E l e c t r on i c mon th l y maga z i n e f o r Eu r op ean i n t e g r a t i on - No . 3 4 , J u l y 2 0 0 8

European pulse

FFFFOOOOCCCCUUUUSSSS OOOOFFFF TTTTHHHHIIIISSSS IIIISSSSSSSSUUUUEEEEUncertain future ofprosciutto and creamin European cuisine

IINNTTEERRVVIIEEWWBernard

Garancher,French ambassador

in Montenegro

AANNAALLYYSSEESSWhy is

Governmenttrying to

re-establishcontrol over media

EEUU CCHHAALLLLEENNGGEESSMediterraneanUnion - from

idea to theParis summit

2Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F o r eword / Ca l enda r

RRAADDOOVVAANNSSThey're doing the job! Those were the

words of reaction of a standing official ofMontenegro's ruling coalition to the news thatthe Serbian police has arrested the mostwanted ICTY fugitive, Radovan Karad`i}.

Journalists of the region woke up fromthe July torpor, Serbia is again in the head-lines of the world media, and Solana, Rehnand the rest of the Brussels' cr?me urgentlysent out the message - Serbia is on the right,European track.

Because the new authorities did nothesitate a second to arrest the already popu-lar Dr David Dabi}, Serbia will probably sub-mit its application for membership in theEuropean Union in the course of the Frenchpresidency, thus catching up with Podgorica.

One more man stands between Serbiaand its goal - Ratko Mladi}. One wouldexpect the EU not to insist on the issue ofKosovo in the early stages of negotiations withSerbia, given that the Kosovo question hasproven divisive enough for its present mem-bers, and the relations with the neighboursanyhow feature towards the end of member-ship negotiations.

Should Mladi} be arrested in the nearfuture, Serbia has a good chance to turn itselffrom the lagging wagon into the Europeanlocomotive of the region. Here one shouldnote that the European Union has spokenkindly of Serbia's administrative capacities andthat, from the standpoint of Brussels, there itdoes not have major problems with corrup-tion and crime, unlike the rest of the WesternBalkans.

The question for the coalition's officialfrom the beginning of this article is: Why arewe not doing the job?

Because our Radovans or, as the diplo-mats would say "big fish" are still leisurely buy-ing up apartments in Paris, Milan... spendingholidays in prestigious places, driving luxuriouscars. All that thanks to the money they earnedin criminal and corrupt ways.

And, while Brussels is stepping up pres-sure on Montenegro to intensify fight againstcorruption and crime, our Radovans cannotbe spotted riding on the public transport orvisiting the "madhouses", even if by a scenarioof the Directory. Seen the way they are treat-ed by the Montenegrin institutions and thepeople heading them, they shouldn't eventhink about it. V.@.

Denmark ratified SAA (27 June) - Denmark is the sixth member of the EuropeanUnion to have ratified the Stabilisation and Association Agreement withMontenegro. The agreement has already been ratified by Estonia, Slovenia,Hungary, Austria and Bulgaria.

French visas in the Slovenian Embassy (30 June) - The Joint Application Centrein the embassy of Slovenia started issuing Schengen visas to the Montenegrin cit-izens on behalf of France. Until now, French visas were being issued by the Italianembassy. With this, the Join Application Centre came to represent seven coun-tries of the Schengen zone: Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary,Luxembourg and Poland.

Application depends on the Progress Report (30 June) - Montenegro's applicationfor candidate status for membership in the European Union will depend on theprogress report by the European Commission, said the Slovenian ambassador inPodgorica Jernej Videti~.

French presidency of EU (1 July) - Francetook over the EU presidency from Sloveniaand will hold this position for the next sixmonths. Paris came to the helm of Europeat the moment when the block is facing agrave institutional crisis because of the Irishrejection of the Lisbon Treaty at the referen-dum last month. French president NicolasSarkozy said that France was in favour of theBalkan countries joining the EU.

Montenegro joined the Mediterranean Union (12 July) - together with Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina and Monaco at the Summit in Paris. The union consistsof 43 countries from the European continent and the coastal areas of the SouthMediterranean, with a combined population of 750 million people. Among themembers are the 27 EU countries, Algiers, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon,Morocco, Mauritius, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Palestinian authority and Albania. Thegoal of the "Union for the Mediterranean" which is strongly promoted by Franceand its president Nicolas Sarkozy is to create a common space of peace anddemocracy. Montenegrin PM Milo \ukanovi} attended the summit in Paris.

Meeting of the Enhanced permanent dialogue (16 July) - took place in Podgoricabetween European Commission and Montenegro and was dedicated to innova-tion, human resources, information society and social policy.

Latvia ratified SAA (21 July) - Latvia's Parliament ratified the SAA signed betweenMontenegro and EU on 15 October 2007. Latvia is the eighth country to haveratified this agreement.

Bulgaria fined for corruption (23 July) - European Commission suspendedassistance to Bulgaria worth more than 500 million euros. This institution,

which also manages the fundsreported that the poorest member ofthe European block failed to meetthe targets in its fight against organ-ised crime and corruption on thehighest lever, prompting theEuropean Commission to freeze themoney from the European fundsallocated to Bulgaria in order to pro-tect its taxpayers.

Sofia

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J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

Belgian cho-colate, Gre-

ek feta cheese(sheep) and pa-stel (honey-sesame cook-

ies), Italian "mozzarella", German"white sausage", Austrian applestrudel and beef cocktail withbreadcrumbs... These are only someof the traditional products ofEuropean cuisines, prepared accord-ing to the special recipes handeddown the line for many generations.In the European Union, wherealmost every community has its ownspecific dietary and culinary habits,interest in the traditional products ison the rise.

Traditional food is consideredhealthier. As the public is increas-

ingly interested in the market seg-ment of healthy food and bio-products, traditional cuisine is allthe more sought after. Althoughthere is no precise data on theshare of traditional products in theoverall food consumption inEurope, in some European coun-tries this percentage is definitely onthe rise.

For a product to be branded"traditional" on the picky Europeanmarket it has to make it a long wayto the final goal - fulfilment of theEuropean rules of origin.

Most of the Montenegrin pro-ducers at the moment cannot evenget close to the European markets.

First of all, they must conformto the hygienic standards of pro-duction. European Commissionrepresentatives for agriculture whocame to survey the situation inMontenegro dubbed the hygienestandards in the country "mostproblematic".

Ministry of agriculture, forestryand water management has allocat-ed a symbolic sum in this year'sbudget for the improvement ofhygienic conditions. Such pro-grammes usually entail acquisitionof new, typically modern and ratherexpensive equipment. The next stepawaiting Montenegrin farmers whowant to place their products in thenext few years on the Montenegrinand European markets is theHACCP (Hazard Analyses and Cri-tical Control Point) food safety sys-tem which requires continuousmonitoring of the entire productionchain from the field to the kitchen.Only after the HACCP system hasbeen introduced, those Montene-grin food producers who want tocompete in the European market

Will the prosciutto from Njegu{orcheese from Pljevlja still taste

the same if their producers start tin-kering with hygiene, ingredients,additives, concentration of salt... Willthe centuries-old ways of makingfood in Montenegro and on theBalkans be reserved only for thegrandmothers who refuse to changetheir tubs and troughs for cheeseand decide to produce only for theirown families? Can we still enjoy thetaste of these products? Deputypresident of the Association ofAgricultural Producers of Monte-negro Dragoljub Nenezi} believesthat the quality of the products willnot be affected by changing produc-tion technologies.

"Better hygiene can onlyimprove the quality, not diminish it",Nenezi} said.

WWIILLLL IITT TTAASSTTEETTHHEE SSAAMMEE??

W H A T W I L L H A P P E N W I T H T R A D I T I O N A L M O N T E N E G R I N P R O D U C T S I N T H EP R O C E S S O F A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H E U

by Marija Mirja~i}

////////B!uipsoz!spbe!up!uif!Fvspqfbo!dvjtjof

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Traditional Montenegrin specialties

4Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

can consider the requirements ofthe EU directive on the rules of ori-gin.

In the course of the pre-acces-sion negotiations, Montenegro willprobably try to register some geo-graphic trademarks, e.g. Njegu{iprosciutto, Pljevlja cheese andcream, potatoes from Trebaljevo,but also some other products withspecific characteristics related to

their origin.Whether this can be done is still

an "open question", says deputy min-ister for agriculture, forestry andwater management BBrraannkkoo BBuullaattoovvii}}.

"There are two regulations con-cerning "traditional" food on theEuropean Union markets. The firstregulation is related to the protec-tion of geographic origin of agricul-tural products, and the second tothe certificates on special character-istics of agricultural products andfood. The goal of these regulations

is to simplify the system of protec-tion of agricultural products basedon their geographic origins or tradi-tion. This is meant to guaranteeprotection against imitation for thefood and drinks registered on theEuropean level", explains Bulatovi}for the European Pulse.

According to him, the first regu-lation is successfully implemented,with thousands of European productsregistered as "protected label of ori-gin" or "protected geographic label".

"However, very few productshave been certified as "guaranteedtraditional specialty" under the sec-ond regulation", Bulatovi} adds.

Only 16 traditional productsfrom the 12 older members of theEU have been labelled a "guaranteedtraditional specialty", among themmozzarella cheese from Italy, meatdishes, milk and bakery productsfrom Spain and one Belgian beer.

Bulatovi} explains that the rea-son for such limited number of reg-

istration under the second regula-tion is the fact that the latter offersvery little protection to the produc-er and the product, as well as the

absence of a clear definition of "tra-ditional".

"This is why a product cannotbe exclusively registered as a tradi-tional product, especially when itcombines several ingredients. Chal-lenges to the production and mar-keting of traditional food in Monte-negro are similar to those in the EU.We will most probably registersome of our products as "protectedorigin" or "protected geographic ori-gin" labels", Bulatovi} said.

Out of the twelve new EUmember states only Czech Republicmanaged to protect its products inthe pre-accession period: threetypes of beer. It is still possible toprotect products after EU accession,but the process is likely to lastmuch longer, five years on average,in order to examine the markets ofall member states before registeringorigin or specificity of a new prod-

uct. In the meantime, anotherproduct registered earlier couldconquer the market and consumers'tastes.

In Montenegro, 13 producershave been signed into the registerof organic producers. Registration ofthe geographic origin was previous-ly performed by the former FederalBureau for Intellectual Property inBelgrade, which also certified pro-sciutto from Njegu{i and a number

Except for "Planta`e", who introduced the HACCP system already in 2000,the certificate, according to the Ministry for Agriculture, has been granted

to "Pirela", "Marteks", "Inspe", "Arena milk", "[im{i}", "Mont milk", "Fabricis" and"Nika mljekara".

Consumers in the EU have so far been able to try some of the "Planta`e"wines, "Pirela" juices and medicinal herbal teas produced by "Inspe" from Bar.

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Branko Bulatovi}

5Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

of "Planta`e" wines. This job is nowresponsibility of the newly estab-lished Bureau for IntellectualProperty.

Certificate of origin indicatesthat a product and all its ingredientsand raw materials have been pro-duced in the same locality, whichguarantees that a product has notbeen produced serially or industri-ally and vouches for its quality to apotential buyer.

For the producer, the labelguarantees recognition in the inter-national markets, which willbecome very important once wejoin the EU. Most importantly, itdefends the producer against com-petition from another product withthe same name.

Regardless of whether we wantour product to be protected in theEuropean markets based on theirgeographic origin or as "guaranteedtraditional specialties", the list ofrequirements for registration is verylong.

