SARAJEVO, Jan 15 (Hina) - Senior European Union officials have condemned and resolutely dismissed speculations about possible changes to the borders of states in the Balkans, calling on countries in the region to cooperate in order to
join European integration processes as soon as possible.
SARAJEVO, Jan 15 (Hina) - Senior European Union officials have
condemned and resolutely dismissed speculations about possible
changes to the borders of states in the Balkans, calling on
countries in the region to cooperate in order to join European
integration processes as soon as possible. #L#
Georgios Papandreou, the foreign minister of Greece, the country
chairing the EU, and the EU's Special Representative for the Common
Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, said on Wednesday in
Sarajevo there would be no new changes to borders in the Balkans.
Nobody should think about changing borders in the Balkans any more,
Solana said. Addressing reporters after a meeting with members of
the Bosnian Presidency, Solana added that border changing was a
matter of the past and the region had to turn to the future.
Papandreou and Solana visited Sarajevo to mark the official
beginning of the work of the European Union Police Mission, but they
used the opportunity to voice their opposition to attempts by the
authorities in Belgrade to question Bosnia's borders should the
question of Kosovo's independence be opened.
Statements to that effect were made last week by Serbia's Prime
Minister Zoran Djindjic.
Borders in the Balkans will have to be respected and they will not be
changed, Papandreou said.
The two officials confirmed that the EU wanted to see Bosnia-
Herzegovina, as well as other countries of the "western Balkans",
as its members, and added that the establishment of the special
police mission was a concrete indicator of the EU's readiness to
help stabilise peace in the country.
At the beginning of this year the EUPM took over the mandate of the
UN police mission, which had been present in the country since the
signing of the Dayton peace agreements in 1995.
The EU mission will consist of around 500 experienced police
officers who will be headed by Denmark's Sven Frederiksen.
The mission's annual costs have been estimated at 38 million euros
and more than a half of this amount will be provided by Brussels,
while the rest would be provided by countries participating in the
mission.
The mission's basic task will be the establishment of a
professional and depoliticised police force. Commissioner
Frederiksen will have the power to suggest the dismissal of police
officers whose performance should be evaluated as unsatisfactory.
(hina) rml sb