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Stability in the Western Balkans

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Subido el 5 de julio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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The EU has sent the signal that the Western Balkans cannot remain a political vacuum within its borders and that their journey towards membership of the European Union will be supported. The scars of the 1990s conflict remain etched on the region. This video focuses on the attempts being made to develop at local, national and at regional level, the economic and political stability that will help the region get closer to the EU. We visit Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, both of whom have applied for EU membership. We visit Knin, a town in the Krajina region of Croatia, where Serbs like Dragan Katic are slowly returning to their homes. Katic set up a greenhouse to support his family and is now supplying vegetables to the local market. With EU support a business centre is being built in the town and the business is developing. We hear from the Deputy Mayor of the town who explains that "it is in everyone’s interest in Knin to move forward especially with the economy". In a feature interview with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, we hear the commitments of the Croatian government to places such as Knin and his commitment to generate employment opportunities for returned refugees. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, was seriously affected by an ethnic Albanian insurgency in 2001. A power sharing agreement has resolved those issues for the present and economic growth is key to sustained stability. In this report we examine one of the key sectors of the FYROM economy - Agriculture. We visit the farm of Baki Dimiri in the Western part of the country and feature an interview with the Minister for Agriculture Slavko Petrov.

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Thirteen years after declaring its independence from Yugoslavia and just over a year after 00:00:00

applying for EU membership, Croatia is waiting to hear if they have been accepted into the 00:00:07

fold. The country has worked hard to reach this stage. Tourism revenue is boosting the 00:00:12

economy and inflation is low. But for some international observers, Croatia still has 00:00:16

a lot of work to do before they enter a stable and peaceful EU. Zagreb continues to be criticised 00:00:22

for the slow return of Serb refugees to their homes in Croatia. Nearly a decade after the 00:00:29

Balkan conflict, Croat and Serb are still challenged to find ways to live together in 00:00:35

Croatia. Knin, a town in the Krajina region, made headlines during the conflict. The Serb 00:00:39

majority in the Krajina, although a minority nationally, declared the area an independent 00:00:46

state in 1991 with Knin as its capital. Croats were driven from their homes and villages 00:00:51

destroyed. Then in 1995, the Croatian army retook Knin and Serbs fled into Bosnia and 00:00:56

Herzegovina. Dragan Katic, a Serb, returned to his home just outside Knin in 1997. The 00:01:03

surrounding houses lie empty, formerly occupied by family members. They remain in Serbia and 00:01:13

Bosnia, fearful of return. When we returned in 1997, it was obviously hard to find a job. 00:01:18

It's difficult now, so you can imagine what it was like five, six years ago. A job is a crucial 00:01:27

way to ensure returned refugees stay. Dragan's solution was to set up a greenhouse. He's 00:01:34

expanded his business and now makes a good living supplying food to Knin's green market. 00:01:40

Reconstructed after the war with EU funding, both Serb and Croat meet and work together here. 00:01:45

We can agree or disagree as much as we want, but we are condemned to be together and we have to 00:01:51

live with each other. I don't have to say good afternoon, but we are neighbors. We're here and 00:02:01

we live together. But to say someone is more threatening than the other, I don't want to say 00:02:06

that. In my opinion, it's very difficult for everybody, but it is in everyone's interest in 00:02:11

Knin to move forward, especially with the economy. From communist times and up to the war, this screw 00:02:16

factory employed over four and a half thousand people. Now there are only about 80. The manager 00:02:26

explains that be they Croat or Serb, the person who can work the old machines is the person who gets 00:02:31

the job. There is no alternative, first to return of all refugees to their homes and second to give 00:02:37

them the new opportunities. We should give them a clear perspective and clear future and the 00:02:49

government is considering already a package of measures in order to enhance them to go there. 00:02:56

Replacing conflict with business is slowly taking hold in Knin. A business center is being built by 00:03:04

the local authority, national banks and the EU. It will employ up to 70 people. Croatia has already 00:03:09

received millions of euro in support of its journey into Europe. Knin alone has so far 00:03:18

received over 2.3 million euro in EU assistance. There are serious reasons to believe that economic 00:03:23

growth will help Serb and Croat communities come to reconciliation. For the time being, talk of 00:03:30

economic growth and reconciliation means nothing here. It will be years before anyone even returns 00:03:37

to live in some of the villages of Zadar County. Despite their shortcomings, the Zagreb government 00:03:42

continues to remind the international community that Croatia could play a key role of stability 00:03:49

for the entire Balkan region. It is up to the EU to decide whether or not Croatia should join 00:03:54

the EU, but I'm quite sure that by sending clear signals towards Croatia that also our neighbors 00:04:02

will get a clear perspective and I'm sure that the sooner Croatia becomes the EU member, the 00:04:10

sooner Serbia will become, for instance, or other countries in this region will become members of 00:04:17

the EU. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the other Balkan country applying for EU membership, 00:04:23

is only too aware that membership will boost an ailing economy. The least developed of the 00:04:30

former Yugoslav republics, the pace of economic growth was seriously undermined by the ethnic 00:04:36

Albanian insurgency in 2001. A power-sharing agreement has resolved those issues. Since 1991, 00:04:41

the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has received close to 650 million euro from the EU 00:04:49

to support reforms and integration. One of the key areas to receive funding has been agriculture, 00:04:55

a sector which has no future unless the country can develop strong markets within the European Union. 00:05:01

Given that we've inherited an unregulated situation with problems in production and 00:05:06

export, the reforms that we have begun are the real solution to the problems Macedonian 00:05:17

agriculture is facing. One of the most basic reform programs in receipt of EU assistance is 00:05:23

a scheme that will count and identify the country's cattle herd, ensuring their produce 00:05:32

is traceable and safe is a first step towards a European standard. Paki Dmiri, a dairy farmer in 00:05:37

Macedonia, is convinced that improving his farming practices is the only way to improve 00:05:45

his family's standard of living. As far as the registration is concerned, we think it'll be 00:05:50

better for us. It means we can export across the border and it will be better. Here the price is 00:05:58

very low, it takes our whole day working and there's no return. It remains to be seen whether 00:06:04

farms like Dmiri's can develop sufficiently to realistically compete with well-established 00:06:10

agricultural producers across Europe. And the situation is about to get more complex. The 00:06:16

addition in May of large agrarian economies to the EU will further change the face of European 00:06:21

agricultural production. It will make Dmiri's task all the more difficult. Perhaps Boven Winery in 00:06:27

southern Macedonia is an example of the way forward for Macedonian agriculture. A marketing 00:06:34

strategy of niche quality production may provide the country's farmers a place at Europe's table. 00:06:40

The EU has sent the signal that the Western Balkans cannot remain a political vacuum within 00:06:45

its borders and that the journey towards membership of the Union will be supported. At local, 00:06:52

national and at regional level, the carrot of economic and political stability promised by the 00:06:58

European vision may be the way to ensure harmony for the people of this region. 00:07:03

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772

Fecha:

5 de julio de 2007 - 12:13

Visibilidad:

Público

Enlace Relacionado:

European Commission

Duración:

07′ 11″

Relación de aspecto:

4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.

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