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Publication

„THE CHALLENGES OF

ACHIEVING EU

CANDIDATE

STATUS“

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Publication

„THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING

EU CANDIDATE STATUS“

Partners of the final event:

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Publication

„THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING EU CANDIDATE

STATUS“

Editors:

„Time for Plan B(alkans)“ group members:

Irma Zulić (B&H)

Dajana Džindo (B&H)

Rezarta Chausaj (ALB)

Sonja Delova (MK)

Cristian Gherasim (ROM)

Žarko Petrović (MN)

Publisher:

Year of pubication:

2012.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author of the cover photograph: Bojan Elek

The photograph was acquired with the author's permission. It is

one out of two winning photographs in the competition: „How can

the EU do better in the Balkans“, organized by our partnering

group (also a participant of the Southeast Europe

and the EU – Leadership Development Programme 2011).

The author finds that the EU can do better in the region, by giving

a „green light“ as a reassure that the Balkan countries are moving

in the right direction of becoming EU Member States.

In this publication authors of 10 best essays, think that in order to

reach the green light, there are many challenges which these

countries need to overcome.

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CONTENTS:

1. „Time for Plan B(alkans)“ and LDP 2011 ....................... 6

2. About the Project ............................................................ 7

3. Essay of Anja Lejli Hessarbani (B&H)………………..….8

4. Essay of Neven Obradović (SER)……………………...11

5. Essay of Nenad Kovačević (SER)……………………...14

6. Essay of Anton Jurovicki (MNE)……………………......17

7. Essay of Dino Pešut (CRO)……………………………..20

8. Essay of Ana Kristijan (SER)……………………………23

9. Essay of Ena Peeva (MK)……………………………….26

10. Essay of Anastazija Dimitrova (MK)...........................29

11. Essay of Aleda Kushta (ALB)………………………….31

12. Essay of Arber Selmani (KOS)………………………..34

13. About AIESEC B&H…………………………………….37

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1. „Time for Plan B(alkans)“ and LDP 2011

This publication is outcome of the overall activities conducted

within project called “Time for Plan B(alkans)”

The members of this project group are LDP 2011 fellows. The

Southeast Europe and the EU – Leadership Development

Programme is organized jointly by the European Fund for the

Balkans, the College of Europe and the TRANSFUSE

Association. The Programme aims to transmit knowledge

about the EU and its relation to the SEE, to stimulate the

leadership and professional skills of participants and to

encourage an exchange of views of young people who aspire

to play an active role in the future of their countries.

The 2011/2012 Programme consists of the following activities:

Two-week Summer Academy in Austria and Slovakia

in September 2011

Group projects

Spring Seminar in Belgium (Brussels/Bruges), in

April 2012

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2. About the project

The main aim of this project is to raise awareness by

creating a platform for the debate on the challenges of

achieving EU candidate status for the countries of Western

Balkans. The target groups are students from 18-25 years

old and from countries in the region. Other beneficiaries,

such as politicians, business sector, academics, professors,

NGOs and media, will also be included in the project.

The project is implemented in three phases:

1. Short essays competition on the topic of “The challenges

of achieving EU candidate status in my country”;

2. Issuing a publication with best 10 short essays;

3. Organization of a debate, where two best essays will be

presented and the participants will have the opportunity to

discuss on the mentioned topic.

The name of the project is also related to the SEE countries.

Each country faces the challenges and fulfils the conditions

for candidacy in the EU, on its own. In our opinion, “Plan B”

is that if the neighboring countries help and support each

other in achieving the same goal, all of them will reach it

faster.

In this publication are the 10 best essays of our Essay

Competition.

More info on the project can be found on the website

http://www.wix.com/planbalkans/planb#!

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Anja Lejli Hessarbani

...is a student of Political Science and Diplomacy in Sarajevo.

Anja worked as an intern in Transparency International B&H, and Embassies of B&H

in Vienna and Athens.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s challenge is to act as one, homogenous state and not as divided communities.

My country is Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though many did not hear about it, it is small and beautiful country centered in the heart of Europe with approximately 4 million people on the area of 51, 197 km2. However, this small country was marked with a turbulent history (1992-1995). This country has very complex political structure which is the result of Dayton Peace Agreement that played a big role in the establishing peace at that time.

Complexity of the political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is reflected in two entities plus Brcko District, 10 cantons, 3 presidents and numerous dysfunctional bureaucracies.

