 RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS |
| SOUTHEAST COOPERATION INITIATIVE (SECI) |
The USA, which became a major player in the Balkans in the mid-1990's due to the developments in former Yugoslavia, took an initiative in April 1996 with a view to bring Southeastern European countries together to address mainly economic and environmental issues. The US acted on the understanding that the majority of all the existing initiatives regarding Southeastern Europe concentrated on the region's pressing political and ethnic problems had not been effective, and that the ability to solve regional economic and environmental problems was a prerequisite to peace and stability.
The SECI came to being officially at the inaugural meeting held in Geneva in December 1996, formally adopting the SECI Statement of Purpose. The SECI participants are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey. An invitation was issued to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), but withdrawn later due to the events in that country. The FRY will be invited to participate once the reasons for its 'dis-invitation' no longer exist.
The SECI is not an assistance program, but rather a self-help scheme. It intends to bring regional decision-makers together to discuss mutual economic and environmental concerns through joint projects, meetings, conferences, etc. It closely cooperates with the United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). It is the SECI's intention to encourage European and American industries to be actively involved in SECI projects. One of the interesting parts of the SECI is that responsibility for projects developed within the process are given to individual countries as a host country.
The SECI, like other regional initiatives, as discussed above, will help countries of Southeast Europe to join the new economic and security architecture of Europe. It does not interfere with existing cooperation programs launched by the EU, the Royaumont Process, the CEI or the BSEC-it complements them.
It may be suggested that the SECI is designed to
work as a product of the American business-like
approach. |
| THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE (CEI) |
The CEI, which is based on the cooperation initiative of 1989, has grown at a rapid pace. In only seven years, membership grew from the original four to sixteen. It intended to ease the transition of Hungary and the SFRY into the European economic and political fold. The method involved a rather interesting experiment. It brought together Austria (traditionally neutral and an EFTA member), Hungary (a member of the Warsaw Pact and COMECON), Italy (one of the founding members of the EEC and NATO) and the SFRY (the leader of non-aligned movement and with an interesting economic structure). The project attracted more members rapidly, becoming known in 1992 as the Central European Initiative (CEI). Macedonia is a member of CEI, along with the following countries from the Balkan region: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia.
The CEI aims at facilitating the European integration, and supports its non-EU member countries in their approach. The CEI also supports the development of parliamentary democracy and upholds human rights. Its work mostly complements and reinforces strategic programs being pursued by other international organizations, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the EU, by providing political and operational support through its regional membership and expertise. In fact the collaboration is so close to the EBRD that a joint CEI-EBRD secretariat was established in London in 1991.
From the point of view of Balkan cooperation, the CEI cannot be considered as a strictly Balkan initiative. It does not include two of the important countries of the region, namely Greece and Turkey. And as the nature of its existence is mainly based on support and assistance extended to those countries aspiring to European integration, the CEI does not attach priority to the cooperation among the Balkan states at regional level. |