"It is necessary to identify con-sumers' affinities, attitudes, expec-tations, possibilities for innovationin traditional production, guaranteefood safety with regard to physicaland chemical risks, take care of the

protection of animal biodiversity,develop and support marketing and

distribution of these products, andestablish an efficient, sustainable

system of technology transfer",Bulatovi} said.

Problems in the Montenegrinagriculture have been piling up fordecades. For the last ten years thegovernment has attempted areform, but the success in revivingagricultural production has beenlimited. The ministry and its agen-cies should therefore make it a pri-ority for the near future to spreadawareness about challenges andopportunities in this sector in thewider public and educate farmersand producers in the matter of cer-tification procedures for the tradi-tional products. Time will showwhether they can succeed inlaunching Montenegrin products onthe European markets.

TThhee aauutthhoorr iiss aa jjoouurrnnaalliisstt ooff tthheeddaaiillyy nneewwssppaappeerr ""VViijjeessttii""

Nenezi} said that the hygienic conditions in the production of traditional spe-cialities aren't satisfactory, and must be quickly improved. "European Commission representatives have repeatedly emphasised this

problem, warning that some standards will be very difficult to attain. The expe-rience showed that we managed to introduce some standards, but this is notnearly enough. What we need is assistance from the local governments and thestate", said Nenezi} for the European Pulse.

He said that the producers first need support with introducing new tech-nologies in order to be able to standardise quality.

"What this means is that we must a precise account of the colour, the smelland the taste of cheese from Pljevlja, the recipe, production and packing pro-cedures...", Nenezi} said, adding that these traditional products should be placedon the markets of only few European markets, and in limited supply.

According to him, Montenegrin cream of cheese would probably sell inGermany, but is unlikely to succeed in Sweden or Denmark.

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EEuurrooppeeaann CCoommmmiissssiioonn rreepprreesseennttaattiivveess ffoorr aaggrriiccuullttuurree wwhhoo ccaammee ttoossuurrvveeyy tthhee ssiittuuaattiioonn iinn MMoonntteenneeggrroo dduubbbbeedd tthhee hhyyggiieennee ssttaannddaarrddssiinn tthhee ccoouunnttrryy ""mmoosstt pprroobblleemmaattiicc""

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Milk products at the market in Podgorica

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There is probablyno government

that does not wantto control themedia directly orindirectly, condi-tioning them in var-ious ways, ultimate-

ly by the very decision to allocate or withdrawtheir frequencies. There are also probablyvery few governments in Europe that did nottry, on their road to potential membership inEuropean Union, to somehow legalise theirinfluence on all relevant electronic media.

Montenegrin government already didhalf the work - the Parliament ofMontenegro will in a few days adopt a Lawon electronic communication. By this, it willtake away the right of Broadcasting Agency- which, at least on paper, used to be anindependent regulatory body - to decide onthe allocation of frequencies. Instead, thejob will be given to the Government'sAgency for Telecommunications, whosedirector is appointed by the Ministry forTransport and Telecommunications.

The second example of sliding back-wards, and a good illustration of the brutalityof the ruling circles and the desperate impo-tence of the opposition, is the draft law onBroadcasting Services RTCG (Radio-TelevisionMontenegro), which paved the way for theruling coalition to formally take the controlover the public service RTCG.

The Government adopted the draftdocument containing amendments to the Lawon Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). Basedon this law, members of the RTCG Council,whose job is to elect the management of thenational media service, are themselvesappointed or dismissed by a parliamentarymajority. Until now, the Parliament was onlyallowed to confirm nominations to theCouncil, but not to vote on them.

In addition to this, given the range ofinstitutions who are to nominate members tothe RTCG Council, if this law is adopted theCouncil will most probably be staffed by the

minions of the ruling circles. For instance, it isclearly stated that the Council of IndependentTrade Unions, which is the Governmentfavourite vis-a-vis the Reform Block of of theCouncil of Trade Unions, is to nominate onerepresentative to the RTCG Council. TheReform Block of CITU is not even mentioned.

The new law, in a way, is simply a con-firmation of the status quo, since the rulingcoalition anyhow interpreted the earlier ver-sion to mean that the Parliament is alsoallowed to vote on the nominated membersof the Council. It was immediately announcedthat media experts in the Council of Europein Strasbourg will analyse the draft of theamended law on PBS, as well as theOrganisation for European Cooperation andSecurity (OSCE).

Although there are no two same solu-tions of this issue in Western democracies, andalthough even in Slovenia political parties areallowed to decide who will sit on the Councilof their public service, the standards endorsedby the Council of Europe and OSCE in 2003,when the present law was adopted, havebeen dubbed modern and progressive.According to these standards, politiciansshould not have the power to decide on who

will lead the public service, as this is the jobof the civil society institutions that representdifferent groups in the society.

Ever since, in the five years during whichthe government has been persuading thepublic that Montenegro is steadily marchingtowards European and Atlantic integrations,Montenegro actually slid back into the past.

But nothing is as stunning as the easeand the nonchalance with which the DPS-SDP coalition introduced this diversion fromthe rule and order that should be the strong-hold of every modern European state. Thereason is easy to guess: the government is notafraid of sanctions. Why not? Because they are

sure that the opposition can do nothingagainst them, and that the critical Montenegrinpublic, the interested public - University,NGOs, media - are perfectly harmless. Why?Because they are too few!?

And so it happens that the centres ofpower look down from high above us all, witharrogance and perhaps with a sneer, at thecriticism coming from various addresses -among others, from OSCE and the EuropeanCommission (EC).

EC insisted that the new law on elec-tronic communications should not give theGovernment's body the right to allocate fre-quencies, as this would establish de factoinfluence of the parties over the media. In\ukanovi}'s cabinet they all turned a deaf ear.

The same happened with the warning byOSCE's representative for the media MiklosHaraszti, who said that "transferring responsi-bilities for broadcasting services onto Agencyfor Telecommunications, which is controlledby the Government, you put a question markover the independence of the licensing pro-cedure".

Brankica Petkovi}, editor of the MediaNetwork from Slovenia and a researcher inthe Ljubljana Peace Institute, was categorical:"Such glaring coarseness and broom-sweepingleads to weakening of the public voice andsmells of authoritarianism by the parliamentarymajority".

NNootthhiinngg iiss aass ssttuunnnniinngg aass tthhee eeaassee aanndd tthhee nnoonncchhaallaannccee wwiitthh wwhhiicchhtthhee DDPPSS-SSDDPP ccooaalliittiioonn iinnttrroodduucceedd tthhiiss ddiivveerrssiioonn ffrroomm tthhee rruullee aannddoorrddeerr tthhaatt sshhoouulldd bbee tthhee ssttrroonngghhoolldd ooff eevveerryy mmooddeerrnn EEuurrooppeeaannssttaattee.. TThhee rreeaassoonn iiss eeaassyy ttoo gguueessss:: tthhee ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt iiss nnoott aaffrraaiidd ooffssaannccttiioonnss.. WWhhyy nnoott?? BBeeccaauussee tthheeyy aarree ssuurree tthhaatt tthhee ooppppoossiittiioonn ccaannddoo nnootthhiinngg aaggaaiinnsstt tthheemm,, aanndd tthhaatt tthhee ccrriittiiccaall MMoonntteenneeggrriinn ppuubblliicc,,tthhee iinntteerreesstteedd ppuubblliicc - UUnniivveerrssiittyy,, NNGGOOss,, mmeeddiiaa - aarree ppeerrffeeccttllyyhhaarrmmlleessss.. WWhhyy?? BBeeccaauussee tthheeyy aarree ttoooo ffeeww!!??

W H Y I S G O V E R N M E N T T R Y I N G T O R E - EE S T A B L I S H C O N T R O L O V E R M E D I A

by Ne|eljko Rudovi}

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During its presidency overEuropean Union, France will

expect Montenegro to advancereforms in terms of strengtheningthe judicial system and administra-tion, and to intensify its fight againstcorruption and crime, said theFrench ambassador to MontenegroBBeerrnnaarrdd GGaarraanncchheerr.

Garancher, who will lead theEuropean Troika in Montenegrountil the end of this year, said forthe European Pulse that France willtake over the priorities for theWestern Balkans set by Sloveniaduring the last presidency.

WWhhaatt eexxaaccttllyy ddoo yyoouu hhaavvee iinnmmiinndd??

Our first priority is stabilisation.Almost all Western Balkan countrieshave achieved stability, and it is par-adoxical that Serbia, the biggest and

the riches country of the region,should be the last one to stabilise.You should therefore understandthat the emphasis on Serbia is legit-imate.

The second priority is to contin-ue our efforts that began a fewmonths ago in extending the energyand transport community in this partof the Balkans. We want the sevencountries of the Western Balkans tobe part of these communities, whichwill make them a step closer to EU.

At the same time, there areother issues such as transport - greatEuropean projects linked to projectsin Serbia, Croatia... We expectEuropean Investment Banka and theBank for Reconstruction and De-velopment to invest more resources.These are some practical issues tobe attended to.

Should any of the West Balkancountries apply for membershipduring the French presidency, it willbe a great event.

WWhhaatt ddoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk ooff tthheeMMoonntteenneeggrriinn GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt''ss iinntteenn-ttiioonn ttoo aappppllyy ffoorr EEUU mmeemmbbeerrsshhiipp bbyytthhee eenndd ooff FFrreenncchh pprreessiiddeennccyy??

This is no surprise. Your deputyPM (GGoorrddaannaa \\uurroovvii}}) said imme-diately after she signed theStabilisation and Association Agree-ment (SAA) on the 15 October lastyear in Brussels: "be ready for ourapplication as soon as possible".

There were already some plansfor this application during Slovenia'spresidency, and then Montenegrodid exactly what we expected - itconsulted its major European part-ners. We believe that one result ofthese consultations wasMontenegro's decision to reconsiderand postpone application.

At the same time, theGovernment always said that quali-ty is of equal importance as thetime, although these two factors arenot unrelated. Montenegrin govern-ment has a clear goal to submit this

F R E N C H A M B A S S A D O R I N P O D G O R I C A B E R N A R D G A R A N C H E R

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You mentioned corruption. Do you think that corruption is a big prob-lem in Montenegro?

Corruption knows no borders. French institutions, the police, judiciary, arenot strangers to cases of corruption and organised crime, which are with one legin Montenegro and with another in France.

On the technical level we ought to speak about these cases. On theMontenegrin side there is somebody who gives the right answers and takes theright steps. In practice, when they have to do something, they do it. In theory,you have everything you need: action plans, laws, your civil servants are noworse than ours. In the dialogues between Montenegro and EuropeanCommission I can see that you officials know their job. There is probably notenough of them, but in my opinion expanding capacity is not as important asmaking the right decisions that will change something. For example, theGovernment announced that 52 persons have been sentenced in corruptioncases since 2004 when the new law was adopted. True. Yet, some of themdeserved a stricter sentence.

I believe that the courts will soon deal with the bigger fish and that willchange something. You need one such sentence to change the overall outlookand habits of the judiciary, politicians, citizens.

Just because Montenegro is small, you need small steps for big changes. Ina bigger country it is more difficult. I believe you have a good chance.

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Bernard Garancher

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application before the end of thisyear.

DDoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk tthhiiss ggooaall iissppllaauussiibbllee??