From the above briefly mentioned facts one can see that one of the biggest challenges of Bosnia and Herzegovina to become a part of EU is its constitution that is incompatible with the EU. Moreover, the will of political leaders is also one of the crucial elements in the process in itself. Some political leaders enjoying the positions they occupy, using

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various tools, such as media, make even more divisions in this society.

Moreover, in the constitution of the Bosnia and Herzegovina it is said that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a secular state, but it seems that it is far from that, taking into account that religious leaders give their opinion on the questions that are political and get involved in every aspect of current politics which makes such complicated system even more complicated. Some fundamental human rights are violated by its constitution, as the inclusion of the minority representatives in politics and its institutions. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s challenge is to act as one, homogenous state and not as divided communities. This can only be reached by the change of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the change of the constitution, which can be easily reached if we only regarded them by the “Living tree approach”

1, but

that will not be possible because of the lack of the political will.

To be able to be an active member of EU, it is also need to have the economic conditions for that. It is necessary to raise the living standards in order to be able to cope with the standards established by the EU. Because in a country, with its 27, 6% people unemployed (even though it is considered that this number is even higher), 48% of the people live on the margins of existence, and the others with the retirements and salaries that are the lowest in the region, will give the headache to the citizens of Bosnia and

1 Living Tree approach is approach of constitutional interpretation

which claims that constitution is organic and has to be read in a broad and progressive manner so as to adapt it to the changing times.

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Herzegovina placing their existence into the question, but also to the EU.

Together with this is the fact that aids, donations and other programs designed for and targeted at this group of people have to be more effectively applied and monitored in order to improve the quality of the people living here, instead of the money distributed on the projects that remain only as dead letter on the paper.

However, youth and minorities have to be included in order to give them prosperous country for which they will have a vision and wish to improve and not to see this country as the station while waiting the train for another country which raises more global issues concerning this country but also the other.

And last, but not less important challenge is corruption. Why this issue? Because if you manage to reduce it, many other questions will be solved. All state institutions need a revision of the budget spent and people employed, because many people still working in these institutions got the job illegally, or it is time for them to get retired which would open the positions for the younger people and more effective ones. The bureaucracy has to be reaching the minimum level and to be composed of the small, accurate people, well educated that will know to do their job more effectively by which money and time will be saved. Corruption is also reflected in the media, infrastructure, medicine, politics and many other aspects. Corruption in these segments is also high which prevents this country to get improved. However, this country has a good chance to be a candidate country of the EU, only if there is will for that and hard work to confront and overcome above mentioned challenges.

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Neven Obradović

...is a student of journalism master

studies in Niš, Sebia. In addition, Neven

works as a teaching assistant on the

Faculty of Philosophy on subjects:

Investigative journalism and Agency

journalism.

When speaking about Serbia, corruption is the

systematical problem of the society, or better said it’s a

way of life.

Serbia probably has one of the greatest challenges of all the

countries in the region in getting the membership in the EU.

Politicians both from EU and Serbia and the media label

Kosovo as the biggest challenge. The unsolved problem of

Kosovo surely is the major problem for many reasons which

are familiar to everybody; however, the government is

putting that problem on top of its agenda, and putting the

rest of the challenges, which are equally important for

getting a full membership, to the bottom. Those problems

are concerning simple man and the normalization of life in

the Balkans. In order to even think of joining the community

of European nations corruption, unemployment, education

are definitely fields that crave for changes in Serbia.

When speaking about Serbia, corruption is the systematical

problem of the society, or better said it’s a way of life. The

best way of representing it is the circular example from birth

to death.

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However, when you are born, your father, should, as if by a

rule, give some “present” to the doctor and nurses in order for

them to take better care of you. If not, they could be rude with

your mother or slightly careless with you. After a couple of

interesting years of growing up comes a new challenge -

getting a place in the kindergarten. There is a shortage of

preschool institutions, and if you are not able to pay for a

private one, just in order to get on the waiting list for a public

one, which can count more than 2 000 kids, you should offer a

certain amount of money to the headmaster or an employee

just to provide a normal growing up and socialization, and of

course, after getting a place in the kindergarten there are

more things to pay, but let’s not go into details. Then comes

the elementary school where teachers are the “target group”.

During high school you get more mature and you learn the

rules of survival in the system. We are witnessing various,

even interesting, ways of bribe and corruption by those who

are not willing to study and in order to get the passing grade

often offer fixing your house, collecting your cherries during

the summer break, mending your car, it all depends which

crafts your family can offer and what your teacher needs.

