E l e c t r on i c mon th l y maga z i n e f o r Eu r op ean i n t e g r a t i on - No . 5 3 , F e b rua ry 2 0 1 0

European pulse

IIIINNNNTTTTEEEERRRRVVVVIIIIEEEEWWWWDirector of the

Belgrade Academyof Diplomacyand Security

Dr Andreja Savi}

AAAANNNNAAAALLLLYYYYSSSSEEEESSSSConsequences of

the growingsuspicion that

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Montenegrinauthorities

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accessionFFFFOOOOCCCCUUUUSSSS OOOOFFFF TTTTHHHHIIIISSSS IIIISSSSSSSSUUUUEEEECan government separatethe property of the partyfrom that of state

2Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0F o r eword / Ca l enda r

CCAAPPAACCIITTIIEESSThe case of [ari} revealed at least two

things that will slow down Monte-negro's European integrations, at anymoment that Brussels or an EU memberstate finds it necessary. They are the lackof political will to fight organised crimeand the lack of administrative capacities.

It seems that the lack of administra-tive capacities, in spite of having becomea buzzword, needs some explanation.

Agency for National Security (ANS)gave a positive opinion certifying thatDarko [ari}, accused for internationalcrime of cocaine smuggling, is no securi-ty threat to Montenegro, which was oneof the conditions for the Ministry ofInterior Affairs and Public Administration(MIAPA) to issue him a guarantee for get-ting a Montenegrin passport, under con-dition that he gives up Serbian citizenship.

It seems that MIAPA didn't need anyguarantees from [ari} that he doesn't havecitizenship of another country, althoughthe Law on Montenegrin citizenshipmakes no difference between Serbian andany other citizenship, including Slovak.

In the meantime, the PoliceDirectorate, which has [ari} under aspecial regime of monitoring since 1993,had the information about his Slovakpassport and knew what ANS didn'tknow, that is, that [ari} is a highly dan-gerous individual because of his linkswith criminal organisations from theneighbouring countries.

Further, MIAPA's intelligence showsthat [ari} is resident in Pljevlja, whereasthe Police Directorate claims that he is inBelgrade.

Finally, the police announced thatsome ten days before the internationalwanted circular was published [ari} hadalready illegally crossed the border, withthe explanation that this part of the borderis very "porous" and difficult to monitor.

This, just to clarify things, is the sameborder police whose capacities, amongother things, earned Montenegro access to

the EU's White Schengen list. V.@.

MMoonntteenneeggrroo tthhee ffiirrsstt aafftteerr CCrrooaattiiaa ((1100 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - Montenegro will be the first coun-try after Croatia to become a full member of EU, said deputy Prime Minister andForeign Affairs Minister of Luxembourg JJeeaann AAsseellbboorrnn, who was in Podgorica at ameeting with his Montenegrin counterpart MMiillaann RRoo}}eenn.

220000 000000 EEUURR ttoo ttrraannssllaattee tthhee QQuueessttiioonnnnaaiirree ((1111 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - On request of Centre forCivic Education (CCE), Ministry of European Integrations announced that it hired 117people to translate the Questionnaire, and paid 137.840,20 EUR for their services. "Inaddition to this, there were 68 proof-readers, to whom we paid 68.895,85 EUR. Thetotal budget for translations was thus 206.736,05 EUR. We received a donation fromthe Norwegian government for this project, which was 200.000 EUR, which meansthat almost the entire cost of translation was covered by the donation, and only6.736,05 EUR came from the Montenegrin Budget", said MEI.

EEUU ttoo ssuuppppoorrtt tthhee cciivviill sseeccttoorr ((1111 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - EU started a project of technical sup-port for civil society organisations (TACSO), which offers technical assistance to non-governmental organisations. Head of EU Delegation in Montenegro LLeeooppoolldd MMaauurreerrsaid that the goal of TACSO was to help NGOs to overcome technical problems in thecourse of project implementation. Minister of European Integration GGoorrddaannaa \\uurroovvii}}said that civil society will be informed about all opportunities for applying to Europeanfunds. TACSO, which is to begin in August and last two years, targets the countries ofthe Western Balkans and Turkey, and has a total budget of 6.7 million euro.

TThhee ffiirrsstt ccoonnttrrooll ((1166 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - The first EC expert mission for human rights beganits five-day visit to Montenegro, in the framework of a consultation process which isthe next step after the submission of answer to the Questionnaire. This is the first ofseveral missions that were announced by EC as part of the preparation of the opin-ion on Montenegro's application for membership in EU.

BBaallkkaann ttooppss tthhee lliisstt ((1177 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - High EU represen-tative for foreign and security policy CCaatthheerriinnee AAsshhttoonnsaid in anticipation of her visit o Sarajevo, Belgrade andPri{tina, that the West Balkan region was among thetop EU priorities when it comes to foreign policy.

RReedduuccee ggrreeyy eeccoonnoommyy ((1177 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - Montenegroneeds to step up its efforts to reduce informal econo-my and increase the capacities of tax administration,focusing on tax collection, control and risk analysis, saidthe head of EC Delegation in Podgorica, LeopoldMaurer, at the presentation of the project "Improvescapacities for more efficiency and functionality in thework of Tax Administration".

MMoonntteenneeggrroo ttoo wwoorrkk oonn ffrreeeeddoomm ooff tthhee mmeeddiiaa ((2211 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - Director of the EuropeanCommission DG Enlargement MMiicchhaaeell LLeeiigghh told Montenegro that it needs to work onestablishing efficient and independent judiciary, fight corruption and organised crime,and protect human rights and freedom of the media if it wishes to get a positive Opinionand begin negotiations for membership in the EU. "These are the questions that will bediscussed in the Opinion, and it is important for Montenegro to meet European stan-dards in these areas", Leigh said after the meeting on "Political dialogue EU-Montenegro",where Montenegrin side was represented by the Foreign Affairs Minister Milan Ro}en.

PPoossssiibbllee ssaannccttiioonnss?? ((2277 FFeebbrruuaarryy)) - Illegal migration from Montenegro is a cause of con-cern in the EU, and MP of the European Parliament HHaannnneess SSwwoobbooddaa proposed sus-pension of visa-free travel in case of continued abuse, announced Montenegrin daily"Dan", citing Austrian "Der Kurier". According to the paper, specialised agencies of EUmember states found that thousands of citizens of Montenegro, Serbia and Macedoniaused the possibility of visa-free travel to countries members of the Schengen zone andare now illegally living and working in EU. Swoboda, an MEP of the socialist coalition,called for sanctions in case abuses continue.

Catherine Ashton

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F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0A t t i t ud e

The late KKaarrll WW..DDeeuuttsscchh, a reno-

wned political scien-tist, is probably bestremembered for hav-ing introduced, somedecades ago, theconcept of the "secu-

rity community". Given his careful study ofthe Allies' failed 1919 attempts at achievingpeace through the weakening and isolationof Germany, Prague-born Mr Deutsch pro-posed that it is only through successfulregional integration or, more ambitiously,through independent states' unification that"men some day might abolish war."

While the application of the securitycommunity framework to the EuropeanUnion has not ceased to fascinate scholars,there can be little doubt that, as far as theWestern Balkans is concerned, the progressof regional integration leaves a lot to bedesired. This is particularly true in the neg-lected transport sector, which could poten-tially serve as the area's most potent cata-lyst towards growth and stability.

Accustomed to enjoying an extensivetransport network, West Europeans tend toforget that efficient transport routes are notsimply a prerequisite to growth - they havehistorically been linked to genuine socialand economic development.

European seaports, the foundations ofthe Age of Discovery, generated the build-ing of canal systems and, later on, the con-struction of railways which underpinned theIndustrial Revolution and paved the way forthe invention of the combustion engine.Through time a vast road and rail networkhas been put in place in the developedregions of the world since the early days ofthe 20th century. Indeed, today's globalisedworld would have been less 'flat' withoutlabyrinthine transport networks.

Europeans frequently overlook that noteveryone in their continent enjoys a highlevel of transport services. In fact, in theonly remaining region that is undoubtedly

"European" and yet a few years away fromjoining the EU, transport integration doesnot appear high on the Western Balkans'agenda.

Government budgets are unable tofund the planning, construction and main-tenance of regional road networks, resultingin congested or dangerous routes, and lead-ing some to doubt the completion of evenhighly publicised projects, such as theAlbania-Kosovo Highway.

National airlines are competing withone another when they should be enteringinto strategic partnerships, taking advantageof the region's small size and potential forco-operation. High ticket prices and heavygovernment subsidies result in limited airtraffic which, annually, for a region of 26million inhabitants, is one fifth that ofVienna's airport alone.

There is no commercial rail track link-

ing Albania to neighboring countries.Montenegro is only connected to Serbia,while Skopje remains unconnected to Sofia.This means that to move cargo from Tiranato Sofia, through Skopje, by rail (a distanceof fewer than 350km), one would have touse a 3-hour train to Shkodra, switch forPodgorica, take the 8-hour train toBelgrade, switch to the 9-hour train ride toSkopje, take the 5-hour train toThessaloniki, change to the 6-hour train toSofia, and hope nothing unplanned happensalong the way.

Why aren't we doing more to addressregional transport deficiencies?

Lack of adequate funding, for one,prevents the simultaneous construction ofrail, road, air and maritime facilities in theentire region. From a Brussels perspective,the development of a comprehensive trans-port policy for the area has been an oner-ous task. This is mainly due to the fact thatsome Balkan countries are already EUmembers, a few others have been grantedofficial candidate status and access tomeaningful funding, while others still haveonly recently declared independence. Onthe local level, inefficient prioritisation pro-cedures have not allowed for the earlycompletion of the area's most vital projects.

Ethnic rivalries, corruption and pure ineffi-ciency have also undermined efforts towardsregional transport integration.

There is growing concern about theneed of increased transport integration inthe Western Balkans. The benefits of trans-port efficiency have already been recog-nized in Brussels, which points out thattransport accounts for "about 7 percent ofGDP and more than 5 percent of totalemployment in the EU." In the WesternBalkans, improved transport routes wouldmean that the high trade balance deficitsthat torment the region would be reduced,given that efficient transport infrastructurewould result in increased factor mobility,higher levels of output, and better marketaccessibility. As a result, lower commodityprices, new employment opportunities, andfaster GDP growth would follow, not tomention better conditions for the develop-

ment of tourism.This doesn't mean that transport inte-

gration constitutes a panacea for all thearea's troubles. Nor are there quick fixestowards this goal. The fact, however,remains that question of transport infrastruc-ture development should be higher up onthe agenda of both Brussels and theWestern Balkans' political leaderships. Ofcourse, other initiatives are also important ,such as the visa-liberalisation process or theestablishment of free-trade areas, but effi-cient cross-country transport is a sine quanon for the region's progress and forEuropean integration. In other words, whatgood is it cheering for Montenegro'sachievement of visa-free travel to the EU,when a Montenegrin cannot even get toBelgrade without much money or muchhassle?

In sum, intraregional transport integra-tion in the Western Balkans is necessary topave the way for these countries for futuremembership in EU.

Gerasimos Tsourapas is Researcher atthe Hellenic Centre for European Studies(EKEM). Theodore Couloumbis is ProfessorEmeritus at the University of Athens(SOURCE: EUobserver)

A V I E W F R O M E U

Spdlz!spbet!up!Csvttfmt

by Gerasimos Tsourapas andTheodore Couloumbis

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IInnttrraarreeggiioonnaall ttrraannssppoorrtt iinntteeggrraattiioonn iinn tthhee WWeesstteerrnn BBaallkkaannss iiss nneecceessssaarryyttoo ppaavvee tthhee wwaayy ffoorr tthheessee ccoouunnttrriieess ffoorr ffuuttuurree mmeemmbbeerrsshhiipp iinn EEUU

4Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0F o cu s o f t h i s i s s u e

From mid-February the

ruling Demo-cratic Party ofSocialists (DPS)will be shorter

for a hefty 800 million euros per yearwhich it used to get on account ofrenting its property to theGovernment of Montenegro.

The seat of the MontenegrinGovernment was recently moved toa new building which, in a certainway, begins the process of separatingparty and state property, which hasbeen the constant reproach by theEuropean Commission and OSCE.

Their demands are important for,if this process is ever completed, thatwill dispel a lot of shadows surround-ing the Montenegrin electoral process- for years now the opposition hasbeen complaining that it is financial-ly disadvantages, as DPS can usepublic property (which it acquiredthe right to manage when the courtsdeclared DPS the hair to the formerSocial-Political Organisations - SPO)to its party purposes.

The first legal separation of theproperty of the party from that ofstate began in June 2009 when theParliament adopted the Law on stateproperty.

