The 2030 Regional Agenda is a project aimed at developing common regional policies that would lead to the solution of the most important common problems in the region. The project is led by the ADD Regional Academy for the Development of Democracy, and is supported by the Swiss Embassy in Belgrade, the Olof Palme International Center and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
“The strategic document is an area of work of MPs, officials, ministers, activists and experts from the region and represents a kind of non-paper response proposed by Prime Minister Janez Jansa, offering new ethnic divisions in the region,” the Regional Academy for Democracy Development said.
ADD presented this document to European and world officials, the European Parliament, the European Commission, embassies in the region, non-governmental organizations and the professional public. It is the product of several different discussions, meetings, events and conferences held in the period from November 2020 to June 2021.
The strategic document, which was forwarded to the European political public, offers more than 400 concrete recommendations in six different policy areas, all of which are the product of thorough analysis, detailed debate and careful consideration.
“All these recommendations represent the Regional Agenda 2030 – a set of tasks to be carried out by the governments of the region to make these countries truly democratic, modern and humane societies built on the principles of democracy, rule of law, independence of institutions, respect for human rights, equality, freedom, progress and reconciliation in the region”, they point out in ADD.
The policy areas in which the 2030 Regional Agenda offers solutions are:
• Participatory democracy, citizen participation and responsible governance
• Equality and human rights, freedom of the media
• EU integration, foreign policy and security
• Rule of law and independence of institutions
• Economic cooperation, environment and sustainable development
• Building sustainable peace, reconciliation and interethnic dialogue
In the light of the events that took place during the drafting of the Document (2020/2021), and especially concerned about the appearance in the European and regional public of non-paper proposed by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, ADD recognized the following recommendations as the backbone of the democratization process. countries in it:
• Changes in the region's borders between countries, especially along ethnic lines as proposed in a non-paper by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, contribute to destabilizing peace and good neighborly relations in the region. All attempts, initiatives, ideas and proposals for new ethnic divisions must be unequivocally rejected and condemned by all political actors. The ideas of large and ethnically pure nation states that promote conservative and corrupt political elites in the region must remain in the past century where they belong and should be replaced by a common vision of the region as developed, modern, democratic and humane societies working together on the same goals, rule rights, democracy, respect for human rights and freedoms and the common future of its citizens.
• In this sense, especially dangerous are attempts to create new great-power and nationalist projects such as the increasingly mentioned concepts of “Greater Serbia” (Serbian world), Greater Albania and Greater Croatia, policies that, by threatening sovereignty, territorial integrity, human rights and existence the state and the nation in the region, continue the darkest traditions of dreams of great states and permanently destabilize the entire region, put pressure on neighboring states and directly interfere in their internal affairs.
• Regional transformation from stabilocracy to democracy is crucial for economic, political, financial, democratic, cultural and any other development. The process of building the rule of law and implementing EU values and policies needs to involve new actors – both professional and non-political – who will contribute to the EU's efforts by influencing institutions and political elites to accept, adopt and implement EU principles, conditions, policies and values.
• There must be absolutely no substitutes for full EU membership for all Western Balkan countries. No regional cooperation or initiative, be it political, economic, cultural, financial, institutional, fiscal, infrastructural or any other framework or forum of cooperation, can serve as a substitute for the accession of all countries in the EU region. Therefore, a credible and real membership perspective is more than necessary, and the accession process needs to be transformed and adapted to new circumstances, both in the region and in the EU.
• The first group of countries should be ready for full membership in the EU in 2025, the second in 2028 and the third in 2030. The role and support of countries in the region that are already members of NATO and the EU, Slovenia and Croatia, are essential in this process, both formal and informal.
• All Western Balkan countries should coordinate their foreign and security policies with the EU and NATO in order to strengthen mechanisms to resist the harmful and destructive influences of Russia and China in the region. Those countries that are in the Partnership for Peace, and are not members of the NATO alliance, should apply for NATO membership.
• The competence of certain European Union institutions, such as the EU PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE dealing with corruption and misuse of public funds, should be extended to the countries of the Western Balkans even before formal accession to the EU.
• The EU and the US need to coordinate targeted sanctions on individuals and organizations that undermine democracy, the rule of law and democratic institutions in the region, as well as those who violate human rights, incite national and religious hatred, call for armed conflict, promote war criminals, deny war crimes and disregard decisions and judgments of courts and international war crimes tribunals. Sanctions must be applied to individuals and the media who spread hatred, participate in incitement to war and conduct orchestrated campaigns against officials and citizens of other countries.
• All victims of war and their families must receive justice. All war crimes must be prosecuted. The war crimes prosecutors of the countries in the region should have full cooperation and a joint effort to achieve justice for the victims of wars.
• All parliaments in the region must adopt resolutions condemning war crimes, upholding international court rulings and paying tribute to all victims. Any denial, relativization and promotion of war crimes must be sanctioned and condemned
• All convicted war criminals must be prohibited from engaging in politics, being politically active, speaking publicly, promoting their own and others’ war crimes, and holding public and public office.
• Mechanisms must be established to enable citizen participation in the work of institutions, the decision-making process, government control, control over the spending of public funds, holding politicians accountable, and the role of political parties in political processes must not go beyond the legal framework.
• Emphasis must be placed on the fight against populism and the insistence on strengthening the institutions that populism systematically dismantles in order to establish an authoritarian model of “liberal democracy”.
• Electoral systems in the region must not encourage authoritarianism and ethnic conflict, deepen differences and motivate politicians to mobilize voters exclusively on ethnic grounds using chauvinistic and nationalist discourse, hate speech and promoting war crimes and criminals.
• The background of all politically motivated killings in the region must be disclosed, perpetrators and perpetrators identified and punished. All attacks on journalists must be investigated and prosecuted responsibly. Those responsible for the murder of Kosovo opposition leader and politician Oliver Ivanovic must be found. The political background of the assassination of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Dr. Zoran Djindjic, must be revealed.
• A comprehensive agreement between Belgrade and Pristina must be reached and signed by the end of 2022 and must be the product of a comprehensive social and institutional dialogue.
• The states of the region must be secular, civil societies in which churches and religious communities have their role determined by law and the constitution and are not active participants in political life, party politics and electoral and other political processes.
• The countries of the region should become part of the European Green Agenda and environmental standards. This implies not only the implementation of the Paris Agreement but also the accession to the “4 for 1000” initiative, which offers a completely new approach to the absorption of excess CO2 from the atmosphere and which has been joined by some of the most developed countries in the world.
• Investments from the European Union must be significantly higher and enable the creation of sustainable, higher quality, better paid jobs that require a skilled workforce. Strengthening the economic system and the rule of law will result in stopping the brain drain and labor from the region. The cooperation of the countries of the region in this business is crucial, and joint infrastructure projects that will increase the flow of goods, people and capital are necessary.
• There must be unambiguous political and social consensus and support for regional cooperation. Top officials in the region must be committed to regional co-operation and refrain from provoking conflict, using old and open wounds to gain political points and nurture a system in which exploiting ethnic and other differences is the easiest way to mobilize voters and gain popularity. The civil sector in the region should contribute to this process and peace building.