When it comes to high education, there are exact price lists of

the exams on certain universities which were put by

professors and which are well known by all the students. It’s

simple, like in a fast-food restaurant, when you open the

menu, instead of the meals there are exams, and in the end

you won’t get a fiscal bill. After getting a university degree

comes a time when a citizen of Serbia spends a lot of money

in the name of corruption.

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Of course, just to get in touch with your eventual employer

you have to be a member of a political party, and not just

any party but the ruling one, and in some cases, the

opposition can provide a job for its sympathizers. Having a

job and a family you enter the enchanted circle of corruption

which your parents passed in order to get you out on the

right way. After that you get old and ill. Health care is a

system of its own when it comes to corruption. In order to

get a decent treatment and to be sure that the doctors won’t

forget a scalpel or some other instrument in your body you

need to make things easier. The beginner level is a pack of

coffee and a bottle of juice, intermediate level is a bottle of

Scotch or some other hard liquor, and the advanced level

represents an envelope filled with Euros, a currency of a

union that we desperately crave, a paradox isn’t it? And at

the end of the circle, comes death, and, since the corruption

follows that circular process there were some cases that

after your close relatives died you had to provide a better

place at the graveyard with a “small investment”.

For Serbian authorities elimination of corruption represents

probably the greatest challenge when the membership in

the EU is questioned, but so far the acts showed that they

are not dealing with it seriously and systematically. It all

comes down to the eventual preventive actions which serve

for politicians to show off in front of the cameras instead of

showing us the way out of the dark tunnel of corruption.

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Nenad Kovačević

…is from Serbia and currently is

enrolled in MA of European Studies on

the University of Bonn while his

educational background is primarily

connected to law. He has relatively

wide professional experience in that field.

In my opinion, two most important challenges that Serbia

faces in achieving EU candidate status, are: (disputed)

status of Kosovo and corruption

The reason why this essay is wrote just couple of hours

before deadline is not because this author is lazy or has spent

too much time thinking about possible challenges for

achieving EU candidate status for Serbia. The simple thing is

that prognosis and analysis regarding result of the meeting of

European Council, which will take place on 9 December, and

which will clarify whether Serbia is, at least in opinion of

European Council, ready for candidacy are changing on daily

basis. At the moment, prospects, both on the round tables in

Brussels and on the field, are not good. European project is in

peril, Serbia needs attention of the European friends, but the

times are critical for the very survival of the Union. Still, with

having this is mind, I will deal with, in my opinion, with two

most important challenges that Serbia faces in achieving EU

candidate status.

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(Disputed) status of Kosovo

As much we can blame political elites in Serbia for

dishonesty and passivity in EU integration, there must be

some understanding for the difficult situation that current

Serbian government is facing. Without even going into

deeper analysis of history of the conflict, it is more than

clear that unresolved status of territory of Kosovo will be a

problem that will heat tensions on already flammable

Balkans. Weak and not unanimous position of EU, impatient

adversaries at the negotiation table, constant tension on the

field, the atmosphere of mistrust, imposition and extortion

without realizing complexity of the situation are not element

that are messenger of good news for Serbia. All actors in

the process must understand that cycles of mistrust and

frustrations in Balkans usually ends with bloodshed and

wars. Still, one must hope that EU, although in crucial times

for its very survival, will show its capacity for export of

stability into the region and, when disputed parties on the

ground are now ready, to define and set into motion new

and functional model of cooperation between two

communities, Serbs and Albanians. The challenge of

“Kosovisation” of the region will remain present until political

elites do not realize that negotiation cannot have winners

and losers.

(Miss) using the process of European integration for

internal politics purposes

(Miss) use of process of European integration for internal

politics purposes is not something unfamiliar to Serbia, or

other countries in the region for that matter.

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Corruption of European idea by political elites has created

several devastating effects namely, image of EU as

“blackmailing bureaucracy machine”, reforms that are

conducted only because Brussels wants so, looking at EU as

political nanny that will punish the country for everything bad

that it does and award for making progress in right direction.

This “do ut des” (Latin for "I give so that you may give") policy

is not helping at all. Nevertheless, of course, EU is not only to

blame. They are acting in that manner only because they

have politicians who are manipulating with uneducated voters

about what the Union is all about. Surely, EU should not

involve into the internal politics, but it must its capacity to raise

awareness in NGO sector and in direct contact with citizens,

especially with youth activist and academics. This is one of

the ways to create better understanding and good

environment about realistic and responsible debate on EU.