In its latest Progress Report onMontenegro, European Commissionsaid that the law provides adequateframework for separating state fromparty property, but emphasised that

the real test will be implementation.According to the Law on state

property, the property of former SPOshould not be treated in the sameway as the property of the formerLeague of Communists ofMontenegro, Socialist Council of theWorking People of Montenegro andthe Council of Montenegrin SocialistYouth.

Article 73 of the Law envisages acomprehensive inventory and evalu-ation of the property, followed bybalanced distribution of this propertythrough further regulations to theparties which have representatives inthe state or local parliaments, for the

duration of their mandate.Property Administration, which is

responsible for most of this work, hascompleted the inventory of the prop-erty of former SPO in most munici-palities.

The next thing is to comparetheir inventory with the register ofthe Real Estate Directorate, in orderto arrive at a complete list of own-ers, as not all property belonged tothe League of Communists. Once theevaluation and registration of theproperty is completed, the Govern-ment will issue a directive regulatingthe use of such real estate as stateproperty.

T H E G O V E R N M E N T B E G I N S T O S E P A R A T E T H E P R O P E R T Y O F T H E P A R T Y F R O MT H E P R O P E R T Y O F T H E S T A T E

by Mirela Rebronja

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Neven Go{ovi}

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TThhee ddeemmaannddss ooff EECC aanndd OOSSCCEE aarree iimmppoorrttaanntt ffrroomm tthhee ssttaannddppooiinntt ooffffrreeee aanndd ffaaiirr eelleeccttiioonnss.. OOppppoossiittiioonn aanndd tthhee cciivviill sseeccttoorr hhaavvee wwaarrnneeddffoorr mmaannyy yyeeaarrss nnooww tthhaatt tthhee ooppppoonneennttss ooff tthhee ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt aarree iinn aannuunneeqquuaall ppoossiittiioonn,, aass DDPPSS,, wwhhiicchh ggoott tthhee rriigghhtt ttoo mmaannaaggee ssttaattee pprroopp-eerrttyy aass aa lleeggaall ssuucccceessssoorr ooff tthhee ffoorrmmeerr SSoocciiaall-PPoolliittiiccaall OOrrggaanniissaattiioonnss((SSPPOO)),, uusseedd tthhiiss pprrooppeerrttyy ffoorr tthhee nnaarrrrooww ppaarrttyy ppuurrppoosseess

5Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

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Vice-president of the SocialistPeople's Party NNeevveenn GGoo{{oovvii}} said inthe interview with the EuropeanPulse that the problem is not withthe law, which is clearly formulatedand does not allow for ambiguousinterpretations.

Dissatisfaction in the oppositionstems from the disregard for the Lawby those in power.

"The Government was supposedto appoint an Ombudsman for thelegal and property interests ofMontenegro within 3 months sincethe coming into force of this law, i.e.by August 2009, and this only hap-pened in December", said Go{ovi},adding that this is just one of theexamples of the governments' disre-gard for the law.

Another example, according tohim, is the fact that the 2010 budg-et allocated 10 000 euros to theoffice of the Ombudsman, which issupposed to cover the yearly wagesof the employees as well as the costsof all activities.

"The Government was also sup-posed to adopt a directive on theinventory procedures for the state-owned property by September 2009,but nothing happened yet", he said.

Go{ovi} reminds that OSCE rec-ommendations insisted on a divisionbetween acting on behalf of the

Government and on behalf of apolitical party, which includes a sep-arate law that would forbid the par-

ties to use state property andresources more generally for theircampaigns.

In implementing the decisionsprescribed by this law, the most dif-ficult task will go to the PropertyAdministration which is in charge ofinventory and evaluation.

Director of this Administrationand member of the DPS presidencyMMeevvlluuddiinn NNuuhhoodd`̀ii}} recently said thatit will not be easy to fulfil all obliga-tions stipulated by the Law on StateProperty of Montenegro, pointing outthe examples of other countries ofthe region in which this process tookseveral years.

Go{ovi} welcomes the first step ofthe Govenrment to implement theLaw on state property. "Bearing inmind that the Government of Monte-negro recently moved to a new build-ing, we can expect them to finally ful-fil their legal obligations", he said.

Coordinator of the legal pro-

In addition to having a stable source of financing, DPS had other benefits frombeing a "landlord" to the Government, to which it rented the building pop-

ularly known as "the two coffins", says the coordinator of the legal programmein Centre for Monitoring (CEMI) Vlado Dedovi}. He believes that this relation-ship only contributed to identification of party with the state in Montenegro.

"The symbolism of the coexistence of the Government and the ruling party"under the same roof" is one of the reasons which makes it difficult for ordi-nary citizens to distinguish between the state and the party - in terms of bothproperty and function", Dedovi} emphasised.

Adding to this, according to him, is the fact that important campaign meet-ings, as well as post-election gatherings, i.e. the celebrations of the ruling party,used to be held in this building.

"The last such example was the campaign for the presidential elections inApril 2008. The candidate of the ruling party and the current president ofMontenegro Filip Vujanovi} held the last campaign convention in the verybuilding of the Government of Montenegro, which drew protests from other

presidential candidates", he said.

DDPPSS LLOOSSEESS PPSSYYCCHHOOLLOOGGIICCAALL AADDVVAANNTTAAGGEE

VViiccee-pprreessiiddeenntt ooff SSNNPP NNeevveenn GGoo{{oovvii}} ssaayyss tthhaatt tthhee pprroobblleemm iiss nnootttthhee llaaww,, wwhhiicchh iiss cclleeaarrllyy ffoorrmmuullaatteedd aanndd ddooeess nnoott aallllooww ffoorraammbbiigguuoouuss iinntteerrpprreettaattiioonnss,, bbuutt wwiitthh tthhee GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt wwhhiicchh ddooeessnnoott rreessppeecctt oobblliiggaattiioonnss sseett bbyy tthhee LLaaww oonn ssttaattee pprrooppeerrttyy

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Vlado Dedovi}

6Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

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gramme in Centre for Monitoring(CEMI) VVllaaddoo DDeeddoovvii}} believes thatone of the key problems facingMontenegrin society for almost twen-ty years is "illegal appropriation, useand management of property of theformer social-political organisationsand institutions by some politicalstructures in Montenegro".

"In this way they acquired signif-icant funds and other benefits, aswell as an easy access to a partyinfrastructure reaching into all partsof the country. At the same time,other political parties were forced tolimit their expansion within theboundaries set by the funding theyreceived according to the Law on thefinancing of political parties. We cantherefore say that to a large extentthat most elections to date inMontenegro - both parliamentaryand presidential - were a contestbetween very unequal opponents",Dedovi} emphasised.

The use of state property was anissue that regularly came up duringelection campaigns, and non-gov-ernmental organisations kept warningabout the possible abuse of publicresources by the ruling parties, whichgave them an unfair advantage overother participants in the elections.

Post-electoral reports of many

NGOs found violations of the lawsand abuse of state property, especial-ly with regard to the use of govern-ment vehicles and buildings wherethe campaign meetings were held.

Dedovi} said that it is a generalconclusion that there was abuse ofpublic administrative capacities in the

electoral processes in Montenegro.He adds that "this is something

that became an integral part of everyelection campaign, and which hascasted a long shadow on other ele-

ments of the electoral process, whichhave been conducted in line withthe basic principles of democracy".

Dedovi} announced that in thefuture CEMI will dedicate specialattention to improving and advancinglegislation that would regulate allaspects of the possible abuse of stateproperty. He added that in theupcoming local elections, to be heldin 2010, CEMI will focus on monitor-ing abuse of administrative resources.

Implementation of the Law onstate property has not been develop-ing according to the legally pre-scribed timetable, which makesmany opposition parties and civilsociety organisations suspect thatDPS, i.e. the Government, is notgenuinely committed to giving up onstate property.

Croatia has a long record of looking for the right model for managing thestate property inherited from the times of socialism.The property is currently managed by the Central state agency for the

management of public property, Croatian privatisation fund and Agency fortrade and ownership of real estate.

However, in January 2010 there was the initiative to establish a separateagency to manage state property, which would be dedicated to economic prin-ciples and would bring all the state property under one authority.

This, according to the Croatian media, is an attempt to establish a uni-fied, effective model of management which would enable also enable newinvestments. The model to be used in Montenegro will be announced once allthe property has been registered and the process further defined through addi-tional regulation.

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Former Government building

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7Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Ana ly s e s

Early 2010saw Monte-

negro again inthe focus ofattention, thistime not beca-

use of the Questionnaire, theanswers, or the news from Brusselsregarding our candidacy for themembership in EU, but because ofsuspicions that it's sheltering thecriminals who are being sought evenby the United States of America.

Although the existence of a pow-erful narco-clan with headquarters inKotor whose task was to launder ille-gally earned money was a publicsecret for some years, and in spite ofthe fact that certain Darko [ari}, byknow a world famous figure, hasbeen on the files of the Montenegrinpolice since 1993, [ari} himself feltsafe in Montenegro.

This is evident from the fact thatthe Agency for National Security senta guarantee to the Ministry of InteriorAffairs and Public Administration inDecember 2009, clearing his requestto acquire Montenegrin citizenship -which is a blatant violation of the lawsand regulations on citizenship, whichstipulate that no member of a crimi-nal organization, or a person suspect-ed of connections with criminalgroups, can become citizen ofMontenegro. His closest collaborators,who are being sought by Serbia, werebriefly imprisoned in Spu`, but werelet out in no time, on grounds ofinsufficient evidence. Serbia didn'twant to send them to Podgorica, and

Montenegrin judiciary explained thatthere were no legal grounds for keep-ing them in detention. Montenegroalso couldn't possibly hand them overto Serbia, as its Constitution forbids itto deliver its citizens to other states.

The question is - how can bothSerbia and USA have evidence thatMontenegro was the seat of a narco-clan which traded in cocaine fromSouth America to Europe and US,while Montenegro has no clue aboutit? Is it possible that nobody from theMontenegrin police and secret servicegot a whiff of it? Or was it rather thatthey tolerated the "business" becausesome people in the government, andespecially in the secret service, wereprofiting from this same "business"?And if we know that the clan wasalso doing business with a certainMontenegrin bank which is partlyowned by the prime minister, it iseasily imaginable that someone,aware of the dismal state ofMontenegrin economy, thought thatcocaine money could be used to helpthe population get along, like it wasthe case in the 1990s, when pensions

and salaries were paid out of tobac-co-smuggling revenues.

And if this is the case, than wecan better understand all these horri-ble accusations launched by theopposition about Montenegro being a"safe criminal haven" and a "capturedstate", in which the underground isreally in power and democratic insti-

tutions only serve as decoration.If this is not the case, than the

state must demonstrate as quickly aspossible that it is not being heldhostage by the criminals.

In order to erase this awfulimpression that the state is run bysomebody who is more concernedabout building a private empire thanabout building a state in which every-body who wishes to play by the rulescan earn him or herself happiness,wealth and prosperity, something bigneeds to happen. The police must riseup to the task, and the prosecutioncannot just stand aside waiting for theapproval of their political bosses to getdown to work. If none of that hap-

pens, it will be clear that Montenegroneeds new energy and people withoutmortgages. That, or ending up in adeep hole as a voluntary victim of themonsters of the underground. Storiesabout European integration willbecome ridiculous, and Montenegrowill be just a marionette of the Bossand the cartel around him.

A F T E R G R O W I N G S U S P I C I O N T H A T T H E U N D E R G R O U N D I S G U I D I N G T H E H A N DO F T H E S T A T E

by Ne|eljko Rudovi}

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8Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0In t e r v i ew

Director of the Belgrade Academyfor Diplomacy and Security, pro-

fessor Dr Andreja Savi} says thatEuropean Union will assess the behav-iour of Montenegro and Serbia in the"[ari} case" through the lens of region-al cooperation, which, he explained, isthe absolute priority for EU.

"I believe that this case will cer-tainly be processed by EU throughadequate working bodies. The stan-dards are very rigorous, the need forregional and continent-wide coopera-tion is an absolute priority. This is aproblem whose resolution is in thecommon interest of the state of Serbiaand Monteengro", says Savi}, who wasthe last chief of the Department ofNational Security between 2001 and2003 and the first director of theSecurity and Information Agency (SIA)in Serbia.

He didn't want to talk about thecase of [ari} because, as he said, weshould wait for the results of thepolice and prosecution before wedraw conclusions.

"In any case, I believe this issomething that is currently undermin-ing the image of Montenegro as a

democratic, independent states, but Idon't think this is just Montenegro'sproblem - it is a case with manytransnational elements, and a globalproblem for the entire internationalcommunity", said Savi} in the inter-view for European Pulse.

