{"id":159588,"date":"2009-10-08T16:49:01","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T16:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.moldova.org\/2009\/10\/08\/the-irish-yes-brings-hope-to-europe-and-to-the-balkans-203958-eng\/"},"modified":"2009-10-08T16:49:01","modified_gmt":"2009-10-08T16:49:01","slug":"the-irish-yes-brings-hope-to-europe-and-to-the-balkans-203958-eng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/the-irish-yes-brings-hope-to-europe-and-to-the-balkans-203958-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"The Irish ‘Yes’ Brings Hope to Europe and to the Balkans"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

By Ivan Vejvoda<\/p>\n

The European Union has accomplished a crucial step toward its further institutional consolidation by making the final steps to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. On October 2, 3 million Irish voters helped decide the future of Europe’s institutional reforms – and with them, of close to 500 million European Union citizens. Irish voters had rejected the Lisbon Treaty once before, in a June 2008 referendum. They had now come back a second time to decide upon the same issue. Spurred by the realization of how the EU helped Ireland weather the global financial crisis, voters decided to say yes to further European reforms.<\/p>\n

Let’s remember how this all began. In December 2001, the European Union, at the Laeken European Council in Belgium, decided to set in motion a process that would lead to a treaty establishing a European Constitution. The intention was to put all prior European treaties under one hat, but more importantly to prepare the Union’s institutions to be able to function effectively after an enlargement encompassing ten new countries. In its more than 50 years of existence, the EU has advanced through consecutive processes of institutional deepening and membership widening. These are inextricably linked in the EU’s history.<\/p>\n

After a lengthy process of public debate and consultation, the European Convention in July 2003 produced a treaty establishing a Constitution. European leaders ceremoniously signed the document in Rome in October 2004, hoping this would streamline the Union’s cumbersome decision-making processes, especially in light of the January 2004 enlargement from 15 to 27 member states.<\/p>\n

For reasons driven principally by domestic politics and fears, the French and Dutch electorates abruptly halted that endeavor through two referenda in 2005. And so, in December 2007, after a period of institutional reflection to figure out how to overcome the status quo, from the ashes of the botched Constitution rose the Lisbon Treaty — a document that was shorter, amended (to remove some of the member states’ most virulent objections), and altogether more palatable and less supranationalist in its intent. Its success is crucial to the continued deepening of the EU’s institutions.<\/p>\n

The EU is today about to conclude this circuitous eight-year-long institutional reform endeavor. Of course, it is not fully out of the woods yet because the Polish and Czech presidents have to ratify their parliaments’ positive votes on the Lisbon Treaty. The EU has been put through a severe stress test lately — confronted with a global financial and economic crisis, other security, climate and energy challenges, elections for the European Parliament in June, a contentious reelection process for the European Commission, and on top of it all, the fight for a new institutional architecture. It has not only shown its resilience but is simultaneously engaged in the next round of enlargement and in creating a neighborhood policy for its Eastern reaches. In fact, enlargement has been a driving force of the EU’s existence. The attractive force of the EU as a political, societal, and economic model remains immensely powerful.<\/p>\n

Numerous countries are standing in line to join. Currently, Croatia, Macedonia, and Turkey are official candidates. Montenegro and Albania have put forward their requests for candidacy in the past 12 months. Serbia will do so most probably by the end of the year, and Bosnia and Herzegovina may do so next year. All of them already have contractual relationships with the EU. Interestingly, the global crisis has also led Iceland to put forward its candidacy, and there are rumblings that Norway might have renewed thoughts about joining after the re-election of the incumbent Stoltenberg government.<\/p>\n

What began as a post-World War II peace project, the coming together of European countries, emphatically political yet grounded in an economic rationale, still has a strong magnetic pull. The transatlantic partnership has been a core element of this success. The role of the United States in the security of Europe has allowed for the flourishing of the European Community and then the Union. In the post-conflict region of the Balkans, or rather the former Yugoslavia, this joint effort of the EU and the United States has been crucial to achieving peace and consolidating stability. The EU is the strategic priority of all the aforementioned countries, and yet the role of the United States in backing this integration process is crucial.<\/p>\n

In fact, tomorrow (October 9) a senior delegation of EU and U.S. officials led by Carl Bildt, the Swedish Foreign Minister currently presiding the EU, and James Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. State Department, will be in Sarajevo to try and help move Bosnia and Herzegovina forward in its EU integration. In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina has just last week applied for a Membership Action Plan that will lead it to NATO membership. Here, the EU and NATO together are providing a crucial political, economic, and security framework for the democratic aspirations of the Balkans’ fledgling nations. And just as they did for the founding members after 1945, these processes will create the future structural underpinnings of peace and stability in the Balkans. There is no magic wand for this change but only long, hard, painstaking work toward creating a stable and democratic political culture.<\/p>\n

Europe’s soft power is alive and active. After a period of self-absorption and self-reflection during which there was a severe bout of enlargement fatigue and a reluctance to consider the possibility of new members, the EU after the Irish “yes” can reengage in what it does best — enlarging while at the same time adapting its institutions to the global challenges it faces.<\/p>\n