Unfortunately, it seems that “chasing the candidacy status”

has become more of a prestige intended only to help political

elite in power in their political battle for winning the elections

and therefore, we cannot count on Serbian political elite to do

such a thing.

That is one of the core problems of the EU integration

process, surely not only in Serbia. Country lead in such

irresponsible way is figuratively speaking “bad news”, and it

seems that present Europe cannot cope anymore with bad

news, especially not from (potential) candidate.

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Anton Jurovicki

…is a student of Information

Systems

and Technology in Podgorica.

Anton is a young entrepreneur.

He owns a number of websites and

a Promotion and Design Agency.

Doing business inside Montenegro can be good in

many ways but if I would like to spread my business,

MNE is small country that can’t offer big profits and

international brand.

When it was very oblivious that Montenegro will soon

become a candidate for EU I started thinking about my

future. I heard a lot about EU on my University, from my

friends but no one talked about options I will have when

Montenegro becomes part of European Union.

People only talk how EU will be a great benefit for us

because of the potential of raising the economic standard,

better conditions for living; they don’t talk how actually all

that depends only from us. EU is a new start and a possible

linger for all of those who sit at home and wait to be called

on a job interview or just called to start working. EU

demands competitiveness, constant work and progress.

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Being in EU is a new chance and opportunity for all young

people in Montenegro to prove themselves on the new

market, to show new ideas in an area that is enormous

comparing it to Montenegro. Soon we will live in the county

that has 600 million people! Soon my partner or rival in

business will be a student from France, Germany. We need to

cope and realize that becoming a part of EU is new motivation

which has to lift us to unseen heights! When we sum all

impressions EU is one strong bureaucratic creation that

demands many upgrades and developments of our society so

that it can be shoulder to shoulder with other countries in

the EU. For me personally EU is more than a chance it’s

simply one big area that has place for me, my ideas, creation,

knowledge. Strong laws and regulations from EU will linger

some things, such as starting new business, minimal wage of

an employee, taxes and other.

I guess that the best thing about EU is international expansion

of ideas, products and companies. Our country has to make

good business bases so entrepreneurs can succeed in EU.

Doing business inside Montenegro can be good in many ways

but if I would like to spread my business, MNE is small

country that can’t offer big profits and international brand.

Goal of MNE should also be to create good encouraging wave

of positive thinking towards EU, so people here can have

company that is strong and competitive in Europe and world

because people are afraid of going global and they are scared

of competition which EU will give us plenty

Montenegro is one of the world's fastest growing tourism

markets but I think it will have to improve a lot, considering

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that some new laws will have to apply on it. There are also

many other things that Montenegro will face with, in order to

become a good student of EU. We need to root out

corruption, business barriers, make our government more

transparent. We also need to improve our information

system. Recently I read census data and it shows that

almost half of citizens are IT illiterate. This will have to

change. One of future obstacles of our society is definitely

this information illiteracy which is sad, considering that we

live in 21. century. We are living in the digital age where

basics of IT are required on daily basis.

One of the challenges that we will face is “challenges of our

own mind”. People will soon realize that openness and

cooperation is the best method to succeed and that’s what

EU can offer. Better life is expected in one way or

another, only it will take some time for things

to stabilize and fortify so things and life generally can

move positive during the merger process with the other

members of the European Union.

EU will offer riddance of business barriers especially when it

comes to pushing products internationally. It

is obvious that entering EU will contribute

to society, individuals, businesses and that it will contribute

to overall development of Montenegro.

I know that leaders of my county are opt to every challenge

and that all tasks or requirements that are needed from

Montenegro will be done in satisfying way. I’m sure our path

towards EU will be pawed with excellence and

determination.

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Dino Pešut

…is a student of Dramatic Arts in

Zagreb. Dino is an artistic soul and

has been actively involved in

contemporary dance, acting

and producing. Currently, Dino is

living in Ljubljana as a Basileus

scholar.

Not long after approval for acceptance in the EU, in

Croatia happened a big incident during a gay pride in

Split and still no legal action nor political will has been

showed.