He adds that he is not happy that

this affair, in some way, added morestrain to the political tensions betweenSerbia and Montenegro.

"This is a problem, because onlygood political and, most of all, profes-sional cooperation can be expected totackle global security problems", Savi}said.

Is it right to say that the EUcurrently emphasises the concept ofcivil security?

Indeed, civil security is a priorityin the last few years and in the era ofglobalisation. What does this mean?The traditional approach to militarydoctrines, like in the times of vonClausewitz has become obsolete.

You will notice that all strategiesand doctrines of national security and

defence rely on a single universal par-adigm - challenges, risks and threatsto security. Now the most acutethreats are terrorism and organisedcrime.

In this context, the civil sector canwield a lot of pressure on the politicalauthorities in EU member states. Thishas to be accepted to a large extent,as the civil society acts as a correctiveto political processes.

What are the elements of theconcept of contemporary civil security?

In my opinion, it is a two-levelconcept.

On the one hand, it meansdecentralisation, i.e. transfer of certainsecurity issues from public to the pri-vate sector. Here we are not only talk-ing about agencies for physical andtechnical security. This is an entireindustrial cluster of private securitywhich serves to relieve the publicbudgets of the financial burden of

D I R E C T O R O F T H E B E L G R A D E A C A D E M Y F O R D I P L O M A C Y A N D S E C U R I T Y A N DF O R M E R D I R E C T O R O F S I A , P R O F E S S O R D R A N D R E J A S A V I ]

Gps!FV!uif!#\bsj~!dbtf#!jt!bnbuufs!pg!sfhjpobm!dppqfsbujpo

Andreja Savi}

II bbeelliieevvee tthhaatt tthhee ""[[aarrii}} ccaassee"" wwiillll cceerrttaaiinnllyy bbee pprroocceesssseedd bbyy EEUUtthhrroouugghh aaddeeqquuaattee wwoorrkkiinngg bbooddiieess.. TThhee ssttaannddaarrddss aarree vveerryy rriiggoorroouuss,,tthhee nneeeedd ffoorr rreeggiioonnaall aanndd ccoonnttiinneenntt-wwiiddee ccooooppeerraattiioonn iiss aannaabbssoolluuttee pprriioorriittyy

phot

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JEST

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9Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0In t e r v i ew

security which is outsourced to multi-national corporations. There are manyexamples of it: security in airports,harbours etc.

The other level is the rise of civilcontrol in EU member states, whichhave been developed and promotedthrough the parliamentary structures.

In its reports on MontenegroEuropean Commission keeps repeatingthat parliamentary control must bedeveloped and strengthened. What isthe key to successful civil control andmonitoring of security forces?

Here the main factor is the roleand influence of political authorities ina certain moment in a given country.

The control will be effective anddeveloped only to the extent that thegovernment wants to render this sec-tor transparent and more accessible.

I believe that in all countries ofcountries of this region, although to adifferent degree, the question of par-liamentary control is still suffering thefirst measles.

What do you think about theassessment of some experts who saythat the key to successful civil controlis in the implementation of a special

law on the budget of security forces,which helps monitoring how muchmoney they get and how it is spent?

This is a sensitive issue.On the one hand, you must pro-

tect the main values of a state and asociety, on the other hand, you needto make things more transparent.

There should be a measure ofbalance between these two require-ments.

Does the Lisbon treaty bringsome novelties in the domain ofsecurity?

Security issues have somehowremained on the level of the commonforeign and security policy since

Maastricht.This is a very important pillar of

EU and it must be said that the insti-tutions which are relevant for security(and here I also mean the judiciary)are still in the process of being

formed. They develop quite slowly,but it is happening.

For example?For instance, there is Europol,

which is a counterpart to Interpol, andwhich is doing quite well. This is evi-dent from the patterns of financing -last year Europol had a bigger budgetthan Interpol.

This means that the states ofWestern Europe, primarily the mem-bers of the Schengen zone, haverealised that they must rise up to thenew challenges, risks and threats tosecurity. Certainly one of the prioritiesin this regard is illegal immigration ofpeople with all the accompanyingphenomena such as trafficking inhuman being and drugs, trade in

human organs, organised crime. Thereare also other issues such as high-techcrime, which relies on the latest tech-nologies in criminal activities. Theseare some of the priorities and Europolis in the position to develop into ahighly respectable institution.

I would add that the EU memberstates which finance and use Europolare all at the same time members ofInterpol.

There is also the system of judici-ary which works within the frameworkof the community law. I believe thatboth Eurojust and the European Courtof Justice are becoming sronger.

My impression is that this securi-

ty system is developing in the rightdirection, gradually strengthening itsinstitutions and broadening the scopeof regulation within the communitylaw to all relevant procedures.

There are some reservations,

however, regarding the attitude of USAto the growing security sector in EU.

What does that mean?I mean the relationship between

NATO on the one hand and EU insti-tutions, combat forces, peace missionsetc on the other. This is certainlysomething to think about, as the NATOis now entering an identity crisis.

They established an advisoryworking group, led by MadeleineAlbright, which was supposed tooffer a new formula for NATO. Sinceit was established in 1949, NATOunderwent the first radical transfor-mation in 1999 during attack on theformer Yugoslavia. Eleven years havepassed since then, and NATO isagain searching for a new formula tojustify its survival as a militaryalliance.

It has several options.At a recent conference in

Munich there were some proposals tomake NATO and instrument of theOrganisation of United Nations. Thiswas also supported by the SecretaryGeneral of UN, but was immediatelyrejected by the German defenceminister.

This shows that the relationsbetween EU and NATO are far fromclear. Besides, we should rememberthat there is quite some political pres-sure in Western Europe to removesome 220 nuclear missiles that werestationed in NATO bases in Germany,Belgium, Italy, and even in Turkey. Thistells us about the attitude of themajority public opinion in these coun-tries towards some political options.

V. @UGI]

PPaarrlliiaammeennttaarryy ccoonnttrrooll ooff sseeccuurriittyy ffoorrcceess wwiillll oonnllyy bbee ddeevveellooppeedd aannddeeffffeeccttiivvee ttoo tthhee eexxtteenntt tthhaatt tthhee ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt wwaannttss ttoo rreennddeerr tthhiisssseeccttoorr ttrraannssppaarreenntt aanndd mmoorree aacccceessssiibbllee

EEUU iinnssttiittuuttiioonnss iinn cchhaarrggee ooff sseeccuurriittyy,, aanndd hheerree wwee sshhoouulldd aallssooiinncclluuddee tthhee jjuuddiicciiaarryy,, aarree ssttiillll iinn tthhee mmaakkiinngg.. TThheeyy ddeevveelloopp qquuiitteesslloowwllyy,, bbuutt iitt iiss hhaappppeenniinngg.. FFoorr iinnssttaannccee,, EEuurrooppooll iiss ddooiinngg qquuiitteewweellll,, wwhhiicchh ccaann bbee sseeeenn iinn tthhee ppaatttteerrnnss ooff ffiinnaanncciinngg - llaasstt yyeeaarrEEuurrooppooll hhaadd aa bbiiggggeerr bbuuddggeett tthhaann IInntteerrppooll

10Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Ev en t s and p e r s on s who shap ed Eur op e

It is a wide-spread myth in

today's popularculture that theperiod from thefall of theWestern Roman

Empire in 476 until the beginning of therenaissance in the 14th century representsthe darkest period of European history.Known among historians as the middleages, these times were marked by a lackof order, wars and pressures from theCatholic Church, which limited culturaldevelopment of these times. However, ifwe turn to the far East of the Europeancontinent, we will find a very differentpicture.

Eastern Roman Empire, better knownas Byzantium, was for the most partspared the destruction by barbariantribes, and succeeded in preserving mostof its territories.

Similarly, almost all big cities of theRoman empire (apart from Rome itself)were situated on its territory -Thessalonica, Nikkei, Iconium, Antioch,Edessa, Jerusalem, Alexandria and manyothers will become vibrant metropoliseswhich will preserve and build on theknowledge of the ancient East, Greeceand Rome.

At the time when London, Paris andBerlin were but military outposts,Constantinople was a metropolis withmore than a hundred thousand inhabi-tants, the grandiose church of AgaSophia, Aqueduct, Hippodrome anddozens of palaces. This empire, until itscapital was captured by the Ottomanforces in 1453, will be the guardian ofknowledge which in the West was all butlost.

After the fall of Rome the EasternRoman Empire comprised of the territories

of the Balkans, Near East, Levant, Egypt,northern Libya, as well as all the islandson the Mediterranean Sea. The inhabitantsof these parts called themselves Romeis,and their empire Romean. Western con-temporaries called them Greeks, and theterm "Byzantium" was only introduced bymodern historiography, after the Greekcolony Byzantium which laid foundationsfor Constantinople.

In the beginning the official languagein Byzantium was Latin, but it was soonreplaced by Greek, which was the lan-guage of majority of the population. Theethnic structure of the empire wasextremely varied, but centuries ofHellenisation, first under Alexander theGreat and later by the Romans, resultedin a fairly homogenous culture. Finally,

there was the uniting factor of Christianitywhich was faster to spread and take rootin the East Mediterranean than in theWest.

The ancient Greek and Roman cul-ture was preserved in these parts. Withtime, under the eastern, mostly Persianinfluence, and after the great schism of1054, a new Byzantine - orthodox civil-isation emerged. As a bridge between theEast and the West for almost a thousand

years it merged together philosophical,artistic as well as moral principles of thetwo worlds. The Byzantine Emperor wasa typical despot of the Eastern world, butthe culture of his empire was anenchanting offspring of Hellenism incor-porated into Eastern Christianity. Theknowledge of the ancient Europe, as wellas that of the ancient East, was kept inthe libraries of the Byzantine cities, wait-ing for the Franks, Venetians, the Papalseat and the Arabs to discover it.

From its origins Byzantium wasforced to constantly fight on two fronts:Eastern and western. Perhaps the Empirewould have lived longer and be moreprosperous, if it wasn't for several histor-ical coincidences. For centuries, as soonas the empire managed to defend itself

from one enemy, another would appear.In the west the Germanic tribes weresucceeded by the Slavs, Avars, Bulgarians,Cumans, Normans, while the easternfront brought in waves of Persians, Arabs,and various Turkic tribes until theOttomans. To make things worse, eventhose who came to help in the fightagainst the "infidels" turned againstByzantium, intoxicated by its immensewealth. The conquest of Constantinople

by Milo{ Vukanovi}

////////

W H O P R E S E R V E D A N D T R A N S M I T T E D T H E C I V I L I S A T I O N A L A C H I E V E M E M T N S O FG R E E C E A N D R O M E T O T H E N E W E U R O P E

Cz{boujvn!.!uif!csjehf!cfuxffo!pme!boe!ofx!Fvspqf

AAtt tthhee ttiimmee wwhheenn ddaarrkknneessss rreeiiggnneedd aaccrroossss aallll ccoouunnttrriieess ooff ttooddaayy''ssEEuurrooppeeaann WWeesstt,, tthhee EEaasstteerrnn RRoommaann EEmmppiirree pprreesseerrvveedd tthhee ccuullttuurraallhheerriittaaggee aanndd kknnoowwlleeddggee ooff tthhee aanncciieenntt GGrreeeeccee aanndd RRoommee ttoo bbeerreeddiissccoovveerreedd bbyy EEuurrooppeeaannss

Byzantium under Justinian:Red - territories from the beginning of the rule; yellow - conquered territories

11Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Ev en t s and p e r s on s who shap ed Eur op e

in 1024 by the Crusaders will be thebiggest blow ever dealt to the Empire.From then until its final downfallByzantium will remain a pale shadow ofitself and will continue to survive onlybecause of the political intrigues and thickwalls of its capital.

Bearing in mind all the wars and theconstant loss of territories, it is hard toimagine that this state managed to survivefor so long, and on occasion even to riseand prosper.

Byzantium experienced its biggestexpansion under JJuussttiinniiaann (527-565)who, in an attempt to restore the Roman

Empire went as far as to conquer north-ern Africa, Italy, and parts of Spain, andto defend its eastern borders from thePersians. The church of St. Sophia wasalso created under his rule, as well as thefamous legal codices (Corpus iuris civilis).However, repeated wars and internaluprisings (such as the rebellion of Nikkei)weakened the empire, which also facili-tated the breakthrough and the settlementof Slavs in the Balkans. After a series ofwars, and internal unrests in both the Eastand the West, the second expansion ofthe Empire came with the Emperor BBaassiillIIII (976-1025). He will succeed in restor-ing many territories in the Balkans and inthe Middle East. However, after his death,the conflict between his heirs and theattacks of Normans and Turks ushered ina phase of decline that was to last foralmost half a millennium.

