ROME: Twenty years after the collapse of Yugoslavia and the communist regime in Albania, the western Balkans region is at a turning point once again. Slovenia is in the European Union, Croatia is very close to membership, and all of the region's other countries have started along the EU path. Yet there remains a danger that this positive progress can still be undermined. Indeed, although EU integration is already bringing democracy and stability to the countries of the Balkans, it is an unfinished job, and completing that task is both vital and uncertain. The current economic crisis is leading public opinion in the western Balkans to lose confidence that peace and economic growth are still within reach, creating the risk of a possible slowdown in the integration process. As a whole, the region has made notable progress. Pro-European governments are now in place across the Balkans. The recent elections in Bosnia show that the electorate is still ethnically oriented. It is our task — with the support of the new Bosnian leadership — to redirect this approach to a genuine European mindset. Democratic reforms are proving to be an increasingly effective cure for the instability created in the past by nationalism and ethnic strains. The key issue is to ensure that the western Balkans keeps its focus on the European agenda, which means that the EU must provide guidance and encouragement through tangible initiatives. That is why, at the EU-United States summit held in Prague last year, I proposed an eight-pronged initiative, elements of which have now been fully or partially taken up, including the Conference held in Sarajevo last June where the EU reiterated its commitment to the integration process of the Balkans region as whole. New EU membership applications confirm the desire of Balkan governments to engage seriously in internal reforms. But the road to EU membership involves painful sacrifice, so each country should be judged on its own merits. From its part, Europe is delivering as soon as the counties are adopting the necessary reforms. The EU needs to give clear signals to public opinion across the region that meeting EU benchmarks has tangible effects on their lives. Serbia is emblematic of the importance of doing so, as public support there for the EU integration process has risen sharply in a only months, from 40 percent to 60 percent, thanks in large part to the EU's decision of earlier this year to liberalize the visa regime. The EU integration process is also proving a powerful driver for much-needed reform in Bosnia. Despite the country's worrisome political stalemate, and the seeming entrenchment, at least for the moment, of ethnic politics, the chance to grab the “low-hanging fruit” of visa liberalization did encourage the Bosnian leadership to make a serious effort at reform in a relatively short period of time. Over the last 20 years, the goal of EU membership has proved an invaluable asset for stabilizing, democratizing, and modernizing the western Balkans. Now it is up to leaders in the region to overcome the remaining obstacles, starting with an understanding between the governments of Belgrade and Pristina. The EU has offered to play a facilitating role: we urge both leaderships to promptly seize this opportunity, with a view to their states' further steps along the path towards the European family to which all Balkan countries naturally belong. The EU's ability to overcome “enlargement fatigue” and maintain its commitments to the region are also dependent on public support, so we must not stint in our efforts to convey to our citizens the political and economic advantages of accession of the countries of the western Balkans to the EU. Franco Frattini is Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy. This commentary is published by Daily News Egypt in collaboration with Project Syndicate, www.project-syndicate.org.
