How do you make a pupil obey all the rules?
Bronwen Maddox : World Briefing The message of yesterday’s report from Brussels on expansion of the European Union is that the lure of membership is losing its power to persuade countries to do things they don’t want to do. This much-anticipated analysis of reform in the Western Balkans and Turkey is not entirely gloomy. The brightest parts are economic, where the sight of the prosperity of neighbours within the EU has provided a powerful incentive for change. The European Commision is eloquent on how fast new members are growing. But reform of courts and tackling corruption lag way behind. The backsliding of Romania and Bulgaria since they joined this year is a lesson for the EU that it has few sanctions to apply once countries are in. And the community has got almost nowhere in persuading the region to resolve the huge, resonant rows that stand as great boulders between countries and accession: Kosovo, Cyprus, war criminals yet to be handed over. In Turkey’s case, there is one consolation in that events have overtaken this report. Many in favour of Turkey’s membership feared that this report’s pointed criticism and schoolroom air of patronising chastisement would put Turkey off. A lot of diplomatic effort (diplomats said) would have to go into soothing hurt feelings, although as it happens, the criticism is gentler than expected. But this autumn’s drama over northern Iraq, and Turkey’s threats to send forces over the border in pursuit of militants, has brought it all the benefits (and discomforts) of intense US attention. That eclipses, for the moment, the finnicky dance with Brussels, which was in danger of exasperating both sides. That US attention, and the diversion of the crisis, may be very helpful in keeping the issue of Turkish membership simmering along, giving the EU a chance to regain its appetite for enlargement. The report awards its best marks to the countries which are actually candidates at the moment: Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey. The EU is paying them a total of €4.2 billion in the next five years (three quarters of that to Turkey). It calls Croatia a “functioning market economy” and says that it meets the political criteria for joining, although courts, corruption, and war criminals are obstacles. It gives Macedonia plenty of compliments (too many on the economy), and glides too easily over “political tensions” and corruption. But Macedonia rightly gets credit for change so soon after turmoil. As for Turkey, it is indisputable that “freedom of expression and of religion are urgent issues”, and the Commission urges Ankara to do something about it. But these are dwarfed by the bigger questions of how much Turks still want to be part of Europe. The same sense of the countries’ distraction by bigger themes runs through the assessment of the potential candidates, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro (and Kosovo). Serbia is progressing well, it says, but talks can get nowhere until the status of Kosovo is resolved. There is no sign, ahead of the imminent end of talks, that the EU’s chiding has had any effect on Belgrade. Nor is there much sign that countries are afraid of losing cash (the EU will give this group €2.4 billion in the next five years). Montenegro is doing well, and Bosnia badly, it adds. This is an annual scorecard which reveals that the supposed pupils are only half paying attention, and have bigger worries on their mind than a telling-off from Brussels. www.ec.europa.eu/enlargement/ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article2820831.ece?openComment=true