In order to understand the ability ofByzantium to survive for so long, weshould bear in mind several factors. The

first is its cultural and technological devel-opment which gave a huge advantage tothe successor of the Roman Empire aheadof the neighbouring barbarian peoples.The second is its position between Asiaand Europe, which meant that Byzantiumwas in control of the trade routesbetween the two continents, with its cap-ital being the biggest market of the world.The third factor was its developed mili-tary and administrative system. In contrastto the feudal regime in the west,Byzantium developed a special system ofthemes. Themes were military administra-tive units lead by an imperial deputy.

However, the military commander of thetheme did not answer to the deputy ofhis theme, but directly to the emperor.

However, the most important speci-ficity of this system was the fact that thelocal population, was free, although it hadto serve the army and pay taxes in returnfor being allowed to work the land. It isbelieved that this system contributed toByzantium's longevity. In addition to this,after the conquests local population wasoften transferred to other parts of theempire, which facilitated cultural assimi-lation and incorporation into the imperi-al army.

Except for the external attacks,Byzantium also had to deal with manyinternal problems. Frequent warsinevitably led to higher taxes. It is wellknown that the territories of Levant andEgypt (Jerusalem and Alexandria) literallywelcomed Arabs as their liberators fromthe torture of Byzantine tax collectors.Financial crashes and widespread embez-

zlement shook the empire on severaloccasions, and social unrests became fre-quent throughout the centuries.

During 6th, 7th and partly the 8thcentury Byzantium was in the throngs of acivil war caused by iconoclasm.Iconoclasts were a religious movementwhich fought to remove icons, frescoes,sculptures, relics and other religious rep-resentations from the religious rituals.Although iconoclasm was eventually erad-icated, the conflict was at times so heat-ed that the empire nearly split into two.

In addition to all this, we should alsonot forget numerous dynastic and clericalconflicts. Finally, in the last few centuriesof its existence, Byzantium was reducedto Constantinople, and an ever smallernumber of territories in the Balkans andthe Middle East, and where the peopleand the economy will be barely survivingwhile the construction of monasteriesgrew well out of proportion.

The cultural impact of Byzantium oncontemporary Europe is immeasurable. Inaddition to providing civilisational foun-dation to almost all countries of theBalkans and Eastern Europe, progressmade by the Western Europe in the latemiddle ages and during Renaissance willbe based to a large extent on the knowl-edge brought from Byzantium by theCrusades, missionaries and traders.Balkan states have grown out of the rootsof Sclavinias, the earliest Slavic stateswhich appeared under the influence ofthe Byzantine administrative system, andthey owe their literacy and first culturalachievements to the missionaries from theEmpire on the Bosphorus. Similar influ-ences can be traced to the beginnings ofthe states of Russians and Ukrainians.

At the time when darkness reignedacross all countries of today's EuropeanWest, the Eastern Roman Empire pre-served the cultural heritage and knowl-edge of the ancient Greece and Rome tobe rediscovered by Europeans. Even in itslast days before the fall of Constantinople,when the Ottoman armies prepared tobring down the walls that for almost athousand years have resisted invaders,missionaries and diplomats of the HolySee were taking books from the Byzantinelibraries to the west, using Byzantium forthe one last time as a bridge between theancient and new Europe which was justabout to be born.

TThhee aauutthhoorr iiss aa pprrooggrraammmmee aassssooccii-aattee iinn CCeennttrree ffoorr CCiivviicc EEdduuccaattiioonn

EEvveenn iinn iittss llaasstt ddaayyss bbeeffoorree tthhee ffaallll ooff CCoonnssttaannttiinnooppllee,, wwhheenn tthheeOOttttoommaann aarrmmiieess pprreeppaarreedd ttoo bbrriinngg ddoowwnn tthhee wwaallllss tthhaatt ffoorr aallmmoossttaa tthhoouussaanndd yyeeaarrss hhaavvee rreessiisstteedd iinnvvaaddeerrss,, mmiissssiioonnaarriieess aanndd ddiipplloo-mmaattss ooff tthhee HHoollyy SSeeee wweerree ttaakkiinngg bbooookkss ffrroomm tthhee BByyzzaannttiinneelliibbrraarriieess ttoo tthhee wweesstt,, uussiinngg BByyzzaannttiiuumm ffoorr tthhee oonnee llaasstt ttiimmee aass aabbrriiddggee bbeettwweeeenn tthhee aanncciieenntt aanndd nneeww EEuurrooppee wwhhiicchh wwaass jjuusstt aabboouuttttoo bbee bboorrnn

Byzantium at the time of death of Basil II

12Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Eur op ean ba r ome t e r i n Mon t en eg r o

1.It makes you nauseated, or at least

gives you hiccups to hear these bannerbearers, and if tomorrow they are tocarry my wedding colours through thevillage, I would still ask them, half-jok-ingly, as it becomes the best man:"Gentlemen, drop it!".

One speaker said he lost, that is,sacrificed his youth for Montenegro.

It's pretty sad to lose a youth.What should be done for the peoplewho admit that they have lost this, cer-tainly overestimated age, but necessaryfor the formation of a healthy, respon-sible individual. You know, there arepeople who start taking heroin or getaddicted to hotline at the age of 40,just because they lost their youth. Evenif it were for the country - their envi-ronment still suffers.

So those who lost their youth forMontenegro are now gathering inprotests like they just came out of atime machine or one of Baleti}'smovies. Complete with the priest in thefirst row to bless the flock and the sulk.

It bodes for a major turn of events,this rise of patriots, for their noise isalways a cover-up for some monu-mental implosion which must not beheard, this time possibly the final splitwithin DPS itself, something I will neverquite believe in.

For the time being we can onlysay one thing: somebody needs thissecond stage of state-building. Nowwe must defend the country, againagainst Serbia, and we should allbravely croak at the ancient oppressorwho is only waiting for the guard atEast River to fall asleep to clamber up

and remove our boastful beloved.Woe to us who still have the guts

to feel young, for we know what awaitsus! Partisans and meddlers crying overtheir youth which they laid down atthe altar of the fatherland is possiblythe vilest thing I heard in the last fewyears of my existence. And, may I add,I have not given a single day of my lifeto Montenegro, nor do I intend some-thing so ridiculous. If I had, I would bekeeping quiet and writing memoires.Or I would have killed myself to endsuch a wasteful existence.

How dangerous do you need tobe for yourself and the surroundings toswallow the national trope, in theBalkans, after all the wars and pacts.Where, how do they make thesezealots, how is it possible that they areall made after the same mould, wher-ever in the world you encounter them?You recognise them by bulging eyes

and a permanently knotted brow, or aface set in imitation of Duke. The saidcompany in trance is usually male, as adecent gathering of warriors must be.In addition to loving their country, theywant it to be officially recognised. The

dream of our heroes is to establish aspecial little cast of deserving individu-als who would receive pensions fortheir patriotism and be entitled to aVIP societal role. Something like priestsof Maltese knights, public masons ofindependence or something of thatorder.

2.Neboj{a Medojevi} was attacked

for mentioning the name of business-men Mi}unovi} from Nik{i} in a nega-tive context and once again he was hitor rushed at in the street.

We all sometimes wished to dragout the president or prime minister bytheir ears, to trample the president ofthe Parliament or to beat up the leaderof the opposition. It is only human,and simple, to have an urge to limitsomeone's power with a whack or akick in the backside. We call it mini-malism and it's always chick. Especiallyin the times when everything is rifewith conspiracies and spins - you sim-ply ambush your guy in front of thebuilding and slap!

There's nothing controversial about

this, except for the fact that similartroubles always and again befallMedojevi}. He turned out to be theman who keeps talking about crimeand corruption and at the same timekeeps losing votes, which is either aworrying paradox or a logical thing, I'mstill not sure. But that is not important:

FFoorr tthhee ttiimmee bbeeiinngg wwee ccaann oonnllyy ssaayy oonnee tthhiinngg:: ssoommeebbooddyy nneeeeddsstthhiiss sseeccoonndd ssttaaggee ooff ssttaattee-bbuuiillddiinngg.. NNooww wwee mmuusstt ddeeffeenndd tthheeccoouunnttrryy,, aaggaaiinn aaggaaiinnsstt SSeerrbbiiaa,, aanndd wwee sshhoouulldd aallll bbrraavveellyy ccrrooaakk aatttthhee aanncciieenntt oopppprreessssoorr wwhhoo iiss oonnllyy wwaaiittiinngg ffoorr tthhee gguuaarrdd aatt EEaassttRRiivveerr ttoo ffaallll aasslleeeepp ttoo ccllaammbbeerr uupp aanndd rreemmoovvee oouurr bbooaassttffuull bbeelloovveedd

TThhee llaatteesstt aattttaacckk oonn NNeebboojj{{aa MMeeddoojjeevvii}} iiss,, ooff ccoouurrssee,, iiss mmoorree sseerrii-oouuss.. TThheerree iiss eevveerr lleessss mmoonneeyy aanndd mmaannyy ppeeooppllee aarree ggeettttiinngg nneerrvv-oouuss.. BBeessiiddeess,, tthheerree''ss aallwwaayyss tthhee ccuussttoomm llaaww ttoo pprrootteecctt tthheemm..AAvveennggiinngg ffaammiillyy pprriiddee iiss aann eexxcceelllleenntt aalliibbii ttoo bbeeaatt uupp ssoommeebbooddyy oonntthhee ssttrreeeett

Gbnjmz!xbsby Brano Mandi}

13Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Eur op ean ba r ome t e r i n Mon t en eg r o

let us remember that on the day of theelections a man, owner of a copy-shop, next to the ballot box, threwhimself at Medojevi} and called himnames.

The latest incident, of course, ismore serious. There is ever less moneyand many people are getting nervous.Besides, there's always the custom lawto protect them. Avenging family prideis an excellent alibi to beat up some-body on the street and have everyMontenegrin uncle give you props, patyou on the back and so on.

Negative energy is on the rise andit has to break out in some rituals. Thepolice gets it out at least in writingrabble-rousing communiques. That'sEuropean police with EuropeanVeljovi} at its helm. But, what do wedo with businessmen? The police willprotect us all, if we behave. As forMedojevi}, he needs to get the supportof the public. He has the right tospeak, even if he makes a terribleblunder and is corrected by the minis-ter of agriculture, in front of all cam-eras, until it hurts.

Medojevi} likes to talk, but that ishis sacred right which must be defend-ed. Shall we?

3.The conclusion is terrifying: a family

war in Montenegro, until the final recon-quest of independence! We are beyondcivil wars. Uncles against nephews, nieces

against daughters in law and viciousbrothers in law. The best would be forthe family war to flare up around such aneternal topic like adoration of the nation-al symbols. For instance, the cousin fromthe mother's side didn't sing the last twolines of the anthem. That pissed off onestep brother of an influential father andhusband. And so it goes, until all threebranches of the family three are on fire,the flames reach across and the wholevillage catches...

The first thing is to recognise thetraitors and collaborators of foreign intel-ligence agencies. Paranoia is a great nar-rative machine. Everything can be suspi-cious if we suspect it. The media will

always be there to blow the thing out ofproportions, and there we have a hotsummer. There's too many morbid sto-ries circulating on daily basis. The case of[ari} is already enough to make thesmart and the rich think twice. There'snothing to be done until the classicalcrime story is rolled into a national-polit-ical-historical plot about conspiracyagainst our statehood interests. A bigbusiness that was going well suddenlycollapsed and that's that. What will bethe consequences for the economy ofPljevlja, the former fiefdom of theaccused remains to be seen. Hopefullythe dissatisfied masses of Pljevlja will lockthemselves into the nightclub "Muni-cipium" and refuse to come out unless[ari} is declared innocent. But notbefore they get a guarantee from thePrime Minister, like the miners did.

Every strike that ends with a songis a farce. That's why the miners areback in the pit, but this time roundnobody cares. Simply, an ordinary citi-zen cannot cope with this amount ofinformation which nobody is willing toconnect into a logical scenario.

The opposition failed for at leastten times, and we expect it to contin-ue doing so. The awakening of nation-

alists from the beginning of this story,the family-clan homogenisation andpoverty are the three things that twistour stomachs. We're all waiting forsomething big to happen, this thingcannot be but an intro, and the PMalso joined the collective holding ofbreath, with the hundred and fifteenthannouncement of his withdrawal frompolitics. It might be that politics willwithdraw before him on a wave ofsome new violence. Let's just hope thatour American and European friends willnever allow it, for Montenegro's sake!

