the states of former Yougoslavia can and have to learn what working together really mean. After a few years all the states of this little EU will go into the big EU. In the moment everywhere in the area people think, that EU and walfare state, that EU and affluence is the same. They believe that after a fast integration into the EU all their problems will be gone and they will have a life like people in Western Europe. Because of that the EU now have to clear up the population there, that EU not only maen affluence. EU, that mean a life without borders, a life without discrimination and corruption and mean a life without Nationalism.Ten years ago new borders were bulid in Yugoslavia, during Europe was rebuiling borders. Now the EU have to help the Western Balkan to beginn with rebuilding this borders. Not only the borders between countries, also the borders in the heads of the people. But the Western Balkan has to go this way alone. The EU can help, but they have to go by their own.

Stef Jansen
Any country in the euro-mediterranea region is the reight to become EU-member, once it has fulfilled all the critirai for it. I.e. adapting legislation, etc. Excluding a country from membership can have svere consequences. An anti-European, ultra-nationalistic situation could develop, as has happened in the nineties in for example Serbia. It is both I the interest fo those cuontries themselves and of the EU to be open-minded about the membership. Just look to Greece, a country situated ni the Balkan. It would not be what and where it is now without the EU. All popluations have the right to join the “european family”, once there governments have done the preparations. And when they are member, the EU has control over what in those countries, and not fearing upheaval (revolution, civil-war) in that region. That is very important, to prevent a repitition of the horrible events which happened there in the nineties. So it is in evryones interst to support those countries in their path to become EU-member.

Jovica Karanfilov
Personal view on the EU - elargement regarding Western Balkans: In my oppinion the "Western Balkan", I don't like this expresion that at least in my country is synonym that EU uses for "undeveloped" area, which is true in some part, will join the EU at the end. At the moment most important thing for this part of Europe is to enable the freedom of moving, because according to me this is the first opstacle that young people have to pass to see what Europe is. And also we should work more on coperation between ourselves and try to help eachother to acomplish the goals needed to become part of the same family. Hope the dream will become true in this life.

Harun Karcic
The EU has to enlarge and include the Balkans, not so much for the sake of improving the general eu seconomic standard or improve trade, but to counter the usa and its one man show in todays world politics. it is vital for the eu to expand faster and become a top and influential player in todays world politics. with regard to the balkans, the eu will accept them sooner or later, even though the balkans economy has plumetted in the past decade, the eu will not leave a patch of east europe by itself. integration will come later, rather than sooner, but it will happen.

Marjorie Masselot
I'm a French student working on a PhD on the Rule of Law and the Former Yougoslavian countries, I m actually in Croatia for 6 months, doing an internship in the Rule of Law Unit of OSCE Mission to Croatia. Graduated from the law University of Strasbourg, I specialised my studies in European Union and spent 5 months as an Intern at the Codecision Legal Service of the Council of the European Union for two years.
I am actually facing the Croatian Government s attitude concerning the accession to the EU and I started to ask myself, after having visiting Bosnia and Serbia, if a regional program for at least those 3 States could not be the best way of integration and reconciliation...

Vesna Paunkoska
Ten countries - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia - joined the European Union on May 1st, 2004. Bulgaria and Romania hope to do so by 2007, while Turkey is not currently negotiating its membership.

The European integration is a dynamic process. The European Union has grown significantly over the last decades, both in number of member countries, and in the depth and range of its activities. This process is set to continue, in years to come, with considerable enlargement of the EU. The Union is facing new challenges, but also a period of unforeseeable future. The enlargement of the Union is likely to enhance the chances for democracy, peace and stability throughout the continent of Europe, while providing important economic opportunities. On the other hand there are a lot challenges to cope with as the enlargement process will require deeply structural political and economic changes from the candidate countries and further reforms from the European Union itself. In my opinion the EU enlargement extends the zone! of stability in Europe, thus contributing to security and peace throughout the continent. I think that the greatest impact of enlargement occurs in the common agricultural policy and in the structural funds, the two largest components of the EU spending.

Martin Schiffhauer
Apart from the contemporary discussion in the german press about the eventual beginning of accession negotiations with Turkey there is not much you can hear about the general topic "EU enlargement". Maybe there are some articles about the new member states, which joint on 1st of May, but the interest of the public opinion rather goes into the direction of touristic interest than into the deeper analysis of the impact, that the enlargement will have on the EU. The same with Rumania and Bulgaria, whih will already join in 2007. Either the public opinion does not perceive the dimensions of this devellopment or it is not interested.

