The role of the European Union in the Western Balkans

Abstract

The Institute for European Studies organised a half-day seminar on 12 March entitled ‗The Role of the EU in the Western Balkans‘ This event was organised with the support of the European Commission‘s DG NEAR, and took place in the European Documentation Centre, which is located inside the Institute for European Studies, at the University of Malta. The panel was composed of Ms Natalija Sandić, from the Innovation Fund Serbia; Professor Roderick Pace, from the Institute for European Studies; and Mr Joe Tanti, from the Malta Business Bureau. Professor Roderick Pace, Director of the Institute for European Studies, introduced the seminar and explained the significance of the event, which was designed to create a better understanding of the EU‘s enlargement challenge in the Western Balkans. He stressed that once the EU emerges from one of the greatest economic crises in its history, there are diverse, and certainly more exciting, initiatives awaiting it, such as enlargement. He explained that throughout the seminar, the audience would be acquainted with the EU‘s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), which provides financial and material support for the candidate countries and potential candidate countries and helps them to fulfil the requirements for accession in the EU by supporting them in five main sectors, namely the public administration reform, rule of law (justice and home affairs), economic development, transport, energy and environment, social development and inclusion, and agriculture and rural development. Ms Natalija Sandić, Senior Associate of the Innovation Fund Serbia, spoke about IPA in the Balkans and successful achievements of the Innovation Fund Serbia. Ms Sandić spoke of the objectives of IPA II and explained the budgetary allocations given to each of the candidate countries. She explained Serbia‘s experience in IPA II and outlined the grants program Serbia is benefitting from. The second part of the seminar dealt with Malta‘s EU accession experience, lessons from which can be useful to the Balkan countries as they prepare to take on the important challenge of enlargement. In this respect, Professor Roderick Pace, shared his reflections on Malta‘s EU membership experience, speaking of the profound changes that Maltese society and economy have undergone in the last decade - some directly linked to Europeanization, whilst others were caused by the process of globalization Mr Tanti spoke of the challenges and opportunities for Maltese business arising from Malta‘s EU membership, Mr Tanti spoke of the fears faced by Maltese businessmen in the pre-accession phase, most notably the idea that EU products would be favoured over Maltese products in local market. The postaccession phase for Malta has seen growing opportunities from the EU‘s Single Market and support from the EU with Malta‘s GDP per capita now at c. 86% of EU average. The seminar ended with an informal discussion in the form of a question and answer session. Questions from the floor referred to the budgetary allocations of IPA II and the sectors making most benefit from the instrument, the way Maltese businesses are dealing with competition from foreign businesses opening in Malta, and the effectiveness and efficiency of IPA II, amongst others.