The author is a journalist of thedaily newspaper "Vijesti"

WWee''rree aallll wwaaiittiinngg ffoorr ssoommeetthhiinngg bbiigg ttoo hhaappppeenn,, tthhiiss tthhiinngg ccaannnnoottbbee bbuutt aann iinnttrroo,, aanndd tthhee PPMM aallssoo jjooiinneedd tthhee ccoolllleeccttiivvee hhoollddiinngg ooffbbrreeaatthh,, wwiitthh tthhee hhuunnddrreedd aanndd ffiifftteeeenntthh aannnnoouunncceemmeenntt ooff hhiiss wwiitthh-ddrraawwaall ffrroomm ppoolliittiiccss.. IItt mmiigghhtt bbee tthhaatt ppoolliittiiccss wwiillll wwiitthhddrraaww bbeeffoorreehhiimm oonn aa wwaavvee ooff ssoommee nneeww vviioolleennccee.. LLeett''ss jjuusstt hhooppee tthhaatt oouurrAAmmeerriiccaann aanndd EEuurrooppeeaann ffrriieennddss wwiill ll nneevveerr aallllooww iitt,, ffoorrMMoonntteenneeggrroo''ss ssaakkee!!

The corruption is widespread inthe Montenegrin education sec-

tor, shows a research on the opin-ions and experiences of citizens withcorruption in this area: its spread,causes, manifestations and ways inwhich it could be limited.

More than half of the respon-dents believe that corruption iswidespread (29%) or at least present(26%). On the other hand, 2/5 ofthe respondents believe that corrup-tion in education is marginal.

These are the results of aresearch conducted between 20January and 2 February 2010 on asample of 1000 respondents. Thestudy is part of a project conductedby Centre for Monitoring (CEMI) andCentre for Civic Education (CCE)and supported by the Embassy ofthe Federal Republic of Germany.The results of the poll were presented byZZllaattkkoo VVuujjoovvii}}, president of the manag-ing board of CEMI, DDaalliibboorrkkaa UUlljjaarreevvii}},executive director of CCE, and Dr ZZoorraannSSttoojjiilljjkkoovvii}}, coordinator of the researchand professor at Political ScienceDepartments in Belgrade and Podgorica.

Divided opinions on the extent ofcorruption can be partly explained bydifferent perceptions of corruption ondifferent levels of education. While inprimary (70%:9%) and secondary educa-tion (50%:16%) the corruption is per-

ceived as marginal, in universities andother higher education institutions, espe-cially the private ones, it is thought to bea widespread, dominant phenomenon

(38%:27%).The authors of the research conclude

that only higher education is really per-ceived as a guarantee of the desiredsocial position, and is therefore a more

likely target of corruption. Exposure to themarket and rapid increase in the numberof new higher education institutions fur-ther exacerbates the risks of corruption.

According to the research, a major-ity of citizens believe the corruption tobe a marginal factor on entering primaryand secondary education.

"With decreasing availability ofcertain goods or services the risk ofcorruption grows. Awards andstipends, places in student dorms,and especially enrolment in pre-ferred programmes are all situationsthat offer space for corruption",states the report.

As regards manifestations ofcorruption in education, its more"benign" forms are also the mostcommon - such as using family andpolitical ties to improve one's per-formance.

"On the other hand, a majorityof respondents believe that profes-sors asking for money or services inexchange for better grades, or par-ents putting pressure on teachers aremore exception than the rule. Whatis also interesting is that party affili-ation influences the perception of

the extent of corruption in education.Supporters of opposition parties and thenon-voters are more likely to believe thatfamily and party relations and favouritismtowards certain students to be wide-

spread", states the research.More critical towards corruption are

also those respondents who have a stu-dent in the family.

"Personal experiences with andknowledge about corruption cases are alot more precise and realistic than thegeneral impressions about corruption andits spread. Between 1/5 and 1/3 of thecitizens know of cases when the profes-sors asked for sexual favours, or aboutthe existence of informal price lists forgrades, extortions of particular servicesfor the teachers or bribe. At the sametime, there is extensive practice of pres-sures and threats directed at professorsthrough political channels, and, especial-

14Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Educa t i on i n f o cu s

R E S U L T S O F T H E O P I N I O N P O L L O N C I T I Z E N S ' A T T I T U D E S T O C O R R U P T I O N I NE D U C A T I O N

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15Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Educa t i on i n f o cu s

ly, resorting to mediation by influentialthird persons" states the research.

Except for the interference of thirdpersons, each of the manifestations notedabove is somewhat more widespread inhigher education. The infamous record isheld by the practice of conditioning stu-dents' pass or fail at the exam by themhaving bought the book of the professorin question, which is familiar to 2/5 ofthe respondents.

The extent of corruption in educa-tion is well documented by 14%, or onein seven respondents, admitting that theyhave used personal connections tosecure a better grade or a pass at the

exam for themselves or their relations.Bearing in mind the understandable ten-dency to understate ones' involvement inillegal activities the real scope and preva-lence of this phenomenon is probablymuch greater.

"A good illustration of the practice ofextorting money or services on the partof some professors is the readiness of 12to 18% of the respondents to offer bribeif there is no other way to achieve theiraims. By contrast, only 2/5 of the citizenswould report the request for bribe orservices by teachers to the relevantauthorities", warns the study.

The respondents often did not knowwhom to report such cases in the firstplace (36%) or are wavering between

local educational authorities, Ministry ofScience and Education on the one hand,Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiativeand Police on the other, and NGOs onthe third side. It is indicative that non-governmental organisations have beengaining citizens' trust in this regard, evi-denced by the finding that the samenumber (11%) of respondents opted toreport such cases to NGOs as to theMinistry of Science and Education.

Finally, the vulnerability of the edu-cational process to corruption is perhapsbest indicated by the belief of almost halfof the respondents (44%) that it is possi-ble to "buy" a diploma of certain schools

or universities.Even more worryingly, ? of the

respondents knows somebody who hasdone it. Even if we assume that more ofthe respondents know about the samecase of "buying" diplomas, the number ishigh enough to indicate the existence oforganised "trade" in titles and diplomas.

The first requirement for limitingcorruption is to speak about it publiclyand openly. The study showed that ? ofthe citizens believe that corruption ineducation isn't sufficiently discussed,while 1/3 believes that there is "justenough" talk about it. On the otherhand, every seventh respondent believesthat there is more fuss about corruptionin education than necessary, especially

when compared to other sectors.Montenegrin citizens are very divid-

ed on the issue of the possibility forreducing corruption in education while31% of them believe that it is possible toreduce corruption significantly, or at leastto some extent, almost 2/5 are scepticalabout any possibility for change.

The respondents hold responsible forcorruption in education mostly theMinistry, school and university administra-tion, the general educational system andthe current legal framework. Somewhatless responsible are the teachers them-selves. The second set of reasons indicat-ed in the research is the general moraland economic crisis which also sucked insome individuals from the educationalsystem. Finally, the citizens do not amnestythe political elite, nor those parents whothink that everything can be achieved withenough money and influence and areeven ready to threaten teachers.

"Although the identification ofresponsibility for corruption is diffused,the responsibility for its elimination seemsto be very clear to most respondents.According to them, this is primarily thejob for the Government and the Ministryof Science and education. The secondlevel consists of the Police and Dire-ctorate for anti-corruption initiative.Finally, part of the "job" should be doneby the local schools and professors, par-ents and the NGO sector. Only thoughthe synergy of these actors can we makesubstantial progress in eradicating corrup-tion in Montenegrin education", con-cludes the study.

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Parents pressuring the teachers in primary and secondary schools 1000 16.5 22.1 21.2 22.4 07.6 10.1 38.6 30.0

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Different treatment of students, unjustified favouritism or discriminationagainst certain students by teachers or professors 1000 10.7 21.2 25.1 24.4 08.2 10.3 31.9 32.7

Giving certain students better grades than deserved 1000 08.0 16.6 20.7 31.8 15.3 07.6 24.6 47.1

Teachers accepting money, gifts or requesting services in exchange forgiving students higher grades, allowing them to pass the exams or "help-ing" them in other ways

1000 16.4 22.3 21.6 20.7 06.1 12.9 38.7 26.8

Use of family or political connections in education with the aim ofimproving grades or passing exams 1000 09.4 16.5 18.5 30.9 16.9 07.7 25.9 47.8

16Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0F r om my p o in t o f v i ew

W H Y D O I W A N T T O B E A C I T I Z E N O F E U R O P E A N U N I O N

Etymologicallyspeaking, the

word "union" co-mes from theLatin word unus,which means one,and also indicates

the act of unification of a people, sides orpolitical entities for the purpose of com-mon benefits and interests.

In mathematics, a union of sets con-tains every individual element of all setsinvolved.

Well, I would like the set of membersof the European Union to take us into thefamily, with all our shortcomings. Some ofthem are not "naturally" ours or inheritedfrom ancestors, some of them wereacquired along the way and as they grewonto us, with time, it became more andmore difficult to get rid of them. I trustthat bad habits in a positive context willbe easier to get rid of.

Even if you want to be a tourist inEU, you will find it on any website that EUmade sure that its citizens have a singlecurrency, one driving licence which is validin every member state, that they can freelywork in or travel to any member state andearn their pension there. Already theTreaty of Rome guaranteed equal pay toman and women, and EU working timedirective ensures that you get four weeksof holidays in a year. The monopoly oftelecommunications companies was bro-ken up and the consumers can now enjoycheaper calls. Consumer rights guaranteereturn of the products if they are dissatis-fied with its quality. Let us not even starton the various strategies of environmentalprotection or the value of cultural and his-torical monuments.

But, most importantly, EU is funda-mentally and continuously dedicated toeducation. While we were busy waiting inthe long lines for bread and milk, theyhave been working diligently on things weonly recently discovered: life-long learn-

ing. While we invested in election cam-paigns, they developed human resources.This is why I want to be a citizen ofEurope, to catch up with the Europeaneducational era.

Although I never worked in the dis-cipline in which I studied - that is, I did-n't remain a teacher - the mistakes of oureducational system still trouble me. Themost defeating thing is that for all of usgeneration nineteen eighty-something,education is partly a systemic error thatcannot be set right by just pushing thedelete/erase button. We must bear theconsequences of the decisions somebodyelse made instead of us. Communism gaveus a standardised educational systemwhich treated all pioneers equally regard-less of their capacities or the environmentin which they grew up. Our teachers gaveus what they received from their teachers

in the same narrow and inflexible manner.Years went by, and we stood there aswordless observers.

Why do I want another, Europeaneducational context as the foundation ofevery civilised and progressive society?

Imagine a situation in which a stu-dent receives an invitation from a foreignuniversity, passes successfully all the

demanding tests and detailed analyses andcomes to knock at the door of HisMajesty, the Provost of her own depart-ment. This elevated persona is sitting at histhrone polishing his shoes and does noteven spare a glance for the dejected stu-dent, let alone some effort to correct themistake of the bureaucratic student servicewhich is too busy playing solitaire to dealwith student transcripts. For the local def-inition of the student service department isthat it DOES NOT deal with servicing stu-dents and updating their records! And thisis, unfortunately, just one among manyexamples.

The attempt to implement the provi-sions of the Bologna declaration inMontenegro ended up in improvised cur-ricula, for there was simply not enoughcapacity to implement something soadvanced in these parts.

That is why, in the name of the gen-eration of nineteen-ninety-something, Iwant Montenegro to join EU so they canbe more like those 7500 UK students whospend between 3 and 12 months, everyacademic year, attending universities inanother EU member state. This not onlygives them the opportunity to learn for-eign languages, but also to experience theculture of other countries and use thenewly acquired knowledge to progress intheir field.

I want to be a citizen of EU so I cansee knowledge and readiness to learnopen the heaviest of doors, instead of justwatching how a golden card is the onlything that gets you ahead.

I want to be a citizen of EU becausebeing a part of a progressive community isa privilege which, among other, allowssimple people to enter a fair fight on thelabour market where political affiliationisn't the most important thing on your CV.

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by Jelena Ognjenovi}

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II wwaanntt MMoonntteenneeggrroo ttoo jjooiinn tthhee EEUU ssoo wwee ccaann bbee mmoorree lliikkee tthhoossee77550000 UUKK ssttuuddeennttss wwhhoo ssppeenndd bbeettwweeeenn 33 aanndd 1122 mmoonntthhss,, eevveerryyaaccaaddeemmiicc yyeeaarr,, aatttteennddiinngg uunniivveerrssiittiieess iinn aannootthheerr EEUU mmeemmbbeerr ssttaattee

17Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0O f f t h e w i r e

The latest Eurobarometer, presented inLjubljana, shows that 68% of Slove-

nians support further enlargement of EU.The highest support for further

enlargement is found in Poland andSlovakia (70%), while it is the lowest inAustria (28%), Germany (31%) and France(34%).