Coming to the topic of this essay, I want to state that in the shadow of these devellopments, the question of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans seems even marginal. Lets take for example Croatia: Even if the accession negotiation will only start in the beginning of 2005, the Croatian government intends to run through all the procedures in an before unseen speed: The planned accession date is planned to be in 2007. This would mean that Croatiaredoubles e.g. Rumania and Bulgaria many times, as these countries have been standing in queue for ages, working hard on fulfilling the Kopenhagen criterias, and even if not making it to the very end fighting their way into the EU. In comparison to that the way of the Western Balkans in general and of Croatia in particular seems to be a walk on the grass.

But what are the reasons for that? On the first hand the accession perspective granted to the respective candidates was from the very beginning a very different one: For Bulgaria and Rumania it was merely a economic question, the accession perspective was never questioned and exactly because of this, the western states preferred to postpone the accession of these 2 countries as long as possible. In the case of the Western Balkans however, the accession perspective was not that clear, and very much questioned during the war. Resulting from this the political intention were very different ones than in the case of Bulgaria and Romania. In the Western Balkans the Peace and Stability principles of the European Union, meaning the fundament of values, which is, at least in my opinion, still stronger than the economic character of the EU, came to application. This leads to my main point, which says, even when neglecting the economic differences between Bulagria and Romania and the Western Balkans, these seem to be rather the lost sond of the EU which are coming home and are heartily welcome, whereas the first ones rather ressemble the sons which were always home and made their homework (comparison in dependence on the bible;-) In order to answer the obvious question about fairness, one can get philosophical, or can reference the economical facts, which speak a clear language: For the Western Balkans the accession procedure is rather a matter of protocol than a real exam.

So from my point of view, and in general from the german point of view (if I may dare to speak for it) the accession of the Western Balkans is one of the least painful accessions for the paying coun tries and does not contain any major problems, which are not contained in previous, simultaneous or future enlargements of the EU.

Dragana Stojkovic
Balkan was always the main problem in Europe, but I think there are some problems that can be solved by us, young people. We cannot be more black hole of Europe! At first, we have to be tolerance to the other nationalities, religions etc. But there are also many, many others things to do!!! I think this conference will help at least to understand that problems! Also, I always wanted to visit Sarajevo. It is not far away from my country, but because of war and all things it brought, I didn't have that chance yet! I think it's finally time for that, and I hope you will give me a chance!

Chris Taylor
I would like to join this event because I have an interest and postgraduate academic European integration and international relations of the EU. Having recently moved to Croatia to take up an internship with the OSCE this event represents a great opportunity for me to expand upon my interests. I think EU-enlargement for the Balkans is a progressive step for the Western Balkans which represents the opportunity for further political cohesion. The criteria set by the EU will mean more independence for the countries once achieved and a voice in the EU.

Sanja Vojnic
At the Thessaloniki Summit the countries of the Western Balkans were clearly presented the European perspective. The accession game had started in June 2003, but in order to play it correctly and to win this game, we need to push the right buttons. Of course, analysis of the EU is extremely important, but we also need to know ourselves and to recognize and emphasize our advantages. The end of the road is known - it is membership in the EU, but what is important is the road itself, which depends on each country separately. The accession process will influence our future and create deep impact on our economic and foreign relations. Therefore, it is up to the countries of WB to find the most suitable accession model for themselves, and to cooperate in this process, specially having in mind similarities in economic, cultural, administrative sectors, and compatibility regarding industries. The cooperation would provide information networks, undisturbed flow of information, and transfer of know-hows. Furthermore, language similarities would help furthering the acquis translation process, which is a very complicated and extensive job that engages experts from various fields. Cooperation in this field would be a specialty of WB countries, the one point, where WB countries can differ completely from other countries that had already passed the accession road and joined the EU on 1st of May 2004.

Bojana Zdraljevic
I believe that the European Union is one of the ways to bring increased regional cooperation into the area. At the same time I believe that much of the time people's expectations of what EU membership will bring are overexaggerated. Citizens in countries hoping for membership believe that membership will bring instant benefits such as higher salaries and more job opportunities. Costs are rarely thought about or are brushed aside when potential benefits are thought of. I think that EU enlargment vis-a-vis the Western Balkans has potential to bring great good to the area but at the same time I think politicians and citizens must do some sober thinking about the costs and benefits of membership. As a Fulbright scholar in Zagreb I am able to speak to people on a regular basis about the prospects of Croatian EU membership and public opinion is extremely devided. The governement of Croatia, and other candidate countries, needs to do a better job explaining what membership will entail to ensure the support of the populace for what is sure to be a tumultous accession process.

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