—
\nIvan Vejvoda is the Executive Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy and GMF’s Belgrade office.<\/em>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>The European Union has accomplished a crucial step toward its further institutional consolidation by making the final steps to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. On October 2, 3 million Irish voters helped decide the future of Europe\u2019s institutional reforms \u2013 and with them, of close to 500 million European Union citizens. Irish voters had rejected the Lisbon Treaty once before, in a June 2008 referendum. They had now come back a second time to decide upon the same issue. Spurred by the realization of how the EU helped Ireland weather the global financial crisis, voters decided to say yes to further European reforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

By Ivan Vejvoda<\/p>\n

The European Union has accomplished a crucial step toward its further institutional consolidation by making the final steps to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. On October 2, 3 million Irish voters helped decide the future of Europe’s institutional reforms – and with them, of close to 500 million European Union citizens. Irish voters had rejected the Lisbon Treaty once before, in a June 2008 referendum. They had now come back a second time to decide upon the same issue. Spurred by the realization of how the EU helped Ireland weather the global financial crisis, voters decided to say yes to further European reforms.<\/p>\n

Let’s remember how this all began. In December 2001, the European Union, at the Laeken European Council in Belgium, decided to set in motion a process that would lead to a treaty establishing a European Constitution. The intention was to put all prior European treaties under one hat, but more importantly to prepare the Union’s institutions to be able to function effectively after an enlargement encompassing ten new countries. In its more than 50 years of existence, the EU has advanced through consecutive processes of institutional deepening and membership widening. These are inextricably linked in the EU’s history.<\/p>\n

After a lengthy process of public debate and consultation, the European Convention in July 2003 produced a treaty establishing a Constitution. European leaders ceremoniously signed the document in Rome in October 2004, hoping this would streamline the Union’s cumbersome decision-making processes, especially in light of the January 2004 enlargement from 15 to 27 member states.<\/p>\n

For reasons driven principally by domestic politics and fears, the French and Dutch electorates abruptly halted that endeavor through two referenda in 2005. And so, in December 2007, after a period of institutional reflection to figure out how to overcome the status quo, from the ashes of the botched Constitution rose the Lisbon Treaty — a document that was shorter, amended (to remove some of the member states’ most virulent objections), and altogether more palatable and less supranationalist in its intent. Its success is crucial to the continued deepening of the EU’s institutions.<\/p>\n

The EU is today about to conclude this circuitous eight-year-long institutional reform endeavor. Of course, it is not fully out of the woods yet because the Polish and Czech presidents have to ratify their parliaments’ positive votes on the Lisbon Treaty. The EU has been put through a severe stress test lately — confronted with a global financial and economic crisis, other security, climate and energy challenges, elections for the European Parliament in June, a contentious reelection process for the European Commission, and on top of it all, the fight for a new institutional architecture. It has not only shown its resilience but is simultaneously engaged in the next round of enlargement and in creating a neighborhood policy for its Eastern reaches. In fact, enlargement has been a driving force of the EU’s existence. The attractive force of the EU as a political, societal, and economic model remains immensely powerful.<\/p>\n

Numerous countries are standing in line to join. Currently, Croatia, Macedonia, and Turkey are official candidates. Montenegro and Albania have put forward their requests for candidacy in the past 12 months. Serbia will do so most probably by the end of the year, and Bosnia and Herzegovina may do so next year. All of them already have contractual relationships with the EU. Interestingly, the global crisis has also led Iceland to put forward its candidacy, and there are rumblings that Norway might have renewed thoughts about joining after the re-election of the incumbent Stoltenberg government.<\/p>\n

What began as a post-World War II peace project, the coming together of European countries, emphatically political yet grounded in an economic rationale, still has a strong magnetic pull. The transatlantic partnership has been a core element of this success. The role of the United States in the security of Europe has allowed for the flourishing of the European Community and then the Union. In the post-conflict region of the Balkans, or rather the former Yugoslavia, this joint effort of the EU and the United States has been crucial to achieving peace and consolidating stability. The EU is the strategic priority of all the aforementioned countries, and yet the role of the United States in backing this integration process is crucial.<\/p>\n

In fact, tomorrow (October 9) a senior delegation of EU and U.S. officials led by Carl Bildt, the Swedish Foreign Minister currently presiding the EU, and James Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. State Department, will be in Sarajevo to try and help move Bosnia and Herzegovina forward in its EU integration. In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina has just last week applied for a Membership Action Plan that will lead it to NATO membership. Here, the EU and NATO together are providing a crucial political, economic, and security framework for the democratic aspirations of the Balkans’ fledgling nations. And just as they did for the founding members after 1945, these processes will create the future structural underpinnings of peace and stability in the Balkans. There is no magic wand for this change but only long, hard, painstaking work toward creating a stable and democratic political culture.<\/p>\n

Europe’s soft power is alive and active. After a period of self-absorption and self-reflection during which there was a severe bout of enlargement fatigue and a reluctance to consider the possibility of new members, the EU after the Irish “yes” can reengage in what it does best — enlarging while at the same time adapting its institutions to the global challenges it faces.<\/p>\n

—
\nIvan Vejvoda is the Executive Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy and GMF’s Belgrade office.<\/em>
\n <\/p>\n

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