The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meeting held in Luxembourg on 29th April 2008 included debates on the situation in the Western Balkans and resulted in conclusions on the region.
Regarding Serbia, the Council welcomed the signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and of the Interim agreement as important steps towards joining the EU. It reiterated the necessity for Serbia to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and vowed to monitor this cooperation jointly with the EC.
The Council welcomed the conclusion of the first phase of police reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is one of the necessary conditions for further progress towards the conclusion of the SAA.
More generally, the Council welcomed the Commission communication "Western Balkans: Enhancing the European Perspective" from March, and stated that the progress achieved in recent years through the Stabilisation and Association process should be sustained and made irreversible. According to the conclusions, “the European perspective needs to be tangible and more visible to the people across the Western Balkans”.
The Council also welcomed the Commission’s intentions to increase the number of scholarships for students from the Western Balkans to study in the EU, and the initiatives to step up support to civil society and enhance donor coordination, to support socio-economic development in the region.
Links:
European Council press release: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/gena/100227.pdf
Information provided by Rebecca Steel, TRIALOG
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