We think the consultations willcontinue. Some progress is obvious,however, the glass is only half full -and half empty. There is alwaysspace for improvements and someimprovements must be made. Onthe other hand, we from Europeanembassies admit that nobody willcome up to Montenegro and say:come on, you are ready. All initia-tive must come from here. When itdoes, we will respect it and reactaccordingly.

By the end of this year the sit-uation here will be very differentfrom last year's. Montenegro ismaking progress, there will be someimprovements with regard to visasand the situation in the region isalso different: BiH signed the SAA,Sebia has a new government whichcalls itself pro-European and itcould perhaps also become a can-didate. This all makes a differencefor Montenegro's application.

WWhhaatt aarree tthhee aaddvvaannttaaggeess ffoorrMMoonntteenneeggrroo ffrroomm tthhee mmeemmbbeerrsshhiippiinn tthhee UUnniioonn ffoorr MMeeddiitteerrrraanneeaannwwhhoossee mmaaiinn iinniittiiaattoorr iiss FFrraannccee??

Take the example of transport:so far there were some national ini-tiatives, such as the feasibility studyon highways or the initiatives in thesub-regional zones (e.g. Montenegro,

Croatia and Albania have a commonproject). These efforts have beendirected exclusively by states. Thenew idea is that the projects of theUnion for Mediterranean will beconducted by a group of interestedparties: states, international banks,international investors, associations

for environmental protection....Although very small in itself, and

therefore with a small sector of roadconstruction, Montenegro will beable to participate and will have arepresentative in this process. This isthe idea.

What we liked as initiators ofthis project is the immediate positivereaction we got from Montenegro,already in January.

Your Government consulted usand asked us to supportMontenegro's wish to become amember of the new Union. We saidnot to rush, and that your case willbe ready by the time we open theUnion for Mediterranean, and this is

what happened. You became mem-bers of a broader union, somethingthat offers Montenegro a forum todiscuss with the parties you do notoften have a chance to meet, suchas Egypt.

WWhhaatt iiss yyoouurr bbiiggggeesstt ccoonncceerrnniinn MMoonntteenneeggrroo ttooddaayy??

What I really worry about is thelack of ethics in its political life. Ispeak as an observer, not as some-body who wishes to lecture you.You will never hear me talking aboutcorruption - there is no use talkingabout it, corruption must be fought.But I do say that I worry about thelack of ethics. It is a fact that theParliament has been immobilised forreasons I respect, but it still meansthat this institution is not performingits role. People have elected MPsand they expect them to do theirwork. This is already lasting twomonths and it signals trouble.

There is also another thing: inlate June, CEDEM published a pub-lic opinion poll which shows that71% of the population wants mem-bership in the European Union andonly 12% say they are not interest-ed. We can say that a great major-ity is in favour of EU membership,but if the political elite, and by thatI mean both the Government andthe opposition, continues to behavelike that in such important issues asthe formation of the NationalCouncil for Integrations, publicopinion will lose interest in the EU.

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WWhhaatt II rreeaallllyy wwoorrrryy aabboouutt iiss tthhee llaacckk ooff eetthhiiccss iinn iittss ppoolliittiiccaall lliiffee..IIff tthhee ppoolliittiiccaall eelliittee,, aanndd bbyy tthhaatt II mmeeaann bbootthh tthhee GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt aannddtthhee ooppppoossiittiioonn,, ccoonnttiinnuueess ttoo bbeehhaavvee lliikkee tthhaatt iinn ssuucchh iimmppoorrttaannttiissssuueess aass tthhee ffoorrmmaattiioonn ooff tthhee NNaattiioonnaall CCoouunncciill ffoorr IInntteeggrraattiioonnss,, tthheeppuubblliicc wwiillll ggrraadduuaallllyy lloossee iinntteerreesstt iinn tthhee EEUU

Your colleagues, Italian and German ambassadors Gabrielle Meucci andThomas Schmidt reiterated many times that we ought to change our habits inorder to progress in European integrations. You ride you bicycle everyday inthe surroundings of Podgorica. Is that your way to show Montenegrins, whoprefer their cars, the need to change their habits?

French love cars too. You, me, we all have to change our habits. Takewater: we have it today, but who knows whether we will still have it in 20years. Or the garbage. Yours is an ecological state, but the garbage is every-where. You should organise a public waste collection. I saw some garbage sep-aration bins in Podgorica for paper, glass...this is just a beginning. This will allchange when private companies start recycling garbage and earning a lot ofmoney on it.

I believe, when I was a child, our streets were very dirty. In Paris, forinstance, if there is a strike longer than a single day you will see plenty ofpaper. If the street is already dirty, more people will throwing their garbagearound. If it is clean, they too will be more careful. It is like that everywhere,and the same mechanism of behaviour works with tourists. Tourists here willbe more careless than in their own countries.

WWEE AALLLL HHAAVVEE TTOO CCHHAANNGGEE OOUURR HHAABBIITTSS

9Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 Po l i cy

Several weeksafter the head

of the Departmentfor Montenegro inthe DirectorateGeneral for Enlar-gement of the

European Commission TTeerreessaa SSoobbiieesskkiiwarned the Montenegrin authoritiesagainst negligence with regard to legalprovisions regulating anti-corruption, theMPs of the ruling coalition suddenlybrought a proposal for a law on partyfinancing onto the agenda of the runningParliament session. There was, however,not a word on discussion on this docu-ment, which collects dust in the parlia-mentary drawers since late 2007. Thebenches reserved for the opposition wereempty on the occasion, however,although one wonders whether theirpresence would have sparked a debate.Three years ago, when the law wasamended for the last time, all partiesheartily agreed on a proposal whichforced Montenegro three steps back inthis matter. The new document which isscheduled for parliamentary debate nextweek brings some hope that the nextelections could be held in a somewhatfair environment, at least with regard tofinancing.

"In addition to comparative practice,we relied on recommendations of theCouncil of Europe (CoE). By this I meannot the general recommendations butconcrete suggestions from the Report byCoE experts on Montenegro... Everythingwas incorporated and I believe that thenew law will be perfectly harmonised

with international standards", says ZZllaattkkooVVuujjoovvii}}, president of the Centre forMonitoring (CEMI), which was involvedin the process of drafting the new law.

New proposal again establishes theupper limit on public finances availableto the parties: for their regular function-ing, the parties are entitled to between0.2 and 0.4% of the total state budget,minus capital budget and public funds. Inthe local parliaments, parties can getbetween 0.5 and 1% of the total munic-

ipal budget, minus the capital budget. The government admits that the rul-

ing coalition made a mistake, andemphasises that "there should be lessmoney from the public funds dedicatedto parties".

"So far the Parliament of theRepublic as well as the local parliamentscould decide on the amount of financingon their own. With the upper limit abol-ished, local governments could easilyabuse their freedom, allocating up to

A F T E R E C ' S W A R N I N G T H E R U L I N G C O A L I T I O N U R G E N T L Y M O V E S A P R O P O S A LO F A N E W L A W O N P A R T Y F I N A N C I N G O N T O P A R L I A M E N T ' S A G E N D A

by Danilo Mihajlovi}

////////

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Unlike some legislations which forbid public subsidies, authors of theMontenegrin law opted for the principle which is prevalent in most European

legislations, and envisages combined financing from public and private sources.Private sources, explains Vujovi}, can be divided into smaller donations collectedfrom a large number of citizens party members (grassroots) and large donationscoming from single rich individuals, enterprises or other financially and politicallypowerful entities.

"Big donations should be avoided in order to eliminate the threat of corrup-tion, and the political parities are thus motivated to increase membership andbecome less dependent on big donors. On the other hand, the danger is that insome countries political parties can become entirely dependent on big public sub-sidies and thus uninterested in the grassroots work", Vujovi} warned. CEMI's direc-tor says that private financing is dominant in Western democracies.

"In Germany, for instance, state finance amounts to 30% on average while therest comes from private sources. In the structure of private financing, however,membership fees account for more than a half of all funding, one quarter is dueto donations and only 10% of total party funds comes from big donors", Vujovi}said. He adds that in the Anglo-Saxon world the situation is similar, although bigdonors have dominated these systems for a long time, causing major scandals.

"USA and their federal electoral commission introduced numerous prohibitionsin order to decrease the influence of "fat cats" in the guise of big corporations andforeign interests, and increase the influence of individuals with smaller donations.For this reason the USA too introduced public subsidies", Vujovi} said.

He notes the example of UK which is a rare instance of a country which doesnot allow public subsidies to political parties.

"True, some changes were introduced, such as the public fund for support ofopposition parties in order to help them fulfil their parliamentary obligations. In thepre-electoral campaigns candidates are entitled to media time, postal services anduse of office free of charge", Vujovi} said.

BBIIGG DDOONNAATTIIOONNSS LLEEAADD TTOO CCOORRRRUUPPTTIIOONN

10Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 Po l i c y

2.7% of their budget to the parties", statesthe government's justification of the pro-posal.

With support of the FoundationOpen Society Institute, RepresentativeOffice in Montenegro (FOSI ROM) CEMIhas been working on a project of mon-itoring the financing of political partiesfor the last four years. In 2005, only ayear after the law proposed by this non-governmental organisation was adopted,it was suddenly changed in theParliament without notifying the public,favouring the parties which, at the timethe elections were announced, werealready in the parliament. Again onCEMI's initiative the Constitutional Courtdeclared non-constitutional the clausewhich allowed 20% of the budgetaryfinancing scheduled for campaigns to beallocated to parties already in theParliament, 10 to those who submit aconfirmed electoral list, and the remain-ing 70% to be divided on all partiesaccording to won number of seats. TheCouncil of Europe recommends amend-ments of the existing provisions "to elim-inate fixed subsidies" (currently 20% oftotal available funding) to the partieswith secured parliamentary status. Allfunds which are not allocated accordingto the number of seats should be divid-ed equally on all parties and other elect-ed entities. In that sense, the regulationwhich was in force before the lastamendment proved to be an attractivesolution, allocating 20% of funds equallyto all participants in the elections and80% according to the number of seats",explains Vujovi} for the European Pulse.It is, however, unclear which model offinancing will be adopted, as the govern-ment's proposal envisages 80:20% sys-

tem, whereas the accompanying ration-ale of the same document says that theallocation system will be 15% to 85% ofthe funds.

"The same solution can be found inthe regulations dealing with political partyfinances on the level of the EuropeanParliament, and similar provisions arefound in Slovenia (10% to 90%), Croatia(20% to 80%). The 15% to 95% solutionis based on the will of their voters, andallows the parties that win seats in theelections to "build" on their trust andlegitimacy", states the rationale.

Vujovi} believes that a better solu-tion would be to provide finances for theneeds of electoral campaigns from thestate budget (up to 0.2%), in order to

prevent the ruling parties from financiallyoverpowering the opposition. The currentlaw has up to 0.3% of the state budgetin the electoral year scheduled for thecampaign, while the proposal envisages0.15%. According to the proposal, thecosts of the electoral campaign can becovered with another 1% of the publicfunds, allocated according to the numberof seats won, provided that the partieshave already collected from privatesources twice the amount they are enti-tled to when they submit electoral lists.CEMI's proposal had 0.2% of the budgetfor the campaign and another 0.1% forthe related funds.

Under the pressure from CEMI andthe media, parties have published finan-cial reports for the campaign for the firsttime at the last presidential elections,although the current legislation obligesthem to do so after every elections sincefour years ago. The new proposal alsoobliges the bearer of the electoral list toreport on the expenses in the electoralcampaign, and to submit all documentsto the electoral commission within 45days from the day of the elections. Thesame deadline applies for the report onorigin, amount and structure of moneycollected from private sources. The finefor failing to comply with these regula-tions ranges between hundred and twohundred times the amount of minimalwage in Montenegro.