In Slovenia, public support increasedby 5% since the least poll.

Support for further enlargement issystematically higher in the new EUmember states which joined in 2004.Among the 15 "old" members, some 41%

supports the enlargement while 49% areagainst taking in new members.

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European fishery regulators signalledlast month their willingness to abol-

ish restrictions on export of young eelsto China and Japan, where this fish isheld in very high esteem.

The announcement ended a sev-eral days long blockade of the Frenchharbour Saint Nazaire where the fish-ermen protested against export restric-tions and falling prices.

The price for a kilo of young eels,which are considered a delicacy, fellfrom 300 to almost 200 euros incountries like Spain. The fishermensaid that the Brussels' "promise" torevive exports to the Far East wasenough to let the ships to "return tothe sea".

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Na takmi~enju za izbor loga bilo jeLeaf-shaped EU stars on a green

background are the winning design fora logo that will be mandatory for allorganic products from EU and Croatiaas of 1 July. In addition to the Europeanlogo, the producers can also use otherprivate, regional or national labels.

This logo was chosen from among3500 applications by a jury of 130000people. The winner is a student fromGermany DDuu{{aann MMiilleennkkoovvii}} whosedesign got the votes of 63% of the"judges".

MMooddeesstt ggrroowwtthh

The Eurozone will register a modestgrowth in this year, with strong

exports and government investmentscompensating for weak personal con-sumption, announced the leadingEuropean employers' association Busi-nessEurope.

Economic activities in the 16-member Eurozone will are expected togrow by 1.2% in 2010, after contract-ing by 4% in 2009.

BusinessEurope forecasts GDPgrowth of 1.8% and 2% for Germanyand France, while Spanish GDP isexpected to fall further by 0.6%.

The association also expects infla-tion in the Eurozone to increase by1.2%, compared to 0.3% last year.

Hungary intends to ask EU for a per-mission to extend the prohibition on

sale of agricultural land to citizens ofother EU members.

Hungarian minister of agricultureJJoozzsseeff GGrraaff said political parties havereached a consensus on this matter.

Free movement of capital is one ofthe pillars of EU, which means that citi-zens and companies from one countryshould enjoy the same rights to buying

and selling property in all EU memberstates.

Hungary and some other new mem-bers are, however, afraid that investorsfrom the richer, "old" member states willbuy up huge expanses of relatively cheapagricultural land. This is why they agreedon a transition period with EU in 2004which allowed them to limit the sale ofagricultural land. The transition periodruns out in 2011.

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Arecently published report on demandfor qualifications and skills on European

labour markets indicates the need forurgent action in order to resolve the prob-lem of an acute lack of highly educatedand skilled workforce. Unemployment inthe Eurozone stands at 10%, and part ofthe reason is that the available skills do notmatch market demand.

One in three Europeans of workingage has little or no formal qualification,which means that they have 40% lowerchances to be employed compared tothose with at least upper secondary edu-cation. Only a quarter of EU citizenshave a higher education degree, but theyare also a lot less likely to lose their jobs.

The numbers also show that compa-nies which invest in training their employ-ees are two and a half times less likely togo bankrupt than those which don't.

On the other hand, the skills of evenhighly qualified workers are sometimesnot in line with the needs of the employ-ers, which creates a disbalance on thelabour market.

Thus the report calls on the employ-ers and employees to invest in new assetsfor the future - information technologies,foreign languages and "green jobs".

18Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0EU cha l l eng e s

Following itsindependence

in 1991, changesin Sloveniansociety, economyand politics,including foreign

policy, have been driven mainly by thepriorities of its newly acquired statehood,changing domestic and internationalpolitico-economic situation, the global-ization process, and, the goals ofapproximation to the European Union.In that sense, it is not easy to single outthe consequences of EU accession aloneafter all the major changes that haveswept the Slovenian political and eco-nomic landscape in this period.However, the fact remains that theundisputed goal of acceding to the EU,

the fulfillment of Copenhagen criteriaand the concrete requirements of acquiscommunautaire offer the clearest bench-marks for understanding this process.

Up until the accession to the EU in2004 the question of the influence ofthe accession process on the develop-ment of Slovenian society and economywas in the centre of attention of bothpublic and expert opinion. Followingaccession, however, systematic researchinto the effects of the EU has faded.Before we turn to the analysis of thisconcrete issue - the consequences of EU

membership on the economy, labourmovements and monetary policy afterthe adoption of the Euro - it is impor-tant to ask why there is such indifferencetowards EU in Slovenia.

Lack of systematic research into theeffects of membership in SloveniaThere are three explanations for the

lack research into the effects of theaccession on various elements of Slo-venia's socio-economic and political life.

Firstly, after the fulfillment of along-coveted goal, we can observesomething of an "accession fatigue".With the accession criteria fulfilled, themotivation to adjust and develop furtherhas begun to wan.

Secondly, one big and generallyaccepted goal which focused the effortsand tendencies of various politicians inthe same direction has now disap-peared: it was replaced by many small-er goals (entry into the Eurozone,Chairmanship of OSCE in 2005,Presidency of the Council of EU in the

first half of 2008). These smaller projectswere mostly associated with certain min-istries of agencies, without the generalsupport and cooperation which charac-terized the process of EU accession. Inaddition to this, EU membership broughtmajor changes on the Slovenian politicalscene: the same year that Sloveniajoined the EU, saw a general swing ofthe electorate from centre-left to centre-right, resulting in a replacement of acentre-left coalition, which ruled almostuninterruptedly since independence, bya centre-right government.

There is another, formal reason, forthe lack of research on the effects ofSlovenia's membership in the EU: thefunding for such projects was simply nomore available. With EU accession theresearch policy also shifted and wasmore firmly integrated into Europeanprojects and programmes, and littleinterest remained in a small country likeSlovenia. This only changed to someextent during Slovenia's EU presidency.

A scattered account: economy, labourand the effects of adopting the Euro

Immediately following the accessionto the EU positive and negative trendson Slovenia's economy have beenobserved. Positive trends had been iden-tified in the field of services -despitegreater competition following accession,financial services, insurance, catering andespecially tourism recorded significantgrowth. Opening of the capital marketsand easier access to loans not only stim-ulated the activities of larger companies,but also had a very favourable effect onthe international operation of small andmedium enterprises.

On the other hand, membership inthe EU and the consequent opening ofagricultural markets intensified the effectsof globalization on agricultural trade,bringing more competition and newproblems for Slovenian products. Inorder to ensure the success on the sin-gle market, farmers in Slovenia wereforced to strengthen their regional pro-ducers' organizations.

The situation was much worse inlabour intensive sectors where price ismore important than quality. Textileindustry was the most affected, but thesituation is similar in the food manufac-turing industry. All efforts to re-structurethese industries did not give much result,and our productivity is still much lowerthan in the developed EU members.

The patterns of labour migrationhave not changed significantly after theaccession - there is a slight increase in

A D V A N T A G E S A N D D I S A D V A N T A G E S O F E U M E M B E R S H I P : S L O V E N I A , F I V EY E A R S A F T E R A C C E S S I O N

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////////

by Sabina Kajn~

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19Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0EU cha l l eng e s

labour originating from the member-states of the EU, but a majority of"imported" workforce still comes from thestates of the former Yugoslavia.

The most comprehensive challengefor the Slovenian economy in the periodafter EU accession was the adoption ofEuro. The process of introducing Euro asthe official currency began on 28 June2004 when Slovenia entered theEuropean Exchange Rate Mechanism,and finished with the actual introductionof the currency in January 2007. Theprocess itself went relatively smoothly,but there is much disagreement about itsconsequences for the economy, whichwas exacerbated in late 2007 whenSlovenia suddenly became, for a shortwhile, the Eurogroup's highest inflationrate member. The introduction of theEuro was largely seen as favourable forthe business sector, offering more optionsfor easier international investment andco-operation opened to many entrepre-neurs and small and medium enterpris-

es. However, some industries, such ascatering, found themselves under pres-sure with rapidly growing prices of foodand drinks. It is difficult to say to whatextent the inflation was a consequenceof the Euro, as prices partly grew alsobecause of the general price hike of oilproducts on the international markets. Inany case, since the beginning of theworld economic crisis many other prob-lems turned up on the surface and thepeople partly forgot about the initialtroubles with the Euro.

Public opinion: steady,but passive support

The results of Eurobarometer (June2008) showed that 52 % percent of therespondents in Slovenia believed thatmembership in the EU was a good thingfor their country, which is just about theEuropean average. Nationally conductedpolls on trust in public institutions, bothnational and European, indicate that38% of the respondents place trust in the

European institutions, placing them firm-ly in the upper half of the most trustedpublic institutions. Such results can beattributed to the fact that there is a gen-eral trend of considerably higher levels oftrust in international than in nationalinstitutions, which has a long tradition inSlovenia, as in all other post-socialist

countries. In Slovenia, for instance, only21% of the respondents trust theGovernment, while only 18% have trustin the Parliament.

Support for membership in the EUhas remained for years just about theEuropean average, which is probably aconsequence of the fact that, apart fromthe adoption of the Euro, membership in

the EU did not significantly change theeveryday lives of Slovenian citizens.

Foreign policySlovenia's foreign policy found itself

in a strategic vacuum after having

achieved its main goals of state recogni-tion, friendly relations with its neighboursand membership in the European Unionand NATO. This is partly a consequenceof EU policy towards accession countries,which requires them to set up organiza-tional structures for the implementation

With the accession to NATO, the

focus of Slovenian foreign policy shiftedfrom that of a more 'Europeanist' to amore 'Atlanticist' position, but it did notchange the fact that the Slovenian for-eign policy has been mainly consisting ofimplementation of tasks and goalsdesigned outside of the country. The lat-est foreign policy strategy of Sloveniadates to 1999, which set out the strate-gic goals of the membership in EU andNATO. This "project-based" foreign poli-cy orientation makes Slovenia highlyexposed to external processes and pres-sures, which was put under the first realtest during the Slovenian Presidency ofthe EU in the first half of 2008.

The picture is very different inSlovenia's conduct towards the WesternBalkan. Slovenia pushed very hard toattain its principal goal - concluding thering of Stabilisation and AssociationAgreements. At the same time, in con-trast to its "lukewarm" approach to otherforeign policy areas, Slovenia tried to useits advantage of being an EU member toforce Croatia into accepting negotiationsover the issue of the Gulf of Piran. Still,although it tried to bring this issue up tothe EU level, Slovenia never tried to useits Presidency to shift the EU's policytowards Croatia. Rather, it bore itsresponsibility just like most other smallEU countries do: without overly ambi-tious attempts to change the course ofEuropean politics and trying t strike abalance between the more powerfulmember states.

Dr Sabina Kajn~ is a researcher atthe Centre of International Relations ofthe University of Ljubljana

TThhee ssiittuuaattiioonn hhaass bbeeccoommee mmuucchh wwoorrssee iinn llaabboouurr iinntteennssiivvee sseeccttoorrsswwhheerree pprriiccee iiss mmoorree iimmppoorrttaanntt tthhaann qquuaalliittyy.. TTeexxttiillee iinndduussttrryy wwaasstthhee mmoosstt aaffffeecctteedd,, bbuutt tthhee ssiittuuaattiioonn iiss ssiimmiillaarr iinn tthhee ffoooodd mmaannuu-ffaaccttuurriinngg iinndduussttrryy.. AAllll eeffffoorrttss ttoo rree-ssttrruuccttuurree tthheessee iinndduussttrriieess ddiiddnnoott ggiivvee mmuucchh rreessuulltt,, aanndd oouurr pprroodduuccttiivviittyy iiss ssttiillll mmuucchh lloowweerr tthhaanniinn tthhee ddeevveellooppeedd EEUU mmeemmbbeerrss

SSuuppppoorrtt ffoorr EEUU mmeemmbbeerrsshhiipp iinn SSlloovveenniiaa hhaass rreemmaaiinneedd ffoorr yyeeaarrss jjuussttaabboouutt tthhee EEuurrooppeeaann aavveerraaggee,, wwhhiicchh iiss pprroobbaabbllyy aa ccoonnsseeqquueennccee oofftthhee ffaacctt tthhaatt,, aappaarrtt ffrroomm tthhee aaddooppttiioonn ooff tthhee EEuurroo,, mmeemmbbeerrsshhiipp iinntthhee EEUU ddiidd nnoott ssiiggnniiffiiccaannttllyy cchhaannggee tthhee eevveerryyddaayy lliivveess ooff SSlloovveenniiaanncciittiizzeennss

Ljubljana

20Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0F r om o t h e r med i a

Although Montenegro has as clear regula-tions on employment of young cadres as

any European institution, Podgorica is still sus-pected of giving jobs in public and localadministrations mostly to the party-affiliatedcadre.

