Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability

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    EU IDEA project: differentiated integration has to be used “very carefully” in the Western Balkans

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    Brussels – “We have to be very careful, because if we go too far with differentiated integration outside the European Union, it can bring to disintegration”. Dragan Tilev, State Counselor at the Secretariat for European Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, is convinced that the path to EU accession for the Western Balkans has to follow “a new methodology, addressing all the open issues with more unity and pragmatism”.
    In a nutshell, these are the challenges for the European Union dealing with the enlargement process and with the future EU membership of the Western Balkans’ countries. Tilev gave a keynote speech during the conference Differentiated Integration and the Western Balkans, organized by the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’ (IDSCS) today (Friday 17 December) within the framework of EU IDEA – Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability.
    EU IDEA is a project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 programme and led by Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), with the participation of Eunews as media partner, EU IDEA addresses differentiation and integration issues in order to find viable solutions to the current challenges that the EU is facing.
    Dragan Tilev, State Counselor at the Secretariat for European Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia
    Opened by the remarks by Nenad Markovikj, Professor at Faculty of Law at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and member of the Executive Board at Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’, the conference focused on the causes and consequences of this approach in the Western Balkans. “EU accession negotiations frameworks impose differentiated integration to the countries that are not still part of the European Union”, Tilev stated. “This is a fact and a necessity in times of crisis, also considering the different national interests”, he added. However, “nowadays the enlargement process is endangered by the disunity of the 27 Member States“, as the case of the accession of North Macedonia shows: “The different position of Bulgaria, which is blocking the starting of negotiations, is deteriorating the situation”. The European Union should also “accelerate on the negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro, play a key-role in the stabilization of Bosnia and push for visa liberalization in Kosovo”.
    Considering all these challenges, during the EU IDEA conference, Sandra Lavenex, Professor of European and International Politics at the University of Geneva, wondered “under which circumstances, differentiated integration can be effective and legitimate“, even if this is “something that will last in the future and will affect Western Balkans’ governments”. Denis Preshova, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and Associate Researcher at IDSCS tried to focus on the positive aspects of this approach: “There is a nexus between pre-conditionality and the EU accession process, for example on the respect of Rule of Law”. Since the European Union “is becoming more active in reducing the heterogeneity of judicial systems in the enlargement process”, differentiated integration “is dealing with different judicial systems”.
    In this sense, at the end of the whole process, the scenario in the Western Balkans could be “more harmonized that the one in Eastern Europe”, Preshova underlined. Ivan Damjanovski, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, stressed that the concept of Rule of Law: “will lead to more uniformity of the judicial systems”. At the same time, “more integration is also needed, in particular through the collaboration with the EU agencies”, such as Frontex and Europol.
    Despite the current problematic issues, “we are talking about a privileged partnership”, Damjanovski stated. For Matteo Bonomi, Research Fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), “the role of the EU on integration, migration and foreign policy is a complex puzzle“. For example, in the Western Balkans “we see more and more political alignment, but it does not mean that the economical and institutional situation goes hand in hand”.
    Senem Aydin-Düzgit, Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Sabancı University, recalled her intervention during another EU IDEA conference held in March: “External differentiated integration sometimes limits the flexibility in collaborative initiatives of EU Member States”, not only in the Western Balkans. “Formally, Turkey is a candidate to the EU accession, but the degree of cooperation depends on the level of political alignment with the partner“, Aydin-Düzgit concluded.

    At the conference of the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’ (IDSCS) in Skopje, the EU IDEA panel discussed how differentiated integration affects the Western Balkans countries and their accession process LEGGI TUTTO

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      EU IDEA project: policy choices on migration have to face a “clear mismatch” between perception and reality in Europe

      Brussels – In the European Union there is a need of strong policy coordination, in order to face a “clear mismatch” between perception and reality on migration challenges. António Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) since 2018 and former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs in the Prodi Commission (from 1999 to 2004), is convinced that “often policy choices address more the perception than reality, because it is harder to deal with the complexity of migration flows”.
      Vitorino gave a speech during the event Migration challenges in Europe, organized by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs today (Friday 15 October), within the framework of EU IDEA – Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability. EU IDEA is a project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 programme and led by Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), with the participation of Eunews as media partner, EU IDEA addresses differentiation and integration issues in order to find viable solutions to the current challenges that the EU is facing.
      Moderated by Blanca Garcés, Senior Research Fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and opened by the Director Pol Morillas, today’s event was an opportunity to discuss current migration challenges and the forms of cooperation among EU Member States. The debate addressed many recent crisis: the unstable geopolitical situation in Afghanistan, economic breakdowns in the Middle East and North Africa and the strict control of international mobility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
      António Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs (1999-2004)
      Vitorino underlined that migration challenges are “universal” and that the COVID-19 pandemic “had a major impact”, because of closed borders, sanitary measures that stranded migrants in countries of transit and because of the increase of human trafficking. At the same time, during the lockdowns “migrant workers have been on the front-line” in the European distribution chains. “They played a key-role”, as the movement of seasonal workers in agricultural sector showed: “Now it is crucial to ensure equal access to vaccines and to integrate all migrants into the national vaccination systems”, the former European Commissioner urged.
      All these universal challenges “have to be addressed through a strong cooperation, not just among EU Member States, but also with the countries of origin”. Considering the recent events in Afghanistan, even if there is a perception of a new incoming crisis, the Director General of IOM underlined that “for the moment we do not see a massive flow of migrants” and that “it is more urgent to face the situation in the whole region”.
      A distorted perception of migratory flows is a common problem for European citizens and politicians. For example, about the final destination of these flows: “In Africa, eight migrants out of ten move from one country to another and only the 16 per cent of them tries to reach Europe”, Vitorino explained. Another example is the fact that “the vast majority of asylum seekers worldwide is hosted by low- and middle-income countries“, not by wealthy countries. Also the perception of the problem concerning the situation of irregular migration in Europe does not match the reality of events: “The 60 per cent of people who are now irregular arrived in the EU in a regular way, but they did not have access to a process of regular integration“. The former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs stressed out that “it is not correct to consider this issue as a consequence of external borders’ weakness”.
      Blanca Garcés, Pol Morillas and Emmanuel Comte at the EU IDEA event (October 15, 2021)
      As Corinne Balleix, member of the Working Group on Migration at the Jacques Delors Institute, pointed out that “there is a need for a reform in the field of asylum, with an increased solidarity among EU Member States”. Katariina Mustasilta, Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), recalled the attention on “countries that are using migration as a tool to put pressure on the European Union”. The EU external borders’ situation is a matter of concern for the IOM Director, starting from the “increase of pushbacks from several Member States“, namely “illegal practices to prevent people from seeking asylum, which are against the international laws”. But it is also “unacceptable” that some governments exploits asylum seekers, putting their lives at risk”, as it is happening at the external borders with Belarus: “We are ready to help and support people who are in this no man’s land”, Vitorino added.
      In conclusion of the event, Emmanuel Comte, Senior Research Fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, underlined the role of IOM in “studying the different approaches to migration in Europe”. IOM Director General Vitorino replied that “our contribution is to give evidence and facts, in order to address migration challenges through serious policies“. From the inter-institutional cooperation with the EU, the African Union and the UN in humanitarian crisis, to the engagement with local authorities and NGOs, but also “the responses to human mobility caused by natural disasters and climate change”, Vitorino concluded.
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      Addressing the current challenges, António Vitorino (IOM Director General) gave a speech during an event organized by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs: “It is unacceptable that governments can exploit asylum seekers”