Croatia will most probably enter the European Union in the

next 12 months and my possible grant for Erasmus Mundus in

performing arts will drop more than 50 percent enabling me a

semi- decent life in France or Belgium. The obvious paradox

of acceptance and exclusion in the apparatus of the European

Union. The paradox of the end of one and beginning of the

other struggle connected to the European Union.

Hence, I would like to propose certain points which clarify

this paradoxical situations and somewhat schizophrenic

messages send by European union towards Croatia as it is

the first country (sans Slovenia) which will enter. There are

two aspects pointing each other. On one side, we have

European Union as a permutation of the European

economical alliance. Without doubt, a strong political initial

context is the most obvious while preparing for the entrance.

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Each country, without doubt has to be prepared, not only to

become similar as well to be able to integrate in the new

economical machine. On the other hand, there is a concept

of United Europe which constructs of collective symbolic

values nurtured within the walls of the boarders of European

Union.

Hence, as we might see recently, economy is neither a

possession nor value. It transformed in highly sophisticated

system which operates alone and in between global

activities. Obviously, the values Europe gathers is the one

based on thousands of years of philosophical thought and

mistakes, or better to say catastrophic, from which we all

should been learning. Those values, although may be

considered ideological is the edge of modernity.

The struggle for the candidate is therefore not only in the

economical as it is in ideological as well. The Balkan

countries still have not figured out how to deal with blame of

the history, nor had it been able to rethink its complexes

regarding to it. History is still treated as a populist political

campaign and strong ideology is somewhat felt. What is

candidate to do? It is certain that the standard will always be

lower, but those things which might be changed are not. Let

me issue the question of human rights. Here is the obvious

contradiction which happened in Croatia. Not long after

approval for acceptance in the EU, in Croatia happened a

big incident during a gay pride in Split and still no legal

action nor political will has been showed. More recently,

even the left option said it will not approve further steps

toward LGBTQ rights.

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Although it is just one of the possible problems, it occurs to

me as paradigmatic evidence of those messages sent from

the inside. Without doubt, my generation is the one who will

carry those values given to us. My generation is the one who

will embrace United Europe and we have done some share.

With boyfriends in Paris, best friends in London, colleagues in

Prague, with internet connection, with concerts of Bon Iver in

Vienna... But still, it is for privileged children, often from the

upper middle class, educated and from liberal households.

The ideological apparatus is strong here. I would like to argue

Athusser and induct the triangle church-family-school as the

representatives of populist neo-90s ideologies which of

course have risen hence the recession.

Will the few of us be able to spread the word?

In conclusion, I would like to propose a plea to let us in as we

described above are your target. You should re-read Hannah

Arendt, re-think the new philosophers and re-approach Susan

Sontag. You should let us in, give us opportunities and show

us. We have not been able to travel the Europe while

eighteen. Our families are poorer than yours and we carry the

blame of not completely understanding our own history.

In conclusion, as I wait for my Easy jet to go to Paris, to feel,

to dream of my experience, I hope our voices will be heard

and welcomed and in some years maybe paid, not necessary

only in money, but more importantly in exchanging values.

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Ana Kristijan

…is a student of Law in Novi Sad.

Ana’s main fields of interest are

international relations, with a focus on the

European Union, human rights and

economics development.

The European Union is not about satisfying the

requirements of fellow member states while oppressing

one’s own people.

The challenges Serbia faces on its way to the European

Union are – like in the case of any former EU candidate who

is a member now – numberless. Nevertheless, as I see it,

there is one fundamental problem: Serbia is not pursuing

E.U.R.O.P.E. Haven’t heard about this buzzword yet?

E.U.R.O.P.E. is an ideology that highlights the milestones

along the path towards the European Union. Look how it

works:

E : economic development. If a country seeks to integrate

into an economic entity, it will need to adjust the objectives

of its economic policy to the goals of the community, and it

will need to harmonize its economic cycles with those of the

members of the community. Serbia, being a small and open

export-oriented economy, should pay special attention to its

trade relations, the progressive development of its economy

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including financial stability, high rates of employment and an

effective reduction of poverty, and R&D among other

investments.

U : unity of the nation. Becoming a member of the European

Union should be the reflection of the will of the

overwhelming majority of the nation of Serbia. Not a single

citizen should feel deprived of her/his possibilities and rights

by the process. Therefore, decision makers in Serbia shall

take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the

European integration, and should advocate it in a way that

makes the nation stand behind the idea as a unity.

R : respect towards all people(s) and their rights. The

European Union is not about satisfying the requirements of

fellow member states while oppressing one’s own people.