Since the first Progress Report onMontenegro until today, EC keeps warningabout the lack of administrative capacities. InBrussels, as in some circles of the Montenegrinpublic, it is suspected that reliance on nepo-tism instead of professionalism is the key rea-son for this problem being so pronounced.

When a new port-parole was recentlyappointed in one of the ministries, there wasnothing strange about it except for the factthat shortly before getting the job this personhas abandoned one of the opposition partiesand joined one of the parties of the rulingcoalition.

This begs the question of the efficiencyof the new system which has the Directoratefor Cadres select the best candidates from thejob applications and the Minister decideswhom to employ.

Directorate for Cadres claims that theyselect the best, not the most "convenient".Director Svetlana Vukovi} says that their goal isa "professional, depoliticised public administra-tion", and that those who have the best qual-ifications "have the advantage in the selectionprocess". She is adamant about the "objectivecriteria and procedures for employment".

"Is there an objective criteria at work ifyou get your diploma, apply for a public joboffer of the Directorate for Cadres, you come

to do the exam which the offer requires andin the corridor you hear that you shouldn'thope because the whole procedure is ascam?", asks a woman from Podgorica whopreferred to stay anonymous.

Vukovi} rejects all accusations thatpolitical affiliation has anything to do withthe employment policy. She asks whether "itis nepotism of political interference if onlyone candidate applies for the concurs", andthe Directorate is forced to offer that personthe job.

"We made all our procedures transpar-ent, and if there is nepotism, it is a complete-ly separate issue which needs to be discussedseparatel", Vukovi} said.

On the other hand, developed Europeansocieties forbid members of the same familyto be employed by the same public compa-ny or institution, in order to avoid nepotism.This is not the case either in Montenegro oranywhere else in the region.

According to Montenegrin regulations,before anybody is higher by state administra-tion there is a public call for applicationswhich is open to all Montenegrin citizens withadequate qualifications, provided that theirhealth allows them to take up the job andthat they haven't been convicted for a crimewhich makes them unsuitable for work inpublic administration.

These are the general conditions, andthere are also specific requirements that eachcandidate ought to fulfil. These concern edu-cation, years of experience and specific skillsrequired by the job description. Whoever ful-fils these criteria takes an additional exam,which usually contains questions about gener-al culture and information. The selection and

control is performed by a committee which isconvened separately for every concourse, andconsists of representatives of the Directorate,the institution which announced the vacancyand one independent expert.

The results are published on the websiteof the Directorate, and if a candidate believesthat his or her performance was not properlygraded, they have the right to appeal againstdecision.

It is the job of the Director to considerthe appeal and, if necessary, repeat the testing.

A similar employment procedure is inplace in most EU countries: the same proce-dure for announcing internal and publicvacancies, formation of an independent com-mission which compiles the exam and selectsthe candidates, with some more emphasis puton interviews with candidates who pass theexam. The Europeans also rely on recommen-dations in the initial phase of the application.

European Commission EmploymentOffice is in charge of filling the vacancies, notonly in the European Commission, but also inother European institutions. The conditionsare citizenship of one of the EU countries,excellent knowledge of at least one officiallanguage of EU and fluency in at least anoth-er language. The employment process has twophases, the written and the oral phase.Written exams consist of multiple-choicequestions about European integrations, verbaland numerical reasoning. Those who pass thefirst phase are then invited for an interview,and also have to pass some medical tests.Those are the EC employees who, in the lat-est Progress Report on Montenegro, fund thatthere is still too much political influence onpublic administration.

E M P L O Y M E N T I N T H E M O N T E N E G R I N P U B L I C A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

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Svetlana Vukovi}

According to Croatian media, nepotism in this neighbouring Croatia nepo-tism is almost a national custom. The offer as an illustration the example

of a lightening-like carrier of the daughter of the former justice minister AnaLovrin, who during her mother mandate went in merely two years from beingan intern to becoming a judge.

There are also studies tracing the family or party relations of certain peo-ple for whom precisely these family or political ties proved to be decisive intheir carrier.

LL IIGGHHTTEENNIINNGG CCAARRRRIIEERR

by Bojana Brajovi}

21Eu r op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0F r om o t h e r med i a

EU plans to adopt an immigrant workpermit on the model of the "green card"

in the United States, hoping to resolve theproblem of scarcity of qualified labour incertain areas. "Green card" has for genera-tions represented the symbol of hope formany citizens of poorer countries - themost coveted ticket to a better life. Nowthe European Union is trying to tint theimmigrant

The Council of the EU officiallyadopted the Blue Card Directive last year,which participating member states nowhave two years to put into practice. The"blue card" scheme is the end product ofmuch hand-wringing in Europe as its pop-ulation ages and economy stagnates.

In international comparison we oftensee America's youth, dynamism and cre-ative energy is often contrasted toEuropean inertia and inflexibility. Onemajor reason for this discrepancy, the EUargues, is the differential ability of the twoentities to attract skilled immigrants.

Highly-qualified foreign workers makeup only 1.7% of the employed populationwithin the EU, but the equivalent figure forAustralia is nearly 10%, over 7% in Canadaand 3.2% in the US. And it's not as ifEurope does not need these immigrants.

Studies predict an estimated shortfallof 20 million skilled and unskilled workersby 2030, the result in part of a steadydecline in the EU's working age population.

The blue card is also intended to cullthe "right" kind of immigrants from the"wrong" sort for which the EU is currentlya magnet.

The European Commission says some85% of global unskilled migrant labourheads to the EU, while only 5 per cent

goes to the US. Given its redistributive wel-fare system, what Europe wants is animmigrant workforce that is a net financialcontributor to, rather than a receiver from,this system.

To apply for a blue card a profession-al will need either a university degree thathas taken at least three years to completeor five years work experience in the rele-vant sector; a binding job offer from aEuropean employer who will have to cer-tify that the post cannot be filled fromwithin the EU; and a salary offer that is atleast 1.5 times the average prevailing wagein the country concerned.

In return, a Blue Card holder will begranted the same access to pensions, hous-ing and healthcare as an EU citizen.Following an 18-month period they will beallowed to move to any other participatingEU member country if they are able tosecure a job there. The card will furtherentitle its holder to family reunificationwithin six months - and spouses will bepermitted to look for employment withinthe EU as well. The card will have a valid-ity of between one and four years after

which it must be renewed. If a card-hold-er were to lose his job he would have threemonths within which to find another.

So will the blue card succeed intransplanting the green one as the pre-ferred URL of the developing world's com-puter programmers?

"Unlikely," says JJaakkoobb vvoonn WWeeiizzssaacckkeerrof the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.Weizsacker is the father of the blue cardhaving coined the term in a 2006 paper,but he is quick to distance himself from thefinal, watered-down form his issue hastaken.

The potential potency of the blue cardaccording to Weizsacker would be theaccess it could promise a holder to not just

a single European country but to the amal-gamation of the 27 member states thatcomprise the EU.

However, the Blue Card Directive aseventually adopted by the EU's Councilfollowing two years of controversy-boggeddiscussions, does not assure a card holderthe right to move from one EU country toanother and, in fact, makes it "almost astough to move within the EU as to reap-ply from the outside again".

Moreover, the UK, Ireland andDenmark have opted out the scheme, afactor that will also cripple its effectivenessespecially since it is English-speaking coun-tries that have a natural advantage when itcomes to attracting skilled workers.

According to Weizsacker mostEuropean countries have a falsely "mecha-nistic" view of labour markets. "They tend tothink that 'ok, so we have a shortage of xnumber of engineers this year and so weneed to fill these positions', and once theyare filled the problem is supposedly solved".

"But in fact jobs create more jobs andattracting qualified professionals couldpotentially transform an area into a hub ofspecialised excellence."

The upshot of all the caveats the cur-rent avatar of the scheme is subject to, isthat come 2011 the queues at blue cardcounters in European embassies around theworld might be rather short, warnsWeizsacker.

And until the Directive acquiressharper teeth, blue is unlikely to match thegreen in the battle for brains.

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W H A T I S T H E U N I O N D O I N G T O A T T R A C T H I G H L Y Q U A L I F I E D W O R K F O R C E

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by Pallavi Aiyar

22Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0NGO a c t i v i t i e s / G e t t i ng a c qua in t e d w i t h Eur op ean Un i on

NON-GGOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS IN EUROPEAN UNION

IInntteerrnnaatt iioonnaallrreehhaabbii ll ii ttaa tt iioonn

ccoouunncc ii ll ffoorr ttoorr ttuurreevv iicc tt iimmss (( IIRRCCTT))

IRCT is the umbrella NGO for morethan 140 independent member organi-

zations researching the cases of torture,identifying victims and helping them inthe rehabilitation process.

The vision of IRCT is a world thataccepts shared responsibility for theeradication of torture.

Its mission is to promote and sup-port the rehabilitation of torture victimsand work for the prevention of torture.

The starting point of IRCT's work isthe belief that freedom from torture is auniversal and fundamental human right,which is guaranteed under internationallaw and defined in the UN Conventionagainst Torture.

Shared responsibility for the eradi-cation of torture worldwide requires thecommitment of each and every individ-ual in their personal and professionalcapacity to work for the most vulnerablein world society.

IRCT relies on a wide network ofresearches who collect the data on vic-tims and forms of torture in 70 countriesof the world. The researchers are guidedby high moral standards respecting andprotecting the victim from the potentialnegative effects in that might follow fromtheir cooperation in providing evidencethat can be used in legal action.

The IRCT has special consultativestatus with the UN Economic and SocialCouncil and the UN Department ofPublic Information, and participatory sta-tus with the Council of Europe.

Among the most important IRCTcollaborators are international organiza-tions of psychiatrists and physicians, aswell as other medical personnel dedicat-ed to helping the victims of torture.

More information about IRCT canbe found at www.irct.org.

Prepared by: Petar \UKANOVI]

Within the new educational programme- "Contemporary tendencies of criti-

cal thought" - on 18 February 2010 Centrefor Civic Education organized the first lec-ture of the JJaaccqquueess LLaaccaann lecture series,devised and led by Dr FFiilliipp KKoovvaa~~eevvii}}.

This lecture series is not only a pro-grammatic novelty for CCE, but is the firstsuch project of alternative education pro-grammes in Montenegro. Although the sub-ject of the lectures is very specific and wasnot expected to have mass resonance, avery high number of interested applicantsapplied to the course. In order to give allqualified candidates an opportunity to

attend the lectures and participate in sharp,vivid discussions of which there was noshortage from the very first meeting, CCEformed two groups of participants - onewhich will start in this semester and anoth-er that will begin in autumn, when CCE willalso issue another call for applications.

It should be said that this project is acompletely voluntary experiment in whichprofessor Kova~evi} offered to share hisknowledge and expertise, CCE its officesand organisational capacities and the par-ticipants their free time and intellectualcuriosity. It is also a testimony to the factthat the issues we sometimes recognise asthe need of our society and academiccommunity may not always be in line withdonors' priorities.

Between 19 and 21 February 2010 Centrefor Monitoring (CEMI) organized a train-

ing titled "Fact-based advocacy", as part of itsproject "Strengthening the capacities of NGOcoalition in advocacy and preparation ofpublic policies aimed at fighting poverty andsocial exclusion". The project is financed byEU through EU Delegation in Montenegro.

The objective of the training seminarwas to strengthen the capacity of NGOsin Montenegro to advocate public poli-cies and influence politics and legislationthe areas of education, health and socialissues. Special attention was given to

enhancing their capacities to draft publicpolicies and fact-based advocacy in theframework of the Strategy for SocialInclusion and Poverty Reduction.

Participants in the seminar were del-egated representatives of organisationswhich signed the memorandum andbecame members of the Coalition, andwork is in some way directed at issues ofsocial inclusion or may contribute topoverty reduction in Montenegro.

AAnnaa VVuujjoo{{eevvii}} and MMiirreellaa RReebbrroonnjjaaparticipated in the programme on behalfof CCE.

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Atwo-month course "Student LeadershipProgramme" organized by Centre for

Civic Education and supported by theCanadian Development Agency (CIDA) wascompleted with a diploma-award ceremony.

The participants received their diplomasfrom DDaalliibboorrkkaa UUlljjaarreevvii}}, executive directorof CCE, who reminded them that the role ofstudents in social and political life should bemuch greater and more important than it thecase in Montenegro at the moment.

