It is simply incomprehensible thinking that we can join Europe while still having the barriers and distrust in the region such as we have today, it was noted at a roundtable hosted by the Helsinki Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (03-DEC-07)

Written by HRH / Mirsad Pandzic

While the official politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with considerable interference by Belgrade and Zagreb, is dealing with destabilization of the country, the non-governmental sector found it useful to organize a roundtable in Sarajevo on the topics of “Regional cooperation for development and European integration”. While the official Belgrade is saying they will do everything to preserve Kosovo and Republika Srpska, and Zagreb is laying down foundations for the Peljesac bridge, cutting the umbilical cord of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Movement in Serbia (Belgrade), the Kosovo Institute for Political Research and Development (Pristina), the Centre for Institutional Development (Skoplje), the Albanian Institute for International Studies (Tirana), the Institute for Round TableInternational Relations (Zagreb), and the European Movement in Montenegro (Podgorica) opened together a totally different discussion. The discussion at the roundtable was also used for promotion of a joint publication of these institutions called “Regional Cooperation for Development and European Integration”. Speaking about this project, Srdjan Dizdarevic, the Chairman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stressed:
– Also the fact that the publication is a result of joint engagement of the non-governmental sector of Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skoplje, Tirana and Zagreb speaks of the fact that the political nomenclatures in some countries have ignored regional cooperation, while it is known that this is the lobby to all European integrations. It is simply incomprehensible thinking that we can join Europe, while still having the barriers and distrust that we have today. That is practically impossible.

No alternative
The publication is a guide to all activities carried out so far in the field of regional cooperation, from the Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA 2006), to development of energy, transport, environment protection, security, freedom of movement, visa regime facilitation, development of information society, and joint fight against cross-border crime and corruption.

Speaking on the topic of the road of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the European Union, Igor Davidovic, the chief negotiator of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Stabilization and Association Agreement, welcomed the efforts of the civil society sector to give this process an additional impetus:
-We have so far had very interesting initiatives of the non-governmental sector, which is why I welcome all those who recognized the best road to final alleviation of Balkan tensions in the European integration. We truly live in an isolated society, the political oligarchies are clear with that, but they feel consequences of such conduct the least. The whole burden is placed on shoulders of an ordinary person. We must invest joint efforts to make the pro-European position of Bosnia and Herzegovina as clear as possible. We must clearly let citizens know that we have no other alternative, regardless of the difficulties we will encounter on the way. To be more descriptive, the road to Europe can be like buying new shoes: they look nice but they chafe.

Going backwards
In agreement with such thoughts, Reuf Hadziomerovic from the Ministry of Trade of Bosnia and Herzegovina stressed that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina need European standards regardless of whether they will lead us to the European doors. Emir Hadzikadunic, MA, from the International University in Sarajevo spoke about consequences of Bosnian delays on the way to Europe, which have been reflected on the access to some development funds of the Union and have had negative repercussions for the overall development of the country. According to him, political reforms offered to us today, which are totally rejected by some, should be accepted without any reserve, as they will ensure greater security for the citizens under the European roof than what we have right now. Jovan Divjak from the Association “Education builds Bosnia and Herzegovina” stressed the need for regional cooperation in strengthening of human potential, as European processes require new people, while Sinan Alic from the Foundation “Truth, Justice, Reconciliation” warned that even cross-border cooperation of regions can compensate considerably for what the states are missing to do, and in that context he mentioned good experiences of international cooperation established by Tuzla.

Especially interesting were the remarks of Dr Mirza Kusljugic, professor at the Tuzla Electrical Engineering Faculty, and Aleksandar Kovacevic from the European Movement in Serbia, who spoke about regional cooperation in the field of energy.

-You are aware of the fact that the European Union originated from a project known as “coal and steel”. Many of us hoped that this region would be unified by the energy sector. Unfortunately, this did not happen. We can easily say that instead of integration, we went the opposite way. The borders of the three energy systems were set by the three armies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Regardless of the fact that the energy sector is complicated and most complex in terms of reform, this does not mean that reform is impossible. Due to dominant influence of politics, lack of technological innovation and the fact that this sector is extremely conservative and accepts changes with difficulty, we now have a total crisis of reform. We have not only stalled, we are going backwards, Professor Kusljugic explained.

Aleksandar Kovacevic noticed that the region of South-East Europe is extremely poor in terms of energy potential. It is five times smaller than the European average, despite the fact that politicians are trying to persuade us otherwise:
– In relation to what each one of our countries has individually, this is not enough for the economies of scale and it requires better quality resources. We also have inadequate spending by the units of heating space, we need better plants that will meet the high ecological standards, as well as better coordination in the whole region. The fact that we, as we are today, can hardly manage what Europe will dictate to us is demonstrated also by the fact that there are three gas systems in this region, which are not mutually linked, but are also different in terms of technical standards.

Although the topic was extremely complex, participants of the roundtable were united in the assessment that it was good that some issues in this field have been launched by representatives of the non-governmental sector, thus reminding the ruling structures of the big tasks that lie ahead for them.