Interview of the permanent representative of Luxembourg in Brussels, Mrs Martine Schommer, 2005, www.seetv-exchanges.com

In the 1 of January Luxembourg took the Presidency of the EU for the next 6 months. Regarding the Western Balkans, Luxembourg will work on the implementation of the Thessaloniki agenda and the Stabilisation and Association process. Against this background, negotiations will be pursued with Albania with a view to concluding a SA agreement. Negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as with Serbia and Montenegro will be initiated as soon as the conditions are met. The Presidency will initiate accession negotiations with Croatia on 17 March 2005, provided there is full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Macedonia will continue its preparations to return, during the first half of 2005, its answers to the Commission questionnaire that will underpin the opinion on Skopje's application for accession. Luxembourg will also watch closely the local elections in Macedonia in March as test for the capacity of the country to implement the important decentralization legislation adopted recently. Special attention must be paid to the situation in Kosovo, with a view in particular to re-examining the standards policy, scheduled for mid-2005.

• Interview of the permanent representative of Luxembourg in Brussels, Mrs Martine Schommer

00.20 Illustration shots - Mrs Martine Schommer, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the EU, in her office in Brussels

Interview

00.50 Is the EU is entering in a new phase of enlargement with the Balkan states on the basis of the Thessaloniki Summit?

When our Foreign Minister presented the priorities of our Presidency, he mentioned that the signing of the Accession Treaties with Bulgaria and Romania is the end of one stage of accessions, and that with the beginning of the new stage with Croatia we will come to the new stage of negotiations with the Balkan countries on the basis of the Thessaloniki conclusions. I think that Western Balkan countries are not treated as neighbours, they are not part of the neighborhood policy of the EU, they are part of the association cooperation policy. Even if from the perception point of view you may have that impression on our policy preparation that it is not at all the case. I had this morning a meeting with people from the EC on Foreign Relations, and clearly in the EC the Balkan countries are now dealt with by the Commissioner in charge of enlargement. The same is in preparation in the Council, on which group of experts will be dealing in the future with the Balkan countries. So, you are on the way to shift from one to another stage. The accession negotiations with Croatia will start on the 17th of March. This is a beginning of a new stage of enlargement.. FYR Macedonia will present its answers to the very long questionnaire of the EC and the EC will prepare the avis on the accession negotiations with Skopje. So we are already in a completely different field.

02.50 Is there is no `enlargement fatigue` in the EU?

There is no « fatigue » in the EU. We begin negotiations with Croatia, we are ready to have the avis of the EC on FYROM. I think that this avis will not be ready for our Presidency, it will come a little bit later but there is a non stop work going on enlargement and so, there is no real « fatigue ».

03.12 On the liberalization of the visa regime for the Western Balkans

The Luxembourg Foreign Minister has signed, together with the Dutch Presidency, a letter confirming the intention to work towards visa facilitation for those countries in the Balkans who still have this problem. So we have already committed ourselves to work on that basis. We have to see how far we can go in that direction but we are clearly aware of the necessity to show to the people in the Balkans that they are part of Europe and that they are not blocked by the visa barrier.

We have to work on visa facilitation, there is an ongoing work with all the Balkan countries on Justice and Home Affairs. Visa question is one element, control on external border is another element, cooperation on readmission questions are part of this discussion, but we fully understand the political necessity to show to the region, to the citizens that there is an access to the European space, universities, travelling, and to give the impression that the countries are all part of Europe.

04.31 On the Luxembourg Presidency's work with Macedonia

We would like to have something on our agenda concerning that country, but the EC has to make its work. The questionnaire that President Prodi has brought himself to Skopje is an enormous questionnaire on everything. It is supposed to give like a photography on the exact situation in the country on everything. It is like a picture of all the details. So, it's an enormous work that has to be done by the authorities in Skopje to deliver this picture and it is on that basis that the EC can present its proposals on the avis itself. And then work on that picture to propose, chapter by chapter, negotiation positions for the Council. We can not do anything. We have to wait that the authorities in Skopje are delivering on this picture, and than encourage the EC to work as rapidly as possible. But, unfortunately that is all we can do for the moment. We would have liked to do more, but political events in Skopje have created a little bit of delay and we have now to cope with that delay and unfortunately, we will not be able to take a position on the beginning of accession negotiations with Skopje. Clearly the intention is to have the avis available during the second half of the year and then the Heads of States and Governments of the EU will have to take a position on that avis.