Monitoring of the implementation of the law on the financing of politicalparties should be done by an independent body, not by the Ministry of

Finance, as is currently envisaged by the government's proposal, says theMovement for Changes (Pokret za promjene, PzP). Director of PzP, Boris Mari}also proposes a change in the system of allocation of budgetary funds.According to the current proposal, 15% will be divided evenly and 85%according to the results of the elections.

"The ratio should be 30% to 70%. Such laws are in effect a support pro-gramme for small parties, and their interests ought to be taken into account",Mari} explains.

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Vujovi} claims that the Governmentrefused to accept CEMI's proposal to cre-

ate a special fund (0.1% of the budget) forthe work of the MPs and committee mem-bers, while the parties could still use their0.2%. This is the only clause of theGovernment's proposal so far which is clear-ly out of line with CoE recommendations andinternational standards.

"In most countries the MPs have theirown budget, independent of political parties.This makes them more independent", Vujovi}explains.

"There would be no dilemmas about theMPs leaving their parties - the party wouldlose nothing financially, and the MP couldfinance his or her work independently, hirean advisor, for instance. The point is toenhance the quality of MP's work".

SSTTOOPP TTOO TTHHEE SSPPEECCIIAALL BBUUDDGGEETT

Zlatko Vujovi}

phot

o VI

JEST

I

11Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F r om o t h e r med i a

The European Commission has areason to insist on the warnings

against the lack of effective eradicationand prosecution of corruption cases inMontenegro. The best illustration oftheir concerns is the very law on theprevention of conflict of interests, oneof the key anti-corruption laws.

After the existing law has beengenerally described as a "caricature",the Government of Montenegro hasadopted another draft, claiming thatthe new document incorporates rec-ommendations of the GRECO, aCouncil of Europe body for the fightagainst corruption.

Soon it turned out that the CoEexperts have visited Podgorica only aweek ago as guests of theCommission for the prevention of theconflict of interests, and offered theirrecommendations for improvement ofthe new law.

Once it has been adopted by theGovernment as a draft, this importantlaw will be passed on to theParliament, but the non-governmen-tal sector has already voiced reserva-tions about efficacy of the new doc-ument.

Brussels has emphasised GRECOrecommendations as the priority stepsin the fight against corruption, andthe Government promised theCouncil of Europe in its programme

for this and the last year to adoptanti-corruption legislation in line withthe GRECO demands.

In between the old and the newlaw on the conflict of interests, whichis about to reach the parliamentarydiscussion floor, there have beennumerous complaints about the mostprominent public officials turning intomillionaires through parallel privatebusinesses.

Law on the conflict of interests,public's most powerful weaponagainst the conflict of interest ought tohave worked to suppress and preventnepotism and concentration of powerin the hands of public officials. So far,it has been found wanting.

One obvious reason of its ineffi-

ciency is the fact that the same pub-lic officials who adopted it failed toincorporate any kind of sanction incase the law was broken. The newdraft contains some sanctions, e.g. aban on public employment for aduration of four years, which suggestscertain progress.

GRECO report for 2006 empha-sised that the interlocking of publicand private interests, politics andbusiness has grown into a seriousproblem, that it is the least controlledarea, very prone to corruption.

Towards the end of last year theGovernment decided to show theCouncil of Europe that it has under-stood the rules of the game andapplied itself to creating a new lawon the conflict of interests.

However, this law too the publicofficials forgot to define their ownstatus and renounce certain privileges.

The Commission for the preven-tion of the conflict of interest, how-ever, offers contradictory comments.

President of the CommissionSlobodan Lekovi} has recentlyannounced a new legal document tothe members of the legal committeeof the Parliament of Montenegro,promising harmonisation with GRECOrecommendations, but has recentlyrevised his statement.

In an interview for the EuropeanReporter, Lekovi] said that "the newlegal document is being harmonisedwith GRECO recommendations as wespeak, and the Government is alsoconsidering the amendments pro-

N E W D R A F T L A W O N T H E C O N F L I C T O F I N T E R E S T S A S T E P F O R W A R D , Y E TF A L L S S H O R T O F T H E E U R O P E A N S T A N D A R D S

Ipmft!jo!uif!ejlf!bhbjotu!dpssvqujpo

TToowwaarrddss tthhee eenndd ooff llaasstt yyeeaarr tthhee GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt ddeecciiddeedd ttoo sshhooww tthheeCCoouunncciill ooff EEuurrooppee tthhaatt iitt hhaass uunnddeerrssttoooodd tthhee rruulleess ooff tthhee ggaammee aannddaapppplliieedd iittsseellff ttoo ccrreeaattiinngg aa nneeww llaaww oonn tthhee ccoonnfflliicctt ooff iinntteerreessttss..UUnnffoorrttuunnaatteellyy,, tthhee ppuubblliicc ooffffiicciiaallss ffoorrggoott oonnccee aaggaaiinn ttoo ddeeffiinnee tthheeiirroowwnn ssttaattuuss aanndd rreennoouunnccee cceerrttaaiinn pprriivviilleeggeess

Building of the Government of Montenegro

12Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F r om o t h e r med i a

posed by the non-governmentalorganisation MANS".

"This work should soon be com-pleted. We are currently consideringsome solutions for the new lawoffered by MANS. On 11 July theCouncil of Europe experts visitedPodgorica and will submit their eval-uations soon", Lekovi} said.

The new law announces radicalmeasures against public officials whofail to declare all property, broadensCommission's prerogatives allowing itto check the trustworthiness of thereports, and threatens public officialswho fail to obey the law with dis-missal from their office, with a four-year ban on return to public admin-istration.

Vanja ]alovi}, executive directorof MANS warns against the lack ofprecise definition of a "public official".

"Given that we are currently inthe process of European integrations,which will inevitably result in theestablishment of new institutions,"public official" must be defined inaccordance with the EuropeanConvention on the Fight againstCorruption", she stated.

She believes it necessary to alsodefine conflict of interests for third

persons closely related to a publicofficial.

"Interest of such persons, which isnot, strictly speaking, personal interestof the official in question, can alsoinfluence his or her decision making",]alovi} warns.

Executive director of MANS hasfurther objections to the solutionsfound in the new draft law. Especiallyproblematic is the solution whichdoes not recognise membership of anofficial in working groups or commit-tees as "multiple work engagement",provided these bodies are establishedby the government.

"This clause ought to be changed:

the government can form variousworking groups and commissions withexecutive power and other publicprerogatives. Membership in suchbodies should therefore be consid-ered a public office. Also, althoughthe law forbids public officials bepresidents, members of the boards ofdirectors or managers in businessorganisations, this ban should beextended to the position of an autho-rised representative, since his or herbackground as public official and therelated mandate may influence thedecision-making process", ]alovi}said.

On the 1 July 2008 website ofthe Commission for the prevention ofthe conflict of interests has informa-tion on 1882 public officials inMontenegro, 750 on the state leveland 1 132 on the level of municipal-ities. MANS recommends more rigor-ous obligations for public officialsregarding reports on their income andproperty, both in terms of the fulfil-ment of this requirement and in termsof veracity of the reports.

"Every public official ought to berequired to enter correct informationin the Report on income and prop-erty, and be held liable, materiallyand legally, for their truthfulness",]alovi} said.

According to the draft law on theprevention of the conflict of interests,Commission for investigation of theconflict of interest would consist ofrepresentatives of political parties.

MANS suggested to balance theinfluence of political parties whoappoint a majority of members tothese commissions by nominating thepresident from the opposition.

"This would provide for greaterpolitical control of the government.The Commission could also involvemembers from different institutions orfrom the civil society. This wouldresult in a non-party Commissionmade up of experts", ]alovi} explains.

DDrraaggaannaa BBAABBOOVVII]]

GRECO recommendations for Montenegro envisage a separate clause to beincorporated in the national legislation barring transfer of wages to the

public officials until they submit a report on property. Commission for the investigation of the conflict of interests ought to have

adequate immunity and to be professionalised. The same document adds that the Commission "should have the ability to

check property declarations, investigate and diminish the value of gifts andsupervise the terms of departure of a public official into the private sector orretirement.

GRECO insists on a precise definition of the "public official" and "publicoffice", noting that the current regulations allow public officials to hold officesin various committees of business organisations where the state is a majorityowner, and stipulate no limitations on their engagement once they cease to bepart of the civil service.

The gist of the document is - solve the conflict between public and pri-vate interest, fight the political influence in business transactions, prevent abuseof the public offices and prioritisation of private over public interest. Those arethe conditions that Montenegro ought to fulfil, on paper and in fact before itis allowed to knock on the European door.

WWHHAATT DDIIDD GGRREECCOO WWAANNTT??

Slobodan Lekovi}

phot

o VI

JEST

I

13Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 Eur op ean ba r ome t e r i n Mon t en eg r o

Seerrggeeii PPoolloonnsskkii's Mirax Group hangshiny lampions on Zavala's crane.

Russian constructors covered theiremerging skyscrapers with finely wovenfabric as if the boss of their PR servicewere a fan of the Bulgarian sculptorand conceptualist CChhrriissttoo, the one whowrapped Reichstag in a big plastic bag.

Polonski, who earned his firstdaily bread by building apartments forroubles and sold them for dollars(alchemy of the Russian transition),gave Montenegrin water polo presen-tation a present of 150 000 euros.

A month ago the silence aroundSaint Nicholas was shredded by fat-tened motor boats with sheiks at thehelms. Mirax's motto "impossiblebecomes possible" once again, likemirage from Pelevin's "Generation P".Cruel lack of innovation, powerfulreduction of style which is anyhowredundant when you have a messianicrole and a wallet to go with it.

The chief mystic among the localpartners, SSvveettoozzaarr MMaarroovvii}} proudlyannounces Madonna's concert forSeptember. MMaaddoonnnnaa, the crafty oldsympathiser of DPS will have nothingagainst somebody's spreading a partyflag at her concert like they did at thecelebrations of the triumphant waterpolo team in Podgorica.

And a comment by the sportsjournalist NNeebboojj{{aa [[ooffrraannaacc: "note theLatin American atmosphere, everybodygoing wild around the famous foun-tain". There, the past month hasalready left us with the insight that ourfreshly mortared fountain has alreadybecome famous. Everything in thiscapital city must be "extra", "awesome","wicked"... Total invasion of tycoonmoney sweeps along the emergingurban slang.

The said fountain could now beused by the no less famous mayorMMuuggoo{{aa as one of the five swimmingpools he promised as a gif to the cap-

ital city...An ocean of money is haunt-ing Montenegro, new times broughtnew symbols and a general rush afterthe spoils, in case you happen tooccupy an important party office. Nottwo, not three or four plus one, butfive swimming pools!

Marovi}, who already once triedto use a peace award to wash away hiswarmongering past is now usingMadona's concert to lift himself out of

the mire of those days when the side-walks of Budva swarmed with thesqueaky tribe of turbo-folk stars. We'rewashing up.

Representatives of theMontenegro's football team have theirabs decorated with a curled-up dove,the logo of a new bank on the nation-al jersey. It is not a coincidence thatthe advertisements for the First Bank ofMontenegro invariably remind us thatthe bank has been founded "in 1901".

