Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann (wolfgangschumann)'s Public Profile in the Diigo Community

Professor for Political Science with a focus on the European Union, EU enlargement and the relations between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans. Long experiences in Political and Civic Education (member of the project team of the international UNESCO education server Dadalos and autho...

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Member since Aug 07, 2006, follows 3 people, 3 public groups, 1059 public bookmarks (1065 total).

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13.11.09: EU reforms provide firmer foundation for enlargement on 2009-11-14
- Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in Bucharest on Thursday that he trusted the forthcoming reforms of the European Union would provide a firmer foundation for the Union's enlargement in the Western Balkans, and pointed out the importance which the Central European Initiative (CEI) had in that process.
  
  Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in Bucharest on Thursday that he trusted the forthcoming reforms of the European Union would provide a firmer foundation for the Union's enlargement in the Western Balkans, and pointed out the importance which the Central European Initiative (CEI) had in that process.
- The intent of the CEI founders was to seize the initiative and exercise leadership in consolidating the gains of 1989. It ended up being only a partial success, for the Western Balkans soon took a wrong turn. A missed opportunity led to a great tragedy. After a devastating decade of war, and political and economic isolation, democracy arrived in our lands, raising the prospect of completing the European construction.
  
  Today, we are hopeful of success; we feel it is within our reach. We know the world is in the midst of another transformative period, in some ways comparable to 1989. This time, we are determined not to let events pass us by. We stand resolute in wanting to join the European Union as soon as possible. This is the central strategic priority of the Republic of Serbia.
13.11.09: The pace picks up on EU enlargement into the Balkans on 2009-11-14
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  The pace picks up on EU enlargement into the Balkans
  
  November 13, 2009 3:59pm
  
  Enlargement of the European Union is, almost imperceptibly, moving forward once more. EU foreign ministers are expected next week to forward Albania’s membership application to the European Commission for an opinion. This is a necessary technical step on the path to entry - small, but important.
  
  The Commission is already preparing opinions on the applications of Iceland and Montenegro. The opinions will take quite some time to deliver - longer for Albania and Montenegro than for Iceland - but the machinery is now in motion.
  
  There are signs of progress elsewhere, too. For a long time Serbia’s efforts to draw closer to the EU have been held back by the refusal of the Netherlands to permit implementation of Serbia’s EU stabilisation and association agreement. The Dutch insist that Serge Brammertz, the chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor, must first of all declare that Serbia is fully complying with its efforts to capture war crimes suspects - principally, Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander.
  
  Brammertz is due to hand his latest report to the UN Security Council in early December, and the Serbian government appears confident that it will be positive. That would remove the Dutch veto and allow Serbia to make a formal application for EU membership.
12.11.09: EU greenlights start of Albania accession talks on 2009-11-12
- EU countries have agreed to proceed with Albania's application for membership of the European Union, a first step in a long process towards possible membership of the bloc, EU diplomats said.
- Background:
  
  Albania applied for EU membership in April 2009. In July, the EU Council stated that it would return to the country's application once the Albanian election procedure had been completed. Ever since the June national elections, the two main players, the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Socialist party and main challenger Edi Rama have kept on accusing each other of fraud (EurActiv 30/06/09).
  
  In its latest report on Albania, the European Commission stressed that Tirana needs to make progress, particularly on the rule of law and the fight against corruption, as well as the proper functioning of state institutions (
  EurActiv 15/10/09).
- 1 more annotations...
- - Ambassadors from the 27 EU states decided at a meeting in Brussels to ask the European Commission to prepare an assessment of Albania's readiness to start membership talks, the diplomats said.
    
    The decision is expected to be formally approved by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels on 16 and 17 November.
12.11.09: Croatia to get €3.5 billion if it joins EU in 2012 on 2009-11-12
- The European Commission has proposed setting aside €3.5 billion of regional, agriculture and administrative aid for Croatia's first two years of EU membership, provided the country manages to join the bloc in 2012. The earmarked sum still needs the approval of the 27 member states.
- The commission proposal starts with the 'working hypothesis' that the former Yogoslav country will join the EU in "January 2012", based on the "overall progress" achieved so far in accession negotiations.
  