06.32 On Kosovo

I think the work is on standards now, and on the implementation of standards. This is not really our work, this is the work to be done on the ground in Kosovo by the authorities and by the UNMIK. The EU is part of that effort, some of our member countries are part of the Contact Group. For the moment work is on standards, implementation of standards and coming as far as possible on the level of implementation to be able in mid 2005 to take stock on where Kosovo stands on the implementation of different standards and than see how the discussion can go forward. So, what we can do is give our support to the implementation of standards, give the technical support. As EU Presidency there is now a new EU representative in UNMIK on the fourth pillar of economic issues. And that is what we can do for the moment. And make understand also to the authorities in Prishtina that strong commitment of all political parties and all those who are involved in the implementation of the standards, that's the issue of the moment.

07.58 On Serbia and Montenegro; twin track approach facilitates work on feasibility study

I think that the fact that the EU has changed a little bit the way to work on this feasibility study with a twin track approach concerning Serbia and Montenegro is helping to finalize the feasibility study. We hope very much that we will come to the possibility to take position on the feasibility study and when conditions are met to launch the next stage with Serbia Montenegro.

08.26 On Bosnia and Herzegovina

In fact, the EU is very present now in Bosnia. EU is leading its biggest military mission in Bosnia, we have still a police mission going on in Bosnia, so there is a overall presence of European action in Bosnia. The EC has presented a list of elements that Bosnian authorities have still to fulfill before we can conclude on the feasibility study. I was myself in Bosnia when they received the list of, I would not say requests, but of necessities, and the authorities at that time were very open and thankful in a certain way to see what still has to be done to come to an end of the feasibility study. So we have hoped that within one year this list of further needs would be fulfilled and that we will have this feasibility study on the table.

09.35 On the work of EUSR Lord Ashdown

Lord Ashdown has a double hat, he has a UN hat and he has an EU hat. There will come a certain moment, and we are somewhere at this stage, maybe not completely there, where his EU hat or an EU hat of an EU special representative will be more visible than the UN part of it. As I said, we are not necessarily there, we will maybe come there at a certain stage by the end of this year or the beginning of the next year. We have to see, this is not a decision by the Presidency. It is a decision by the EU itself and by the UN. So I can not go too much in detail on your question, but at a certain moment in time, yes, as I said, we will need an EU special representative in Bosnia and who would be also the person in charge of the coherence of the EU presence in Bosnia.

10.45 On Albania, SAA negotiations and elections

The negotiations on the Stablization and Association Agreement are very slow. Reforms seem also to be very slow. There will be important elections in Albania by the end of our Presidency. The process for this elections will be…, we will follow very closely I think the process for these lections, the preparations of the elections and then the implementation itself on the election day. It will be I think part of the overall work that we will have to do with Albania. We very much hope that by the end of our Presidency negotiations can also come to an end. I think that if things go as they are now this could well be the case.

11.42 On the local elections in Macedonia

It is an important test because it will be the implementation of a very important decentralization law. This piece of legislation was at the basis of the referendum that has taken place recently, it is part of the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement and this is an important event. The peaceful and satisfactory outcome of the procedure in itself will be seen as a very important element to show that in the Balkans decentralization can work. And that the majority and the minority can find a satisfactory way of working together on the local level. So, I think it will be important. It was very important that the legislation in itself was adopted and it will be very important now to see that it can be implemented and that the local authorities can be established on the basis of that new law.

12.48 Stockshots views Luxembourg

13.32 Shots Luxembourg Government