Friday, March 21, 2008

European Union - the betrayal of elites: A Political trap where the EU has fallen: Challenges, Errors and Solutions

by Franck Biancheri
Thursday, 13 March 2008

One must be honest. By letting Kosovo go ahead with its declaration of independence, the European Union has fallen into a major political trap which will weigh on its internal and external policies for many years. This trap is documented for years[1]. It was obvious to most observers. Nevertheless, our EU elites, once again, acted in a way which betrayed the EU's common interest, in order to satisfy either their short term national interests or their foreign masters’ (in that case, essentially Washington).

Until an EU political leadership is able to project a crystal-clear vision for the accession of all the Balkan countries still out of the EU, the Europeans will be trapped into both the internal consequences of the Kosovo's declaration of independence (strengthening the move towards independence on the part of several regions within the EU member states, growing financial and diplomatic costs of peace operations in an increasingly unstable region, speeding up organized-crime development throughout the EU using the Balkan as a privileged hub…); and its external consequences (USA and Russia's permanent interferences, Turkey and other Muslim countries meddling with the region’s affairs…).

And these factors will make it even more complicated for the EU to develop any consistent policy regarding the integration of the whole Balkans into the EU. Just to underline how inconsistent the EU is on this issue, one can contemplate two facts:. for Bosnia, the EU says that it is important to compell several cultural groups to live together into a single state. for Kosovo, the EU says that it is legitimate for a cultural group to make secession from an existing state.

If it was not so dramatic, such an arbitrary behaviour disguised under the appearance of international law, would be laughable.

In short, EU elites have once again chosen a path which leads to more problems for the future and to a weaker EU[2]. Once again, our current so-called 'leaders' are shelving problems to be solved by the next generation of EU leaders.

Well, we are this 'next generation' and we really are fed up by such a level of incompetence, lack of will and irrelevance of today's EU elites.

Therefore, in order to give a flavour of what tomorrow will bring once we take in charge the EU affairs, let's put a few things straight:

1. Kosovo's independence is an illusion which will not go through the next decade. The political and historic trends which are at play in the region will end up in the breakdown of Kosovo as well as Bosnia into several regional entities which will be attached to Serbia, Albania and Croatia, with a wide-ranging autonomous status. The only key reason why Kosovo is able to claim its independence today is the USA. In the coming 10 years, the USA will no longer be in a position to play any significant political role within the EU territory. So, without its « creator's force » to support the existence of an independent Kosovo, Kosovars will have to follow the path to EU integration.
2. Kosovo, Bosnia, and all these issues are directly related to the EU integration process. The so-called 'forces for independence' of what used to be mere provinces (not even republics) of former Yugoslavia are essentially a grouping of non European interests (American, Russian, Turk, ... interests) and of local and international mafia groups. One of the key common interests of these players is to keep the region as fragmented as possible, out of the EU’s legal framework and preveting the younger generations of the region to pave a way towards democracy and European integration.
3. When Newropeans will be in the European Parliament in 2009, we will push forward the « Balkans 2014 Agenda : Closing a Century of European Civil Wars », calling for a crystal-clear accession process for the region[3]. As previously presented in this magazine, it will focus the process on a major celebration, in July 2014, in Sarajevo, called « Closing a Century of European Civil Wars », which should also mark the crucial moment for the accession of the Balkans to the EU. Some countries will join already in 2014, others will only start officially their accession negotiations then, but in any case, all countries in the region will be embarked in the EU process on that date. A trans-European referendum on the Balkans accession will be organized the same year within the EU.
4. A special focus should now be given to Albania which is being currently transformed into a mix of a US army aircraft carrier and a major mafia hub on European soil. The EU should put an emphasis on Albania with the objective to have it ready to embark on an accession process in 2014 while being ready to integrate the autonomous region of Kosovo at the same time. Albanian infrastructures, education, justice, ... have to be upgraded to the average level of the whole region by 2014. It is time for the EU to acknowledge the fact that Albania will be part of the EU in the next decade and that it holds a major key of the region's stabilization. So that it has to become an EU priority in the region, and not a 'left-over' as it has now been for more than a decade.
5. A slow but efficient process of reshaping the Serb-, Albanian- and Croatian-speaking regions of Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo should be started by the end of this decade. By using only a fraction of the vast amount of money which this region costs to the EU and member states’ budgets every year, a 'relocation fund' will be created in order to generously sponsor the relocation of families in order to create more homogeneous political entities : 100,000 euros per family accepting to relocate in the first year of the 5 years relocation scheme, 75,000 euros per family if they wait for the second year, 50,000 euros only if they move in the third year, 10,000 Euros afterwards.

If such a policy sounds too bold, too politically incorrect to you, then, don't vote for Newropeans in June 2009. But if on the contrary, you think that it is more than time that a real leadership emerges on the EU level, capable of tackling complex challenges such as these ones in an innovative way, with a truly common European vision and a bottom-line taking in consideration people's interests instead of the various mafias and non EU-vested interests, then Newropeans is the right political choice for you.

Franck Biancheri
President of Newropeans
Cannes - France (03/03/2008)


[1] In this very magazine, for instance, which is widely read among political circles, we have been explaining for years why the independence of Kosovo was neither in the interest of the EU nor in the interest of the Balkan's populations (Kosovars included). >> Read: Kosovo - The "Balkanic Road to the EU"

[2] As they already did with the refusal to hold referenda on the new EU treaty or with the refusal to put clearly Turkey in front of a decent offer of 'strategic partnership' rather than the illusory future accession. By the way, it is more than amazing to see that many EU leaders claim to be willing to listen at the 'Kosovo's people voice' when they refuse to listen at their own people's voice when it comes to EU treaty's ratification.

[3] This policy proposal will be discussed in details and proposed for adoption by Newropeans members by Spring 2008.

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