Publications

During the ongoing process of European integration or, in other words, as a result of their striving for accession to the European Union, all states in Southeast Europe have been subjected to specific sets of monitoring their performances, not only by the European Union, but also by other international bodies, such as the Council of Europe. The issue of majority-minorities relations have been and continue to be a sensitive one in Southeast Europe, but also beyond this region. It is today a precondition for accession to the European Union to solve potential inter-ethnic conflicts and to balance the system in a way that makes the relations between the majority and ethnic or national minorities one of mutual acceptance and respect, based upon…

The larger the European Union becomes, the fewer are the countries left outside its borders cherishing the hope of membership. For the Western Balkans, the question is what kind of European future lies ahead. The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU together with the progress made by Croatia and Macedonia on the road to Brussels could serve as further encouragement to the remaining Balkan states to pursue their transformation process; political progress would be followed by an economic upswing which could have a positive impact on the employment situation and the struggle against poverty. Tensions between the ethnic communities would no longer be served up to explain domestic calamities or to justify political decisions. We are in…

The divided situation in the region has not substantially been improved over the past few years. This applies to both sides of the social partnership. On the trade-union side there is but little change. In Albania, the two trade union federations grew closer and are cooperating on resolving important issues. Bosnia-Herzegovina, however, did not yet see the formation of a trade union confederation between the unions in the Federation and the Republika Srpska.

The enlargement* of the EU from 15 to 25 states, on 1 May 2004, has been a spectacular success, pointing to the enormous transformative power of the prospect of European integration. Now that the Central and East European Countries (CEECs) have been accepted as new member states, only seven South East European countries remain outside the Union.

The enhancement and development of internal party democracy and democratically functioning party organizational structures are burning issues within the consolidating democracies of South Eastern Europe. Autocratic political leaders and the inability of parties to adequately absorb people's needs in their policies are major factors behind a growing crisis, reflected in declining voter participation in elections.

The regional office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Zagreb, in cooperation with the office of FES in Bulgaria, organized a workshop in Sofia inApril 2004 on the issue of public administration on the local and regional level. The results are presented in the publication Reforming local public administration. Efforts and Perspectives in South-East European Countries. During the workshop, experts from various countries from South-East Europe and from Germany compared and discussed different approaches and reform steps in the region concerning public administration on the local level.

In the context of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe and in cooperation with the national institutions, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) initiated in spring 2001 a regional project “Local Self-Government and Decentralization in South-East Europe”, focusing on the situation and the reforms of self-government and decentralization in the countries of the region. The project covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia.

The two-day conference, entitled “Shaping A Common Security Agenda For Southeast Europe - New Approaches And Shared Responsibilities”, took place on September 5 and 6 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The conference covered some of the key aspects of the future of Southeast European (SEE) security in the context of EU and NATO enlargement. More specifically, the objectives of the conference were to address three major issues.