Money can also buy continuity, a placein history and a family line. Marketingwins. Football rules! - nobody willcease to root for the national teambecause of their sponsors - "the ball isround", "everything is relative", "pantarei", "if you can't win, join them" etc,etc, down to the deepest wells of folkwisdom, ever ready to bless and washaway the crime with a carouser'sdithyramb.

We can follow these rhymes allthe way to the empty opposition'sbenches, mostly wrapped in mourningclothes for Kosovo. To make the trou-ble infinite and despair deeper, thestrongest opposition group is highlyattuned to the essential social problemsand with the speed of a hawk launch-es onto the problems of one neigh-bouring country. Kosovo tirades of theSerbian List are the best way to killevery last speck of will to the better lifewhich is anyhow being drained fromour pockets by the long-fingered god-fathers. Just wait until the hot season isover to watch MMaannddii}} AAnnddrriijjaa head apopular uprising. He has China, Indiaand Russia are all behind him, exceptfor the Mirax Group, perfectly indiffer-ent to the treachery of the currentregime.

With this balance of power

between the government and theopposition, with such complementarystrategies, it is no wonder that moreand more people are reconcilingthemselves with the fate of living in adirty, messy and conceited sphere ofinterests none of which are of anybenefit to the "ordinary citizen".Supposedly this is all very obviouswhen seen from Brussels, which isturning the old record about corruptionand the lack of administrative capaci-

by Brano Mandi}

MMaaddoonnnnaa,, tthhee ccrraaffttyy oolldd ssyymmppaatthhiisseerr ooff DDPPSS wwiillll hhaavvee nnootthhiinnggaaggaaiinnsstt ssoommeebbooddyy''ss sspprreeaaddiinngg aa ppaarrttyy ffllaagg aatt hheerr ccoonncceerrtt lliikkee tthheeyyddiidd aatt tthhee cceelleebbrraattiioonnss ooff tthhee ttrriiuummpphhaanntt wwaatteerr ppoolloo tteeaamm iinnPPooddggoorriiccaa

Xifo!npofz!ubmlt!qbsujft!tubz!tjmfou

14Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 Eur op ean ba r ome t e r i n Mon t en eg r o

ties. Surprisingly enough, the EuropeanUnion missed out on the laudable sur-plus of capable capacities Montenegro.Two major capacities, MMiillii}} andMMeeddoojjeevvii}} are competing for the placeat the helm of the National Council forIntegrations, making that institutionlook ridiculous even before it has beenproperly founded. And while they fightthe DPS scribes are sharpening theirpens and throwing jokes as if theywere watching a cockfight. With anoccasional legalistic intervention by thePresident of the Parliament, freshlyrevived from a rooting trance. Nobodyis a greater historical figure thanKKrriivvookkaappii}}. He is aware of his majesticcontribution to the restoration of inde-pendence. He knew our water poloteam would win. He knows that theParliament ought to be moved toCetinje. He holds his hand over hisheart while the anthem is playing andis probably secretly writing somethingfor leather binding, some memoireswith a tinge of travels...

He already "speaks up from thedarkness of archives" to quote D.K.

Few would believe that politiciansare the one who wield the real power,so the voter unerringly opts for theparty with the highest concentration ofmoney from the beginning of this arti-

cle. Political parties in power are sim-ply service shops whose job is to trimthe large domestic and foreign capitalto fit national legislation, or to allow itto flow bypassing procedures and writ-ten regulations, with a good sense ofhusbandry and benefits for the nation.Which is why the parties do not recruitgreat creative minds: they are redun-dant. All they need are good bankers,extorters, occasionally good speakers,

but never people capable of develop-ing and improving the system ofminority terror. The languor and soc-realism of the many municipal com-mittees whose meetings I was privi-leged to attend, where the real actionstarts with the point "other" of theagenda around the topic of employingsomebody's cousin or a nephew - allthat is absolutely necessary in order togrease the machine with corruptionand minor swindles without which thebigger ones could not be swallowed.

This is, then, the country and thestanding pattern of dividing politicalpower and decision-making. EnterSergej Polonski, member of the smallcabinet of VVllaaddiimmiirr PPuuttiinn. Which is alsoeasy to see from Brussels. Over a cap-puccino, they will tell you off therecord that Montenegro has alreadybecome a Russian province and hastied its destiny dangerously close to thefuture of Russia-EU relations.

Which is where the things becomecomplicated and simple. The "Westernfactor" is not naive and is twisting with]ukanovi}, especially the recogniseddemocratic elite such as Berlusconi orSolana. We also have the media to tellus that Montenegro is the central point,the geostrategic gem to be sold to theNATO for a high price so that the poor,troubled people can eat three meals aday, times seven days.

This summer's idyllic picture ofprogress has been slightly spoiled byempty beaches and the absence oftourists willing to spend their holidaysunder the lampioned cranes, to thetune of concrete mixers or at the deltawhere sewers meet the beach of[u{anj. It's not like this pearl of tourismfailed, we are simply waiting for theelite guests, say those who charge you2 euros for an easy chair and a para-

sol. Not a bad strategy to get rid ofSerbs and Kosovars, but what with thefalling numbers of Russians?

The coastal flock has been sointoxicated with the ideological glorifi-cation of Montenegro as the mostbeautiful country on Earth that they allrushed on to get loans and erect apart-ments which are now sitting empty inmid-July. Awaiting implementation.

The author is a journalist of thedaily newspaper "Vijesti"

SSuurrpprriissiinnggllyy eennoouugghh,, tthhee EEuurrooppeeaann UUnniioonn mmiisssseedd oouutt oonn tthhee llaauudd-aabbllee ssuurrpplluuss ooff ccaappaabbllee ccaappaacciittiieess MMoonntteenneeggrroo.. TTwwoo mmaajjoorr ccaappaacc-iittiieess,, MMiillii}} aanndd MMeeddoojjeevvii}} aarree ccoommppeettiinngg ffoorr tthhee ppllaaccee aatt tthhee hheellmmooff tthhee NNaattiioonnaall CCoouunncciill ffoorr IInntteeggrraattiioonnss,, mmaakkiinngg tthhaatt iinnssttiittuuttiioonnllooookk rriiddiiccuulloouuss eevveenn bbeeffoorree iitt hhaass bbeeeenn pprrooppeerrllyy ffoouunnddeedd.. AAnnddwwhhiillee tthheeyy ffiigghhtt tthhee DDPPSS ssccrriibbeess aarree sshhaarrppeenniinngg tthheeiirr ppeennss aannddtthhrroowwiinngg jjookkeess aass iiff tthheeyy wweerree wwaattcchhiinngg aa ccoocckkffiigghhtt

15Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F r om my p o in t o f v i ew

In the geopoliti-cal sense, everyterritory in theworld was in itsown time a sce-ne of integrative

and disintegrative fluctuations. The USAwere created in 1776 by a declarationof 13 British colonies fighting their wayto freedom and independence fromthe British crown. Germany as weknow it today was forged over thecenturies through multiple integrativeprocesses that brought us three Reichs,the last being the most notorious onein the human history. There is also ahost of countries on the same continentthat saw their territory disintegrateunder the burden of political and his-torical circumstances - USSR, Czecho-slovakia, SFRY and many others.

Throughout its history, Montenegrohas often been integrated into differentpolitical associations, by its own or oth-ers' will and decision and participatedin their disintegration until the final def-inition of its statehood status at the May2006 referendum. After a long period

of political upheavals and undefinedstatus, our country has now entirelyturned to Europe and sealed its decisionwith an official document. On the 8June 2005 session the Parliament of

Montenegro adopted Declaration onthe association of Montenegro to EU,taking on and delegating to its citizensthe commitment of serious reformslegal, economic, social and all otherterms.

The roadwork has been laid. It hasbeen a little more than three yearssince, and a lot has been done.Montenegrin citizens are inevitably apart of this process, me as everyoneelse. It is up to me to embark on thistrain to Europe (as in the song with theidealised "train to happiness") becausethis is the only way. Or is it?

There is, of course. This is the roadproposed by the Eurosceptics. I haveseen and heard very few such people

where I live and I know little abouttheir arguments. I read opinions of theEurosceptics from France, UK andNorway. Their arguments are essentiallybased on their national performance -

political, geographical, economic, his-torical etc. And most of their argumentsstand. The French are afraid of theimmigrants, Brits defend their currencyand emphasise their identity and histor-

ical role, and the Norwegians guardtheir natural gas reserves and themarine wealth of their coastal fishingbelt. As the folk wisdom goes: "Theycan afford it!". Which is how we cometo the question: can Montenegro andits citizens afford it? Are we content andself-sufficient on our 14 000 km2 with685 000 people?

Thinking rationally, it is enough tomake a simple cost-benefit analysis toget the right answer. The limits of thiscolumn prevent me from doing it hereand now, but such studies already existand those interested can consult theirfindings. For this occasion, I preferred todraw a few lessons from the greatminds and great achievements of social

and natural sciences.In physics, a close system is the

one which does not exchange mass,energy or heat with its environment, i.e.does not exchange anything.

In economics, closed systemproved to be unsuccessful and unsus-tainable in the longer run. One greatclassical economist David Ricardo(1772-1823) developed a theory ofcomparative advantages to show howan open system of trade is better thana closed one for all actors involved.

Psychology, biology and anthropo-logy provide us with convincing evi-

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W H Y D O I W A N T T O B E A C I T I Z E N O F E U R O P E ?

by Marko Ota{evi}

////////

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16Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 F r om my p o in t o f v i ew

dence that a man cannot function inisolation. Since a society also functionson the same premises as a living organ-ism, most regularities can be gener-alised from the level of the individual tothe meso level (state) and the macro,i.e. the level of integration with the rel-evant international subjects.

Without wanting to deny that por-tion of the citizens who are against inte-gration into EU, I will offer a few morearguments to support my positive atti-tude towards this question. I have first-hand experience to confirm that as anation at the moment we cannot boastenviable achievements in the most basiccivilisational values, by which I meannorms of behaviour, a whole range ofcultural functions, tolerance towards theother and the different, respect for thebasic principles of democracy, develop-ment of the culture of dialogue, respectfor human rights etc.

In the domain of these few seg-ments of the social life, at this moment,we are still far from the main currentsof civilisation. Opponents of such

understanding will quickly launch backthe objection that there are many morewho are worse than us or immediatelydirect my attention to the Middle East.I agree that there and in a few moreplaces on this Earth the situation isincomparably worse, but as I alwayswish better life for myself so I wish thecommunity where I live to be better off.

The next question is the oft-men-tioned Montenegrin mentality. Can webe improved? Can this mentality bemodified for the better? It can, ofcourse, it can. All we need is a mini-mum effort in this direction by everyindividual in Montenegro.

A few days ago I witnessed apotential method of "re-education" ofmentality. The event took place in asuburb of Cetinje. A young man left aplastic bag filled with garbage a few

meters from the container, out of lazi-ness (read: unformed ecological aware-ness and the lack of basic manners) andknowing that no sanction will follow. Alady who also witnessed the eventshortly commented: "If someone couldbeat you up or fine you for this, youwould never think of doing it again!".The rest of her comment I will keep formyself, as it does not fit the place. Theepilogue of this short illustration is that

the mentality can be channelled in thedesired direction, first through educa-tion and in the final instance throughpunishment.

Now I need to ask the questionthat has been bothering me for a whileand is closely related to this story:"What on Earth does this lady when shefinds herself in the shoes of this tres-passer, and what if nobody sees herthen???"

