Organised Crime in the Balkans

UK Conference on Organised Crime, London

25 November 2002

I should begin my remarks by thanking a country I know well, as we are required to say in the Commission, for taking the initiative in organising this Conference. The Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary are quite right to give it a high priority, as I do.

We’ve come a long way in the Balkans in a few years. From the bombed out lunar landscape of Vukovar to the charnel house of Srebrenica, to the smoking ruins of Kosovar villages, the 1990s was a decade of despair, death and destitution in the region. It should have been the hour of Europe but we blew it. We could have acted decisively to ensure a peaceful dissolution of the old Yugoslavia but we didn’t. We could have shown real leadership and vision but we were found wanting.

At the end of the 1990s Europe found its voice with, we have to admit, a large shove from our American allies. At Dayton the Bosnia conflict was brought to an end. In Kosovo we said never again to ethnic cleansing by Governments in the heart of our continent. And in Macedonia Europe acted quickly and decisively to head off the plunge into inter-ethnic warfare.

Moreover, we have helped bring not just peace but democracy to this region. There are still concerns about elections in the Balkans but at least now they’re about low turnouts rather than ballot stuffing. And let’s face it turn outs in many Member States are not particularly good either !

Finally we have spent large sums of money helping the physical reconstruction of these countries. Keeping electricity flowing in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia while helping modernise its electricity grid. Rebuilding vital economic lifelines between Croatia and Bosnia. Building the strategic Tirana-Durres highway.

But these undeniable advances for ordinary citizens can’t conceal an ugly problem which is growing inside this part of Europe ; the cancer of organised crime. That’s why this Conference is so timely.

I see organised crime and corruption as a social, a political and an economic problem.

Social because it involves all sections of society; ordinary criminals, the grey marketeers, the paramilitary, those paying extra for services, a building permit or a university degree and those accepting a bribe, perhaps to supplement very low salaries.

Political because these practices appear to be accepted, and because in at least some instances, crime and corrupt practices finance political activities whilst criminals are guaranteed impunity in return.

Economic because resources are being diverted into the grey economy, depriving the States of much needed revenues and making it difficult for honest and legal firms to operate and survive.

Organised crime and corruption have an enormously negative impact on the region - not only because they exist, but also because of our perception that they are not taken seriously by a political establishment, which is in any case often part of the problem.

The question is what Europe can now deliver in helping the Balkan countries to curtail this growing menace.

Clearly there are differences of approach required for different types of crime.

Take tobacco smuggling which is such an all pervading and pernicious influence up to and including Government level. Customs and law enforcement need to do their work but it would help if some large tobacco companies took this problem more seriously than they sometimes appear to do.

What I am clear about is that a criminal justice approach, important though it is, is not remotely enough. If we can get the evidence on the Mr Bigs and put them out of circulation - fine. But let’s not pretend to ourselves that this is going to be enough to deal with the problem.

In my view there is no alternative, to coin a phrase, than to help all these countries build honest uncorrupt institutions brick by brick. That is exactly what our CARDs programmes seek to do. Building a strong police service in Bosnia, creating a more effective judiciary in Croatia, transforming the Customs Service in Albania. All over the Balkans that is now our focus. It’s crucial not just to deal with organised crime but also to attract foreign investment. For without effective property law properly enforced, for instance, who will want to invest in this region?

That is our side of the bargain. Of course we also need willing partners. We can’t have a process where Balkan countries pretend to reform and we pretend to believe them. I’ve lost count of the number of “anti corruption initiatives” in the Balkans. Nor is passing new legislation enough, either. One common weakness is the lack of strong secondary legislation, and the lack of coherence between primary and secondary legislation. As is the case in many sectors, it is all about implementation - signing up to international conventions and adopting new legislation will do no good unless implemented and applied on the ground.

Of course implementation capacity is a major problem for all the countries in the region. We have to be realistic about the rate of progress. What we can do is to be insistent on the direction of policy. Where we believe that policy is not headed in the right direction - particularly where the problem seems to be a lack of political will - then we have to be prepared to make our views known loud and clear.

Let’s be clear the European Union is ultimately a union of values. Respect for human and minority rights, good governance under the rule of law with independent and impartial judiciaries, accountable and impartial policing, transparent and accessible decision making and the right to redress are at its core. Any country that aspires to join the Union must share these values. Maybe we need to inject into the Copenhagen criteria themselves the notion that no country can expect to join the Union if we are not satisfied that they are working with us to rid their societies of this evil. Moreover, they need to work not just with us but with each other. Regional co-operation: police co-operation, border co-operation and crucially judicial co-operation are absolutely essential if we are to make progress. Sadly one of the features of the history of the Balkans over the last decade or so has been the willingness of the ethnic groups to co-operate on crime. Now we need to make sure that they co-operate as effectively in curbing that crime.

Ladies and Gentleman, in just over a year the European Union is about to undergo the most fundamental change in its history. It will grow - from 15 to 25 Member States; from 300 to 400 million citizens. Twenty-five countries and 400 million people in a single market, with common legislation, common institutions, working together for the future of a continent and its citizens.

And it will not end there. The remaining candidate countries are working hard to fulfil the requirements for joining the Union. Other countries aspire to walk the same path, to join a union offering peace, stability and a better quality of life for its citizens. We have already agreed to welcome the countries of the Western Balkans into the European Union once they are prepared and equipped for it - and we are ready to do all we can to assist them along the way. We cannot wish away the requirements for membership with quick political fixes.

The Stabilisation and Association process is the framework to achieve just that - bringing the countries closer to the Union. It is a serious process, a challenging process and it has to be because it is designed to lead to membership of a Union which will impose significant duties like open trade, along with its many benefits.

We have done a great deal to bring Stability to this region. Now we want to transform Association over time into Membership. We owe it to the people of the Balkans to do everything we can to make this vision a reality. I hope that this Conference will play its part in finally enabling our fellow Europeans in the Balkans to enjoy the benefits which Membership will provide for them.