She said that the commitment of theselected students to this highly demandingprogramme testifies to their will to be social-ly active and influence development of thosespheres which will be part of their futureprofessional life, which is a sign of a new,encouraging turn among the young people.Student leadership programme offers the

participants an opportunity to develop theirskills and improve their knowledge on thecurrent problems in higher education inMontenegro, stimulating active leaningthrough workshops and interactive lectures.Special focus of the programme was on cor-ruption in education and implementation ofthe Bologna declaration, as well as onstrengthening the leadership and activistpotential of the students.

From among 73 applicants the follow-ing 15 students were selected and success-fully completed Student Leadership Progra-mme: AAnnaa MMaannoojjlloovvii}},, AAnnddrreejj MMiilloovvii}},,AAnn||eellkkaa RRooggaa~~,, BBoojjaannaa DDaabboovvii}},, DDaannkkaaKKeezzii}},, DDiinnaa BBaajjrraammssppaahhii}},, DDrraa`̀eenn PPeettrrii}},,EEmmiirr KKaallaa~~,, IIvvoonnaa JJoovveettii}},, IIvvaannaa TTaattaarr,, IIrrmmaaZZoorroonnjjii}},, MMiilleennaa BBuubbaannjjaa,, MMiilloo{{ @@ii`̀ii}},, MMiilliiccaaMMiilloonnjjii}} i MMiirrkkoo RRaajjkkoovvii}}.

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23Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0NGO a c t i v i t i e s

On 22 February 2010 participants of theVI and VII generation of Human and

Minority Rights School were awardeddiplomas for having successfully completedthe four-month programme organised bythe Centre for Civic Education (CCE) withsupport of the Commission for theDistribution of Profits on Lottery Games ofthe Government of Montenegro.

The diplomas were awarded by DDaallii-bboorrkkaa UUlljjaarreevvii}}, executive director of CCE.Speaking to the participants, she empha-sised that "Montenegro still lacks the cultureof human rights, which is one of the rea-sons why we are still seeing violations ofhuman rights and disregard of such inci-dents by relevant institutions, as well asinsufficiently developed awareness on thepart of the citizens about their rights andways of defending them. Education onhuman rights will give Montenegro active

citizens with highly developed democraticawareness and a strong impulse for adop-tion and implementation of European stan-dard".

During the training the participantshad a chance to learn about the concept,culture and principles of human rights, aswell as to analyse international documentsin the area of human rights, standards andrecommendations of international organisa-tions, and to learn about mechanisms andinstruments of human rights protection, aswell as about the current state of humanrights in Montenegro.

Lecturers at the School were professorsfrom the University of Montenegro andother universities in the region, renownlawyers, judges, researchers, MPs, represen-tatives of political and non-governmentalorganisations, as well as institutions dealingwith human rights in Montenegro.

On the initiative of director of the PrisonInstitute Spu` (ZIKS), MMiillaann RRaaddoovvii}},

representatives of non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) met with the man-agement of ZIKS on 16 February 2010. Thereason for the meeting were letters whichsome NGOs sent to ZIKS but never got areply, their public commentaries on specif-ic denouncements of torture and theirinterest in the general living standards ofdetainees and convicts in ZIKS.

NGOs which participated at themeeting agreed that this was the first timethat ZIKS invited a group of NGOs for ameeting and congratulated the manage-ment on this sign of new, transparentapproach to the public.

The meeting was attended by the

director of ZIKS, Milan Radovi}, deputydirector ZZoorraann MMaaggddaalliinnii}}, members of thestaff Anka Cerovi} and JJaaddrraannkkaa VVoojjii~~ii}} aswell as NGO representatives of Action forHuman Rights (TTeeaa GGoorrjjaanncc PPrreelleevvii}} andNNiikkoolleettaa SSttrruuggaarr), Centre for Civic Edu-cation (DDrraaggaannaa OOttaa{{eevvii}}), Women's SafetyHouse (LLjjiilljjaannaa RRaaii~~eevvii}} and IIvvaann MMiilloovvii}})and NGO Preporod (JJoovvaann BBuullaajjii}}). Parts ofthe meeting were also attended by NGOsJuventas (TTiijjaannaa PPaavvii}}eevvii}}), Center for De-mocratic Transition (DDrraaggaann KKoopprriivviiccaa andMMiilliiccaa KKoovvaa~~eevvii}}), and 4Life (SSaassaa MMiijjoovvii}}).

The meeting was concluded with thedirector of ZIKS and his collaboratorsemphasising their readiness to cooperatewith all NGOs in their projects, and invit-ing them to submit their proposals.

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Cvjmejoh!uif!dvmuvsf!pg!ivnbo!sjhiut EEdduuccaatt iioonnaallppeerrssppeecctt ii vveess

For some time now the AmericanCorner in Montenegro has been

organising weekly discussions on differ-ent topics, hosted by the Willeke couplewho, in a comfortable atmosphere withcoffee, tea and American cookiesencourage discussion on various issues ofimportance for American andMontenegrin cultures.

At a meeting in the AmericanCoffee House organised on 4 February2010 on the topic of educationDaliborka Uljarevi}, executive director ofCentre for Civic education was one ofthe guests who exchanged opinions onthis matter with the students from vari-ous Montenegrin universities. She pre-sented the programmes of CCEs andoffered some opinions on the current sit-uation of higher education in Monte-negro and on the perspectives of theyoung people.

After the lecture the participantswere divided into discussion groupswhich debated in greater detail certainaspects of education in Montenegro andthe current challenges in this field.

YYoouutthh aanndd aacctt ii vveecc ii tt ii zzeennsshhiipp

On 2 February 2010 the YouthCouncil organised a round table on

the subject "Young people and active cit-izenship - in search of a good model".The meeting was held to discuss thepossibilities of networking of organisa-tions of young people and those work-ing with young people, future activitiesof the Youth Council and draft ActionPlan for Young People 2010. Speakers atthe meeting were Igor Milo{evi}, presi-dent of the Youth Council, MirjanaRako~evi}, Youth Centre Proactive, DrAgima Ljaljevi}, member of the YouthCouncil. Special guest at the meetingwas Dra`en Pulji} from the EuropeanYouth Forum. Paula Petri~evi}, CCE pro-gramme director and Dragana Ota{evi},programme associate, participated at themeeting on behalf of Centre for CivicEducation. Dragana Ota{evi} alsoattended the follow-up seminar held inMilo~er on 19 and 20 February wherethe draft Action Plan for 2010 was

adopted.

On 10 February 2010 SOS telephonesfor women and children victims of

violence, in cooperation with the PoliceDirectorate and with support of theCanadian Development Agency presenteddraft was presented the draft document"Guidelines for the behaviour of police offi-cers in cases of domestic violence". The aimof the presentation was to inform the pub-lic of the contents of the document and itsimportance for the work of the Police

Directorate and more generally for the legalsystem with the purpose of effective pro-tection of victims of violence. Speakers atthe presentation were BBiilljjaannaa ZZeekkoovvii}},executive director of SOS telephones forwomen and children victims of violence,MMaarriijjaannaa LLaakkoovvii}}, Deputy Ombudsman andVVllaaddiimmiirr VVuukkoottii}}, Counsellor for LegalAffairs in the Police Directorate. DDrraaggaannaaOOttaa{{eevvii}}, CCE programme associate, partic-ipated on behalf of the Centre.

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24Eur op ean pu l s e N o 5 3

F e b rua ry , 2 0 1 0Educa t i on p r og rammes i n EU

F O R T H I S I S S U E W E R E C O M M E N D :

CCAALLLL FFOORR AAPPPPLLIICCAANNTTSSThe English-speaking postgraduate pro-gramme "Postgraduate Programme inSoutheast European Studies" will accept 25students for the academic year 2010-2011.Eligible to apply are graduates of GreekHigher Education Institutions or foreignHigher Education Institutions which havebeen recognised by the Greek state as equiv-alent. In the case of foreign degrees, officialrecognition by Hellenic Naric is a prerequi-site for participation in the Programme. Thoseinterested in enrolling should submit theirapplication from 20 January - 23 April 2010.Documents required:1. The completed application form (which

may be downloaded from Web sitehttp://www.pspa.uoa.gr).

2. A statement of purpose in English (500words maximum).

3. A certified copy of the applicant's firstdegree

4. A certified copy of the applicant's officialuniversity grades transcript.

5. Official translations into Greek of docu-ments 3 (degree) and 4 (transcript),required when the original documents arein a language other than Greek or English.

6. Proof of excellent knowledge of theEnglish language

7. Two recommendation letters, at least oneof which should be from a faculty mem-ber of your own university.

8. Simple photocopies of other supporting doc-uments e.g. knowledge of other foreign lan-guages, seminar attendance certificates, etc.

9. Successful applicants who hold a firstdegree from a non-Greek university willbe required, upon acceptance by the pro-gramme, to submit their qualifications forrecognition by Hellenic Naric, the officialGreek certificating institution for foreigndegrees (please see the website of HellenicNaric http://www.doatap.gr). Further infor-mation on this process will be providedonce the candidate selection process iscomplete.

More information and the Application formcan be found at http://www.pspa.uoa.gr orhttp://en.uoa.gr/fileadmin/en.uoa.gr/uploads/pdf-files/BROCHURE.pdf

PPHHDD SSCCHHOOLLAARRSSHHIIPPSS IINNIINNFFOORRMMAATTIICCSS,, VVIIEENNNNAAPPHHDD SSCCHHOOOOLL OOFFIINNFFOORRMMAATTIICCSS,, AAUUSSTTRRIIAAThe "Vienna PhD School of Informatics" callfor applications, addressing Austrian as well asinternational students, is now open.All the details of the call are available athttp://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/phdschoolIn brief, the Vienna University of Technologyoffers a three year programme following thefive main research areas of the Faculty ofInformatics: Business Informatics, Computa-tional Intelligence, Computer Engineering,Distributed and Parallel Systems, MediaInformatics and Visual Computing.The Programme will admit a maximum num-ber of 15 students for the academic year2010/2011. Deadline 31 March 2010Each year up to 15 students will be awardeda scholarship amounting to EUR 1.000 permonth, to cover the cost of living.Scholarships for the Vienna PhD School ofInformatics are available for Austrian as wellas international students.All the details of the call are available athttp://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/phdschool

GGRRAADDUUAATTEESSCCHHOOLLAARRSSHHIIPPSS AATT LLSSEE£2 million is available annually for taughtmaster's students from the Graduate SupportScheme (GSS). This scheme is designed tohelp students who do not have the necessaryfunds to meet all their costs of study and

awards range from £3,000 to £10,000.One Francesca Swirski scholarship is availableworth £10,000. Applications must be receivedat the School by the end of April 2010.Two Central European MSc scholarships of£12,500 are available to students on one yeartaught master's courses in any subject.Applications must be received at the Schoolby the end of April 2010.All MRes/MPhil/PhD students are eligible toapply for the LSE Research StudentshipScheme. The level of assistance given isdetermined by each academic departmentand is most usually a contribution towardsfees. Applications must be received at theSchool by 11 June 2010.The School also offers a wide range ofProgramme Related and LSE Named Awardsfor taught master's and research students.Award values vary.For details of all the latest scholarships andinformation on how to apply seehttp://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/studentServicesCentre/financialSupportOffice/ Deadline 30 April 2010.

SSCCHHOOLLAARRSSHHIIPPPPRROOGGRRAAMMMMEE FFOORRYYOOUUNNGG RREESSEEAARRCCHHEERRSSFFRROOMM EEAASSTTEERRNNNNEEIIGGHHBBOOUURRIINNGGCCOOUUNNTTRRIIEESSUniversities of the Coimbra Group offershort-term visits to young researchers fromEastern neighbouring countries. The eligiblecountries for the 2010 edition are the follow-ing: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Georgia,Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,Mongolia, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.Please note that in this new edition of theScholarship Programme only on-line applica-tions will be accepted. Applicants will be ableto submit their applications from 1 Februaryuntil 15 March 2010.Web: http://www.coimbra-group.eu/sp/02-ENC-Hospitality.php

EIC Bulletin -EEuropean pulse is electronic magazine established within EIC programme, with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.The publisher is Centre for Civic Education.

EIC Bulletin -EEuropean pulse is registered with the Ministry for Culture and Media as item No. 578 Editor in Chief: Vladan @ugi}

Editorial Board: Vera [}epanovi}, Daliborka Uljarevi}, Vladimir Pavi}evi}, Dragan Stojovi}, Vladimir Vu~ini}, Petar \ukanovi}Tehnical Editor: Bla`o Crvenica; Translation: Vera [}epanovi}; Language editing and proofreading: CCE

Njego{eva 36/I; Tel/fax: +382 20 665-112, 665-327; E-mail: ep@cgo-cce.org, info@cgo-cce.orgEIC Bulletin -EEuropean pulse can be downloaded at the www.cgo-cce.org