The Associated Press

The head of the EU reconstruction program for the Balkans urged the European Union Monday to draft a new outreach strategy for these eight nations in the coming years, when 10 other East European nations will join the union.

"We need a new strategy for the whole (Balkan) region after enlargement" of the EU, said Erhard Busek, the former vice chancellor of Austria, who became the coordinator of the EU Stability Pact for the Balkans in January.

He spoke to reporters after briefing the EU foreign ministers on his priorities for 2002.
These include the resettling of 100,000 refugees, ending the illegal arms trade in the Balkans and the completion of 21 bilateral free trade accords between Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Yugoslavia.

Since its creation 2 1/2 years ago, the EU's Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe has injected some 6 billion euros (dlrs 5.2 billion) into these countries. The United States is contributing about dlrs 1 billion over this year and next.

Busek said 60 percent of all projects have been started and urged the EU to consider the way ahead. Starting in 2004, 10 other East European nations will join the EU, requiring a new, more active assistance program for the Balkan nations.
With the exception of Romania and Bulgaria, none of the eight countries is considered a future EU member because their economies lag so far behind that of Western Europe.

Through the stability program, the EU encourages countries in the region to accelerate regional trade and economic cooperation, embrace sound economic principles and good governance and set aside differences that sparked successive Balkan wars in the 1990s.

He said there was a lot of unfinished business in the Balkans but these "are more about politics than money."

In a presentation to the EU foreign ministers, Busek said the return of at least 100,000 refugees remained a priority, as does the creation of a center in Belgrade, under U.N. auspices, to monitor the illegal arms trade in the Balkans.

"We expect this initiative to develop and implement projects aimed at reducing the excess supply and illicit trafficking of arms throughout the region," Busek told the EU foreign ministers.
Busek also said he will soon visit Washington to brief the Bush administration and members of Congress on the work of the EU Stability Pact.

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