I believe another handful of valueswould slowly find fertile ground inMontenegro after integration into EU:modesty and dignity. The example ofour golden water polo players fromMalaga led by Petar Porobi}, a maneverybody should learn from, is enoughto support my hopes. Their self-assuredexpedition made it clear to me thatMontenegro can, not only in sports but

also in politics, economics, socialengagement and cultural heritage, sur-vive and prevail as a small but impor-tant and proud part of the grand fami-ly of European nations. The final ava-lanche of counter-arguments to myproactive attitude to Europe concernsthe very survival of EU. What if, in themeantime, the EU collapses from itsinternal institutional problems? Whatwill be the consequences for our coun-try? Montenegro will remain standingwhere it always stood and continue itsown way, whatever it be. We will try tomake it the best possible.

I finish this short overview, withoutpretending to offer definite truths, witha final question: Can we climb thethrone of our own abilities? Instead ofan answer, let me remind you - wehave already climbed the sports throneof Europe on the wings of hard work,quality, real human and civilisationalvalues in the heart of an important cogof the community we are striving for -Spain! Why couldn't we also do it inthe matter of vital life goals, using ourbest abilities as the crown of develop-ment and progress. Because of all this Iwant to be a citizen of Europe. And willbe, very soon!!! The first step towardsthis goal is the fact that I feel like one,since a very long time now.

The author is a student and teach-ing assistant at the graduate programmeof the Faculty of Economics inPodgorica. He completed VI generationof the European Integrations School

WWee hhaavvee aallrreeaaddyy cclliimmbbeedd tthhee ssppoorrttss tthhrroonnee ooff EEuurrooppee oonn tthhee wwiinnggssooff hhaarrdd wwoorrkk,, qquuaalliittyy,, rreeaall hhuummaann aanndd cciivviilliissaattiioonnaall vvaalluueess iinn tthheehheeaarrtt ooff aann iimmppoorrttaanntt ccoogg ooff tthhee ccoommmmuunniittyy wwee aarree ssttrriivviinngg ffoorr -SSppaaiinn!! WWhhyy ccoouullddnn''tt wwee aallssoo ddoo iitt iinn tthhee mmaatttteerr ooff vviittaall lliiffee ggooaallss,,uussiinngg oouurr bbeesstt aabbiilliittiieess aass tthhee ccrroowwnn ooff ddeevveellooppmmeenntt aanndd pprrooggrreessss

Malaga

17Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 O f f t h e w i r e

If a colleague gives another compli-ments for the behind he or she can

be sued and fined for 5 000 euros forharassment.

These are the new regulations inCroatia which are meant to protectgender equality.

Since 15 July 2008, it is forbiddento ask women whether they are plan-ning to have children, they must bepaid the same as the men for the samejob, there will have to be at least 40%of women in the Parliament and chil-dren will not have to study from text-books full of stereotypes, like thosewith pictures of a "mom" making lunch

with a her hair in curlers.From early 2009 onwards, nobody

will be allowed to call you fat or ugly."It is always traumatic to live again

through what you already experiencedbefore - and our courts are really ter-ribly slow and insensitive to suchbehaviours", says Ru`ica Ki{ur ^rlenec,secretary of the "Mobbing" association.

Ru`ica is speaking from first-handexperience: her boss fired her becauseshe was pregnant and, as he said,"dragged herself around like a deadcat". She brought up charges againsthim in a process which, she said "lastssince 2003".

Albanian PM Sali Berisha threatenedthe MP of the opposition Socialist

Party of Albania Taulant Bala to kill him,reports daily Tema.

During the discussion on the rebal-ance of the budget, Bala proddedBerisha with sharp and inappropriatereplicas, to which Berisha responded inkind, remembering also the mother ofthe said MP.

Berisha even threatened to have a

physical fight with the socialist Bala, say-ing that "he will kill" Bala, and that he"will not came back to the Parliament inone piece".

Bala was suspended from participa-tion in the Parliament's sessions for 15das because of the conflict with Berisha.

In spite the rude language he usedwhich is inappropriate for a prime min-ister, there will be no consequences forBerisha, says the daily.

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Schoolchildren in Europe will soon start get-ting free servings of fruit and vegetables at

school in order to decrease obesity in children. 22 million children in 27 EU members

are considered obese, and 5 million over-obese.

According to European Commissionproposal to be discussed by the Council ofEU and European Parliament, fresh fruit andvegetables worth 90 million euros will bepaid for from the EU budget, with memberstates contributing another 90 million.

"Children should acquire the right habits,in order to use them later on in life", said theEU Commissionaire for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Mariann Fischer Boel.

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Excise tax on cigarettes will be raised inorder to correct for inflation, guarantee

equality among EU members and convincemore EU citizens to stop smoking. The pro-posal which is yet to be discussed by theCouncil of EU reflects the current trends:between 2002 and 2006 excise tax was raisedby 33%, while cigarette consumption in theEU decreased by 10%.

"We believe a further rise in excise taxeswill lead to a similar decrease in consumptionin the next five years", said the Commission.

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Lithuanian parliament supported the propos-al to hold a non-binding referendum on the

continuation of work in the nuclear reactor"Ignalina" which dates from the Soviet era, inspite of the promise it gave to EU to closedown the plant by 2009.

The first reactor of the nuclear powerplant "Ignalina", which is of the same type asthe Ukranian "Chernobyl" which blew up in1986, was shut down in 2004. The remainingreactor of this Lithuanian plant should beclosed down by the end of next year, accord-ing to an agreement made during this country's

negotiations for EU accession.

Most EU citizens would prefer theirleader to be gay than to be "too

old". According to the public opinion

poll conducted by Eurobarometer on asample of 27 000 EU citizens, only

17% of the respondents would be per-fectly fine with a leader aged 75 andmore. 36% of the respondents wouldrather have a president who is homo-sexual or belongs to a minority or adifferent religious group (20 and 36%).

Although they are suspicioustowards old people, EU citizens are notthrilled with youngsters either: only aquarter of the respondents said theywould have no problem with a leaderyounger than 30.

Among the current leaders in theEU, older than 75 are only presidentsKarolos Papoulias (79, Greece), ValdasAdamkus (81, Latvia) and Giorgio Na-politano (83, Italy), whereas no primeminister is older than 75.

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18Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 R e s e a r ch e s

Montenegrin citizens lack ade-quate information about the

NATO council and the process ofMontenegro's accession to thisalliance, finds the public opinion pollconducted by the PR Centre onbehalf of the Centre for Monitoring(CEMI) via telephone questionnaireon a sample of 1020 citizens.

According to this poll, a slightmajority of 51 believes that NATOmembership would bring some ben-efits to Montenegro.

45% of the citizens agrees orpartly agrees with the statement thatMontenegro should strive towards fullmembership in the NATO, while 31%disagrees or partly disagrees. A large23% minority has no opinion on thisissue.

As regards trust in the NATOcouncil, the public is almost evenlysplit into those who trust or partlytrust the alliance (36%) and thosewho mistrust it to some degree (35%).

Asked about the reasons againstjoining the NATO, 48% of therespondents listed 1999 NATObombings of FR Yugoslavia, followedby the fear of political influence from

USA (36%) and the current status ofKosovo (18%). A further 13% believethat NATO membership can lead todeterioration in security, whereasanother 13% fears the costs of themembership for Montenegro.

With regard to the process ofassociation with European Union, thesituation is much clearer. The processis recognised as a positive develop-ment by 73% of the citizens whocompletely agree with the statementthat Montenegro should strivetowards full membership in theUnion. Only 5% is partly or com-pletely against and only 8% does nothave an opinion.

The advent of armed conflict inMontenegro is judged as impossibleor nearly impossible by most respon-dents - 83%, while 68% believe thatin the case of such conflictMontenegro will not be able to inde-pendently defend its territory.

Most citizens (80%) believe that athreat of terrorism in Montenegro isnegligible or close to zero.

According to the poll, only 4% ofthe citizens consider themselves verywell informed about the NATOalliance. A further 46% believes tohave sufficient information about thealliance, against 37% who believethemselves to be insufficiently (37%)or very badly (13%) informed aboutthis topic.

In the course of the poll 37% ofthe respondents could not recallcountries in the region which areamong the NATO members, 44%could list Slovenia, and 21% Bulgaria.Only 16% knew that Romania is alsoa NATO member, and the samenumber listed Croatia (not yet amember).

Asked about the institutionsresponsible for disseminating informa-tion about this important topic, mostrespondents chose the Government(46%) with the Ministry of Defence(15%), while 30% believes that themedia should do the job. Accordingto the citizens' perception, currentlythe Government is most active intalking about Montenegro's accessionto NATO (57%), followed by thepolitical parties (21%), whereas 10%of the respondents see this topic dis-cussed in the media.

A large majority (57%) of the cit-izens is dissatisfied with the level ofinformation they receive about thework of the Defence Ministry.

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C E N T R E F O R M O N I T O R I N G ( C E M I ) P U B L I C O P I N I O N P O L L S H O W S A B L U R R YP I C T U R E O F E U R O - AA T L A N T I C I N T E G R A T I O N S I N T H E H E A D S O F T H E C I T I Z E N S

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Montenegro should strive towards full membership in the European Union

19Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 R e s e a r ch e s

According to the latest publicopinion poll conducted by

Centre for Democracy (CEDEM)this June, 70.8% of theMontenegrin citizens supportsMontenegro's membership in theEuropean Union.

Compared to earlier polls byCEDEM, the extent of support islower, and indeed measures a

slight decline, in spite of being highoverall. In August 2006 76.5% ofthe respondents supported theEuropean orientation of

Montenegro, whereas in June lastyear the number stood at therecord 78.3%, only to decline to72 to 73% in the later polls.

At the same time, the numberof recorded Eurosceptics is on therise: from 5% two years ago to 9%in the last two polls, whereas in thismost recent research 12.1% of thecitizens declared themselves againstMontenegro's membership in theEU. In the June 2008 poll 17.1% ofthe respondents did not have aspecific opinion about Monte-negro's membership in the EU,which is comparable to the resultsof earlier reports by CEDEM.

Similarly, most Montenegrincitizens believe that the EuropeanUnion should be the primaryanchor of Montenegro's foreignpolicy.

According to the CEDEM'spoll, Montenegrin citizens wouldvote against membership in theNATO this June if they had achance to declare their opinion ina referendum. A convincing 46.7%of respondents were against mem-bership in the North AtlanticTreaty Organisation, against 26.3%of those in favour, with 27%undecided.

CEDEM's research thus indi-cates a definite decline in NATO'spopularity. Two years ago, only31.4% claimed they would voteagainst NATO, but their percentagegrew steadily to 40.7 and then44.2% since.

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A C C O R D I N G T O A C E D E M P O L L , M O S T O F T H E C I T I Z E N S S T I L L S U P P O R TM E M B E R S H I P I N T H E E U , B U T

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20Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 EU cha l l eng e s

The 13 July 2008 Summitin Paris which gathered

together heads of states andgovernments of 43 countriesfrom European Union andMediterranean was theplace of birth of another,new Union: Union for theMediterranean.

The goal of this Union,whose conceptual father isno other than the Frenchpresident NNiiccoollaass SSaarrkkoozzyy,whose country currentlypresides over the EU, is to build onthe EU's "Barcelona Process" indeveloping relations with the states ofthe Mediterranean.

"Barcelona Process" was toenhance political, economic and cul-tural cooperation, support for political

and economic reforms in the regionand to facilitate formation of aMediterranean free trade area by2010. The project was, however,stalled by the unyielding conflictbetween Israel and Palestine.Authoritarian governments of theMediterranean South also showed lit-tle interest for political and economicreforms and rather avoided closercooperation, although the EU alreadyinvested more than 16 billion euros inthe Mediterranean countries under"Barcelona Process".