  Similar proposals were adopted in the pre-accession phase of the other 12 countries which joined in 2004 and 2007. The document only refers to 2012 and 2013, the last two years of the current seven-year EU budget. From 2014 onwards, Croatia will be part of the next multi-annual financial framework.
  
  During these two years, the bulk of the money - €2.3 billion in so-called structural funds – would go to local and regional projects in infrastructure and small and medium enterprises. Croatian farmers would receive some €680 million, while programmes involving the country's judiciary and police would get €170 million.
11.11.09: EU citizens' initiative raises political and legal headaches on 2009-11-11
- A major question mark hangs over online initiatives, with all the potential security problems they involve, and whether they should be allowed at all while there is also concern that an initiative could be so convoluted that it is unclear what the signatories actually want - something that could be fixed by using a standard formula.
  
  EU communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom has in the past predicted the tool will be "used immediately" by citizens, noting that it will be "the better if it causes some problems for the commission" as it will bring the institution more into contact with ordinary people and what they are looking for from the EU.
  
  The discussion paper takes the form of a series of questions which stakeholders and the public may reply to until the end of January 2010.
Learning and Governance in the EU Policy-making Process, JEPP Special Issue, Vol 16., Issue 8 2009 on 2009-11-07
06.11.09: Concern over Iceland EU bid as public support tanks on 2009-11-07
- Iceland this week appointed its chief EU accession negotiator, but the country's application is already hitting the buffers domestically and Brussels fears that the Arctic nation may "pull a Norway", meaning an application that the government is sincere about, but which the people strongly reject.
- The country's finance minister, Steingrimur Sigfusson and leader of the government's junior coalition partner, the Left Green Movement, said last Tuesday at a meeting of the Nordic Council in Stockholm that while Iceland had applied to join, the people did not want to become members of the EU, a statement that has not been met with great enthusiasm in Brussels.
05.11.09: EU military chiefs nervous about Lisbon Treaty implications on 2009-11-06
- EU military chiefs are nervous that their advice will not carry the same weight once the new Lisbon Treaty is in place and that the planned diplomatic service will not contain enough experienced military personnel.
- Once in force on 1 December, the Lisbon Treaty will merge the current military planning unit with a civilian one and fold all operational and planning divisions into the diplomatic service, due to be fully up and running by 2012.
  
  The military chiefs will no longer report to the rotating EU presidency, but directly to the new EU foreign minister, who will also be a vice-president of the European Commission.
03.11.09: Klaus signature completes EU treaty ratification on 2009-11-04
- Czech President Vaclav Klaus has finally signed the Lisbon Treaty, ending a highly drawn out ratification process that left many wondering whether the document's provisions would ever see the light of day.
  
  "I signed the Lisbon Treaty today at 15.00 (CET)," Klaus told reporters on Tuesday (3 November).
- As well as appointing a new set of commissioners, the EU can now move ahead with the planned overhaul of its institutions and the appointment of several new positions intended to increase the bloc's standing on the world stage.
  
  All of these decisions had been held up by the political uncertainty in Prague, with Mr Barroso saying he can only assemble his commission team when it is clear who will become EU foreign minister, a new post that will see the person also act as vice-president of the commission.
22.10.09: EC recommends Macedonia start EU negotiations (SETimes.com) on 2009-10-23
- EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn presented in Brussels last Wednesday the new European Commission (EC) report on Macedonia, assessing the country's progress towards kick-starting its EU membership negotiations.
  
  "Now we can recommend the opening of negotiations for membership", said Rehn.
  
  The positive recommendation comes after the EC said Macedonia "has made satisfactory progress in fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria", according to Rehn. Macedonia "achieved convincing progress and substantively addressed key reform priorities".

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