|
EU urges Balkans to act over corruption |
BRUSSELS, Dec. 23, 2002 - The European Commission has called on leaders in the western Balkans to get tough on the persistent corruption that plagues the region.
In a strongly worded 57-page report, the European Union's executive body issues a veiled warning to governments struggling with the legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s that they could be left behind the rest of Europe. The wars left tens of thousands of people dead, several million refugees and properties destroyed.
All the countries of the region - Albania, Bosnia Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia - and the province of Kosovo have economic accords with the EU and have ambitions to join the Union in the belief it will bring them stability and prosperity.
However, the Commission says the region needs "strong political public commitments and guidance, clear procurement rules and consistent anti-corruption plans, including the
enhancement of administrative and judicial capacities".
The absence of a strong administration and judicial capacity is common not only to the Balkans but to the other former communist countries, of whom eight, along with Malta and Cyprus, this month completed accession negotiations at the European Union's Copenhagen summit to join the EU by May 2004.
The Balkans, however, has been further burdened with the civil wars of the 1990s that has made it impossible for some to establish their own governments because of ethnic divisions an d a shortage of skilled personnel. Bosnia and Kosovo are under international protectorates.
Furthermore, unlike the central and eastern European countries in which the EU invested large amounts to build up the administrative capacity, Brussels has until recently been slow to strengthen these institutions in the western Balkans.
Diplomats said the EU and international financial institutions were more preoccupied with restoring security and stability, rebuilding homes, schools and hospitals and trying to
restore some normality for a region scarred by one of the worse conflicts to take place on European soil since the second world war.
The Commission says corruption has robbed the finance ministries of tax revenues and social welfare contributions.
It has undermined efforts to speed up privatization, with foreign companies having little interest to invest as long as corruption persists and the rule of law remains weak.
Corruption has also fed its way into drug and human trafficking, one of the biggest challenges the EU, as one of the largest donors, faces in the coming years.
"According to rankings from various official and non-official sources, which closely follow the subject, a number of the region's countries are perceived among the most corrupt in the world," says the Commission.
|
|
|
|
|