In addition to cooperation in

concrete projects aimed at politicaland economic reforms inMediterranean countries, the newUnion should also offer active assis-tance in establishing peace in theMiddle East and in the entireMediterranean region. For Sarkozy

and MMuubbaarraakk, president of Egypt, whoco-presided the Paris Summit, peaceis of vital importance for economicand social development of the region.

Union for the Mediterranean

involves 27 EU member states, 12Mediterranean states of the "BarcelonaProcess" and four Balkan countrieswith access to the Mediterranean,among them Montenegro.

The Union had a rather bumpy

start. The initial idea of theFrench president wentthrough a series of modifi-cations in order to ensuresupport of important part-ners from EU. In thebeginning, the plannedMediterranean Union wasto include 12Mediterranean countriesheaded by France, andwith a separate institution-al framework. The firstproblems arose with regard

to finances: Sarkozy expected all EUmember states to contribute to thefunds, without allowing for their par-ticipation in the work of the Union.This approach caused protests inother EU members, first of all inGermany, which is the biggest donorto the Mediterranean countriesthough the "Barcelona Process".German federal chancellor AAnnggeellaaMMeerrkkeell warned Sarkozy that hercountry will not be a passive observ-er of the Mediterranean events for thesimple reason that it has no access tothe Mediterranean.

For Merkel, the original Frenchidea of the Mediterranean Union wasa project that could easily cause divi-sions within the EU if such a union ofthe Mediterranean region, togetherwith the former French colonies in

North Africa, could offer Europeanfunds without participation from other,non-Mediterranean European coun-tries such as Germany. German chan-cellor warned that a separate involve-ment of some EU countries with EU

B E G I N N I N G S O F T H E " U N I O N F O R M E D I T E R R A N E A N " A N D T H E P O T E N T I A LT H R E A T F O R E U R O P E A N U N I O N

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Mediteranska unija

21Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 EU cha l l eng e s

accession funds could cause "corrosionin the very heart of EU". Similarly,Merkel said that the problems ofimmigration from the Mediterraneancountries, energy deficit, terrorism andenvironmental protection are com-mon to all EU countries, and not amonopoly of France. It is therefore inthe interest of these EU states to beactively involved with the new projectof cooperation in the Mediterranean.

In spite of the extant failure ofthe "Barcelona Process", EU still con-siders it a basis for its Mediterraneanpolicy. Some analysts were thereforeconcerned that a MediterraneanUnion as proposed by Sarkozy could

double institutions and weaken theexisting EU mechanisms towards thesestates in the matters of trade policy,immigration, politics, judiciary andhome affairs. Sarkozy, who believesthat the "Barcelona Process" failed toproduce palpable results, proposedMediterranean Union as a complete-

ly separate actor, independent of EU,and capable of solving its problemsthrough its own institutions andmechanisms. However, critics of hisidea believe it to be a rather senselessand irrational solution and as suchunacceptable to EU members.

Under the pressure of critics,Sarkozy accepted to correct his initialplan. The official title of the project isnow "Barcelona process: Union forthe Mediterranean", and all 27 EUcountries can become members ofthis club, regardless of whether theyhave access to the Mediterranean seaor not. It was decided that the finan-cial support for the Union for the

Mediterranean will come from theremaining funds of the Barcelonaprocess. For the time being there areno other funds planned for this proj-ect. Additional finances for the Unionwill come from cooperation with pri-vate enterprises, through bilateralcooperation etc. EU estimates to have

invested 16 billion euros in the"Barcelona Process" from 1995 to2007, and is planning another 9 bil-lion for the next six years.

Turkey has expressed muchconcern over the creation of theUnion, fearing that the Mediter-ranean Union might be forced uponTurkey as an alternative to its mem-bership in the EU.

France, for its part, is one of thestrongest opponents of Turkey's mem-bership in the EU. Sarkozy alreadyproposed to arrange the relationsbetween EU and Turkey through amodel of privileged partnership, andgot Germany's support for the pro-posal. Right ahead of the summitTurkey was uncertain about its ownmembership, but decided to join nev-ertheless, after the initialMediterranean Union was substantial-ly weakened and diluted into Unionfor Mediterranean, and France gave aguarantee to Turkey not to block itsnegotiations with EU and that theMediterranean Union is no substitutefor the European Union.

Sarkozy's initial proposal was alsosharply criticised from inside thecountry. A renowned political analystfrom Paris SSyyllvviiee GGoouullaarrdd says thatSarkozy's concept of a community ofMediterranean states will prove to beinefficient, as it was not made to servethe interest of those it should serve -citizens of these countries. "Thebiggest problem is that the countriesof this region have no communicationamong themselves. Morocco, Algeria,Tunisia ... the difference from themiddle of the last century is that thesecountries do not share the same val-ues any more. It is an illusion tobelieve that cooperation betweentheir governments could modernisethese societies. We should ratherinvest in building civil societies inthese countries, and approach ourtask with confidence, instead of arro-gance!"

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According to the Joint Declaration, "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterra-nean" is a multilateral partnership whose goal is to strengthen the potential for

regional integration and closer links between countries of the Mediterranean region.Sarkozy announced that the cooperation will be taking place in six sectors:

cleansing of the Mediterranean sea basin with the ambitious goal to make it the"cleanest sea in the world", fixing maritime routes so that as little as possible ofhazardous materials will be transported by roads, protection from natural disas-ters, planning and construction of solar energy plants, creation of a Euro-Mediterranean University and support for development of a regional economy.

After the example of the European Union, the Union for Mediterraneanwill also have a six month rotating presidency, with system of co-presiding,with one president from EU and one from the Mediterranean countries. Theleaders of the countries will be meeting every two years, and these summitswill serve as forums for adopting political declarations and selecting regionalprojects to be initiated in the next period. Foreign Affairs ministers should meetonce a year to monitor the implementation of the conclusions of these sum-mits. The Union will also have a Secretariat and a permanent joint committeewith a seat in Brussels. For the first half of the existence of Union forMediterranean, its presiding countries will be France and Egypt. Technical issuessurrounding the work of the Union and the seat of its Secretariat will be decid-ed at the next summit in November.

FFAASSHHIIOONNEEDD IINN EEUU''SS IIMMAAGGEE

22Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 G e t t i ng a c qua in t e d w i t h Eur op ean Un i on

People within the EU institutionsand in the media dealing with EU

affairs often use 'eurojargon' wordsand expressions that they aloneunderstand. Eurojargon can be veryconfusing to the general public, whichis the reason we decided to introducethose terms for the benefit of thosewho are new yet entirely comfortablewith the field of EU integrations.

SScchheennggeenn llaanndd ((tthhee SScchheennggeennaarreeaa,, tthhee SScchheennggeenn ccoouunnttrriieess)):: In1985, five EU countries (France,Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg andthe Netherlands) signed the agree-ment to abolish all checks on peopletravelling between them. This createda territory without internal borderswhich became known as theSchengen area. (Schengen is the townin Luxembourg where the agreementwas signed). The agreement has atwofold objective - enhance internalsecurity of the member states andestablish effective controls at its exter-nal borders, and facilitate mobility ofpeople and goods within EU andbetween EU and third countries.

Step by step, the Schengen areahas been extended to include almostevery EU country plus Iceland andNorway, and the agreement hasbecome an integral part of the EUtreaties. However, Ireland and theUnited Kingdom, as well as Malta,Bulgaria and Romania do not takepart in the arrangements relating toborder controls and visas. You do notneed a visa for travelling within theSchengen area if you are a citizen ofone of the Schengen countries. If youhave a visa for entering any Schengencountry it automatically allows you totravel freely throughout the Schengenarea.

SSoocciiaall ddiiaalloogguuee:: This means dis-cussion, negotiation and joint actionbetween the European social partners

(see below) and discussions betweenthese social partners and the EU insti-tutions.

SSoocciiaall ppaarrttnneerrss:: This is jargon forthe two sides of industry - i.e.employers and workers. At EU levelthey are represented by three mainorganisations:

The European Trade UnionConfederation (ETUC), representingworkers;- The Union of Industries of the

European Community (UNICE),representing private sector employ-ers;

- The European Centre for PublicEnterprise (CEEP), representingpublic sector employers.

- The European Commission consultsthem when drawing up proposalsfor social and employment legisla-tion.

SSttaakkeehhoollddeerr:: Any person ororganisation with an interest in oraffected by EU legislation and policy-making is a 'stakeholder' in thatprocess. The European Commissionmakes a point of consulting as wide arange of stakeholders as possiblebefore proposing new legislation ornew policy initiatives.

A G U I D E T O W O R D S A N D E X P R E S S I O N SF R E Q U E N T L Y U S E D B Y T H E P E O P L E W H O A R EP R O F E S S I O N A L L Y D E A L I N G W I T H E U I N T E G R A T I O N

NON - GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS IN EUROPEAN UNION

WWIIDDEE -- WWOOMMEENNIINN DDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTT

EEUURROOPPEE

WIDE is a pan-European network ofwomen's organisations, development

NGOs, gender specialists and women's rightsactivists.

WIDE strives for a world based on gen-der equality and social justice that ensuresequal rights for all, as well as equal access toresources and opportunities in all spheres ofpolitical, social and economic life. Through itsactivities WIDE seeks to hald the persistentlyincreasing trend of the feminisation of pover-ty in the South, East and North and to safe-guard women's human rights globally.

Its mission is to articulate the relevanceof the principles of gender equality and equi-ty to the development process throughresearch, documentation, information dissem-ination, economic empowerment, capacitybuilding and advocacy, networking, and theorganisation of conferences and seminars.

WIDE is strengthening strategic alliancebuilding between women's organisations inand outside the EU, enhancing women'scapacities and political assertiveness to influ-ence policy changes decision making. WIDEis taking advantage of existing spaces/plat-forms such as World Social Forum (WSF) andEuropean Feminist Forum (EFF) to promote itsagenda.

In its advocacy work, WIDE applies aninside-outside strategy to influence the insti-tutions responsible for economic and socialdevelopment. On the on hand, this approachmeans working within the institutions them-selves as part working groups, task forces orofficial government delegations. On the otherhand, WIDE works from outside with otherwomen's organisations and alliances toincrease pressure on policy and decisionmaking and to hold governments account-able.

One of the main WIDE's activity isorganisations of annual conferences to allowwomen from Europe and the world to cometogether and not just share experiences, butcritically think through alternatives, activelylearn, and network in a supportive space.

This year's conference will be held inOctober in The Hague, under the title:"Feminist vision for a just Europe".

More information about WIDE can befound at: www.wide-nnetwork.org

Prepared by: Petar \UKANOVI]

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23Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 NGO a c t i v i t i e s

Secretariat for European Integrations hostedon 8 July an informal meeting between

representatives of Montenegrin NGOs, Officefor Cooperation between the Government andNGOs and representatives of the Delegation ofEuropean Commission (EC) in Podgorica.

The meeting was held on the initiativeof the Delegation of European Commissionin Podgorica with a goal of gathering allNGOs interested in the IPA assistance pro-grammes, launched by EU for the WestBalkan countries in the period 2007-2013.The meeting was organised by theGovernment's office for cooperation withNGO sector. EC representative NicoloBertolini emphasised that the meeting is aproduct of EU's desire to improve commu-nication with NGOs in order to achieve bet-ter and more targeted planning and use of

IPA funds so that their projects reflect thereal needs and problems of the Montenegrinsociety. NGOs active in the field are in thebest position to note and understand theseproblems, and their full participation isabsolutely necessary for the programmingand implementation of IPA.

NGO representatives, and among themrepresentatives of CCE, noted some of themany problems they have had so far incommunicating with EU institutions andagencies, and in the process of applying fortheir funds. At the same time, they expressedtheir full readiness to actively participate inthe programming of IPA assistance should theDelegation of European Commission showreal interest in communicating and consult-ing with the NGO sector and overcomingthe present problems.

Presentation of the Community Pro-grammes, titled "How to win a European

Union project" was held on 11 July in theoffices of the Secretariat for EuropeanIntegrations, and with support of theDelegation of European Commission inPodgorica. Target audience of the presenta-tion were Montenegrin NGOs.

Representative of the European Com-mission Henk Visner spoke about the pro-grammes which are accessible to Monte-negro and its civil society organizations. Inaddition to a comprehensive presentation of

the programmes which are available to thelocal NGOs, Visner also spoke about appli-cation procedures for the assistance fromEuropean funds, the ways in which the win-ning projects are selected, and emphasisedsome of the more important guidelines forwriting and presenting the projects thatcould be of great importance in the appli-cation procedure.

The presentation gathered many rep-resentatives of the NGO sector. Petar\ukanovi}, programme coordinator, partici-pated on behalf of CEE.

MMoonntteenneeggrroo aannddEEuurrooppeeaann UUnniioonn

Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Centrefor Development of Non-Governmental

Organisations (CDNGO) and the EuropeanMovement in Montenegro (EMiM), with sup-port of the Foundation Open SocietyInstitute organised a seminar "Montenegroand European Union" from 3 to 6 July 2008in Kola{in.

The seminar represents the last moduleof the VII generation of European IntegrationSchool, the oldest and the most comprehen-sive programme of alternative education in thearea of European integrations. It was attend-ed by 30 participants from public administra-tion, political parties, NGO sector, media,business and the academic community.

Lecturers at the seminar were professorsat the University of Montenegro andUniversity of Belgrade, officials in theGovernment of the Republic of Slovenia, MPsof the Parliament of Montenegro, officials inthe Government of Montenegro and repre-sentatives of the NGO sector in Montenegro.

Dr ^edomir ^upi} (Faculty of PoliticalScience of the University of Belgrade and theFaculty of Political Science in Podgorica) spokeabout the road to EU from the standpoint ofcultural an ethical problems of societies intransition. Ko~a Pavlovi}, author of the docu-mentary "War for Peace" spoke about theimportance of reconciliation with the past andthe participants had a chance of seeing anddiscussing the documentary with the author.Mom~ilo Radulovi}, Secretary General ofEMiM gave a lecture on the conditionalityprinciple in European integrations of theWestern Balkans, and Dragan \uri}, leader ofthe CDP project about the course of negoti-ations, content and obligations ensuing fromthe Stabilisation and Association Agreement.At a special session MPs Valentina Radulovi}[}epanovi} (DPS), Aleksandar Damjanovi}(SNP) and Zarija Pejovi} (PzP) presented theapproach of the Parliament of Montenegro tothe process of European integrations.

Economic aspects of European integra-tions were discussed by Dr MiroslavProkopijevi}, while Dr Rado Genorio fromthe Government of Slovenia offered adetailed account of Slovenia's road to EU. DrGordana \urovi}, deputy PM of theGovernment of Montenegro spoke aboutMontenegro's process of association with EU,and Mehmedin Tahirovi} from the Ministryof Defence about Montenegro's progresstowards NATO.

After the final seminar the participants,who already completed the programme last-ing several months in Podgorica, attended thefinal exam.

In autumn, CCE, CDNGO and EMiMwill enroll VIII generation of EuropeanIntegrations School.

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Ipx!up!xjo!b!Fvspqfbo!Vojpo!qspkfdu

Asummer course on "Politics of belonging:democracy, identity and power in the

21st century" took place at the CentralEuropean University in Budapest from 30.06.to 11.07.2008. The programme was intend-ed for university professors and fellows aswell as for the graduate students in human-ities and social sciences who are working ontheir final project - a thesis or a dissertation,or on an independent project. The pro-gramme gathered participants from all cor-ners of the world, from Brussels and India toItaly and Montenegro. Intensive teachingprogramme with renowned professors fromUSA, UK and Hungary offered the partici-pants an insight into the most influential andcontroversial articles and theories that aresubject to scientific discussion at institutesand universities worldwide.

Intensive migration and transnationalmovements of people, dilemmas related toidentity politics and demands for group

rights, disputes in the domain of theories ofmulticulturalism between liberals and com-munitarians, development of new powerfulsupranational entities such as the EU, dis-mantling of state socialism, problems ofcountries in transition etc. are all processesindicative of new, powerful social transfor-mations which demand continuous analysisof the influence of various social groups andthe consequences of such developments onthe utopian promise of democracy. Centraltheme of the course is the way in whichthese processes come to define forms ofpolitical and social belonging in contempo-rary democracies.

Centre for Civic Education, whose goalsand vision are akin to the fundamentalproblematic discussed by this course wasglad to have its programme director, PaulaPetri~evi}, participate in the course. She iscurrently working on a master thesis dealingwith identity politics.

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24Eur op ean pu l s e N o 34

J u l y , 2 0 0 8 Edu ca t i on p r og rammes i n EU

F O R T H I S I S S U E W E R E C O M M E N D :

UUNNIIVVEERRSSIITTYY OOFFLLUUXXEEMMBBOOUURRGG,, CCEENNTTEERRFFOORR SSTTUUDDIIEESS OOFFHHOOLLOOCCAAUUSSTT AANNDDRREELLIIGGIIOOUUSS MMIINNOORRIITTIIEESS((OOSSLLOO)),, NNEETTHHEERRLLAANNDDSSIINNSSTTIITTUUTTEE FFOORR WWAARRDDOOCCUUMMEENNTTAATTIIOONN ((NNIIOODD,,AAMMSSTTEERRDDAAMM)),,LLUUXXEEMMBBOOUURRGGThis conference will discuss how cultural prac-tices of representing and interpreting the pastare being reshaped by interrelated processes ofglobalization, de/re-nationalization and local-ization in the long term.It will seek to address historical (dis)continuitiesconcerning the connection of local memorycultures and global world orders throughoutthe 19th and 20th centuries.The relation between the local and the globalstill awaits further theoretical investigation:what is "the local" or the "locality"? Likewise,the "global" is very much a container term:what exactly is it that confronts the "local"?Researchers from all disciplines are invited toparticipate: women and gender studies, muse-um studies, media and cultural studies, politi-cal sciences, philosophy, sociology, geographyand history. Presentations of concrete casestudies (especially from Norway, theNetherlands and Luxembourg) are welcome,as are more theoretical approaches of culturesof remembrance caught between the local andthe global.The conference will be held at the Universityof Luxembourg, the travel expends of accept-ed speakers will be covered.Please send proposals of up to 250 words for 20minute duration papers to sonja.kmec@uni.luAccepted formats are Word and PDF. Pleaseinclude also the following information: name,affiliation, contact details, and technicalrequirements.Abstract submission deadline is 15th ofSeptember 2008. Paper acceptance notifica-tion will be sent out by the 1st of October2008.

Organizers:Claudia Lenz, senior researcher at the Centerfor Studies of Holocaust and ReligiousMinorities, Oslo, NorwayMadelon de Keizer, senior researcher at theNetherlands Institute for War Documentation(NIOD)Sonja Kmec, assistant-researcher at the Universityof Luxembourg, Research Unit IPSE (Identites,Politiques, Societes, Espaces), Luxembourg

EEUURROOPPEEAANN RREEGGIIOONNAALLMMAASSTTEERR''SS DDEEGGRREEEE IINNDDEEMMOOCCRRAACCYY AANNDDHHUUMMAANN RRIIGGHHTTSS IINNSSOOUUTTHH EEAASSTT EEUURROOPPEEThe European Regional Master's Degree inDemocracy and Human Rights in SEE (ERMA),is a unique regional interdisciplinary one yearfull time MA programme. It is established in2000, through the joint efforts of eleven par-ticipating universities and research centers,coordinated by the Center for InterdisciplinaryPostgraduate Studies of the University ofSarajevo in cooperation with the University ofBologna through its Istituto per l'Europa CentroOrientale e Balcanica.The ERMA Master's Programme participatinguniversities are: University of Bologna and itsIstituto per l'Europa Centro Orientale eBalcanica, University of Sarajevo and its Centerfor Interdisciplinary Postgraduate, University ofBelgrade, University of Graz, London School ofEconomics and Political Science and its Centrefor the Study of Global Governance, NewBulgarian University, University ofPeloponnese, University of Podgorica,University of Prishtina, University of the Ruhr,University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, University

of Zagreb.The programme is co-financed by theEuropean Commission and the Italian Ministryof Foreign Affairs.The ERMA is an educational activity intendedfor students that would combine practicalexperience in human rights issues with furtheracademic study. After recognizing that humanrights go across the disciplines of study, aspolitical science, law, sociology, philosophyand social sciences in general, the Programmehas adopted an interdisciplinary approach.The MA Programme promotes developmentand realisation of young generation of officialsfor state management, inter-governmental andnon-governmental organisations, for universi-ties and think tanks in Albania, B&H, Croatia,Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovoas well as in the countries belonging to the EU,the rest of Europe, and worldwide. The structure of the lectures, the access tointernships and the Faculty are defined inorder to emphasise among the participants ashared consciousness that the democraticdevelopment and human rights promotion,protection and implementation in the regiondepend on plurality of factors. Most of the relevant issues in the SEE stabili-ty, democracy, and development are mutuallycorrelated and influence each other. Thus, a common regional effort in achieving them willhave more chance for success in a context ofinclusive policies and in the framework of arapid European Union integration process.For the full course of study, the programmeawards a total of 120 ECTS and it can betaken only as a full time study. Working lan-guage is English.The successful students receive the EuropeanRegional Master's Degree Diploma inDemocracy and Human Rights in South EastEurope, issued jointly by the University ofBologna and the University of Sarajevo.PLEASE NOTE DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR2008/2009: 7 SEPTEMBER 2008.More information on http://www.cps.edu.ba orhttp://www.eurobalk.net/Center for Interdisciplinary PostgraduateStudies, University of Sarajevo,Zmaja od Bosne 8, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosniaand HerzegovinaTel: +387 33 668685; Fax: +387 33 668683 Email: coordination@cps.edu.ba

EIC Bulletin -EEuropean pulse is electronic magazine established within EIC programme, with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.The publisher is Centre for Civic Education.

EIC Bulletin -EEuropean pulse is registered with the Ministry for Culture and Media as item No. 578 Editor in Chief: Vladan @ugi}

Editorial Board: Vera [}epanovi}, Daliborka Uljarevi}, Ne|eljko Rudovi}, Dragan Stojovi}, Vladimir Vu~ini}Tehnical Editor: Bla`o Crvenica; Language Editor: Milena Milunovi}; English Language Editor: Maja Mugo{a; Translation: Vera [}epanovi}

Njego{eva 36 / I Tel / fax: + 381 81 / 665 - 112, 665 - 327 E-mmail: eicbilten@cg.yuEIC Bulletin -EEuropean pulse can be downloaded at the www.cgo-cce.org