On the contrary: first the rights of citizens should be

guaranteed, and then, after having set up a solid system

that represents the rights of the population can the domestic

structure of the country be ‘interconnected’ to other states.

In Serbia where the mixed population is a potential and a

challenge at the same time, this issue needs to be dealt with

special care.

O : outside relations. It goes without saying that

international relations are crucial. Note however, that it is

not only EU member states whose sympathy should be

sought. Particular attention should be paid to neighboring

countries. None of the former Yugoslavian republics should

let history doom present relations to failure. Unless Serbia

will be able to have mature negotiations with its neighbors

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concerning the most important aspects of life, the European

Union – and other supra- and international organizations –

will not handle the country as an equal partner.

P : potential. Serbia is a lucky country. Don’t agree? Just

think about the favorable conditions and potential it has! Its

geographical location, the influence of its economy in the

region, its multi-ethnic population and rich cultural life are all

chances which should be seized now in order to build up a

well-functioning country which will benefit present and

upcoming generations too.

E : a European perspective. Being a European is a very

good starting point in many respects, and it brings about a

lot of assumptions towards a country. Dealing with global

issues with European generosity often delivers satisfying

results; therefore Serbia should follow this ideology in its

foreign policy and international affairs. Harmonizing foreign

policy is a prerequisite of membership too.

My conclusion is that the only thing Serbia should do in

order to overcome the challenges it faces on its way to the

EU, is to listen to EUROPE, while safeguarding its own

values and protecting its traditions – which is, by the way,

an essential element of being European and being a

member of the European Union.

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Ena Peeva

…is 18 years old and in her

last year in high school.

For Ena this topic is something that

she finds very important

and attractive, because she wants to

study International Relations

and work in this field in the future.

I approve the changes in the Justice System, changes in

the Health Resources, as well as the one in the

Educational system and I must say that I feel very happy

when I see that they are slowly becoming real life

changes that people can feel throughout real life

situations.

Becoming part of the European Union is one of the most

important goals for my country, its current government and

most of its citizens. Macedonia, as a crossroad country, has

been attractive for foreign investments since always, but

unfortunately, it was also very attractive for conquering. It is a

real Balkan treasure, small, rich with natural resources and

most important with a very strategic location. It is a transit

country, which connects the Balkans to Eastern, Western and

Central Europe.

Nowadays, the politicians that are leading the Macedonian

government have one main issue, called Macedonia in

Europe.

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Most of the citizens are for achieving this issue, but there

are also a big number of them that does not want to see its

bellowed homeland country in the EU, because they do not

want to be in the EU as citizens of a country that is not

Macedonia. I, as a young citizen of this country, at almost

18 years of age, can say that yes, I admit and respect

almost all challenges that the EU gives to its member states,

but I do not agree with changing the identity in order to

become an EU member. There must be another solution for

this challenge, but time is needed to find it out.

I approve the changes in the Justice System, changes in the

Health Resources, as well as the one in the Educational

system and I must say that I feel very happy when I see that

they are slowly becoming real life changes that people can

feel throughout real life situations. Macedonia is a candidate

for accession to Europe since 2005 and until then and also

since then a lot of things have started going positive. As a

student, I mostly appreciate the changes in Education,

because on its way towards the EU, Macedonia has made

big changes in the Educational programs and what I like the

most about the changes, it has opened the students’

prospective viewing much more widely than it used to be

before.

Since achieving the candidate status, the students got a

chance to expand their knowledge outside the borders of

their country, throughout different Exchange programs,

mostly funded by the European Union. If we perceive it from

the real point of view, without the EU’s pleading for

Macedonian students, 95% of them wouldn’t ever get a

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chance to expand their knowledge outside the country

borders.

I believe that the cancelling of the visa system for Macedonia

has also helped a lot for expanding the horizons of citizens of

one country and making them ready for accepting the

challenges that EU gives in order to become its member. It is

very hard to explain to the citizens of a country that until

yesterday was part of a communist system that did not make

any changes for ages, the reforms that they have to make in

order to join the EU family, unless you show them and open

their horizons. I strongly believe that throughout traveling,

exchanges and, most important, with meeting new cultures

and traditions, people expand their views and start accepting

change easier.

To summarize, I think that Macedonia as a country system

has passed successfully a lot of challenges in order to

achieve the candidate status. The exams that were given to

us until now were successfully passed, but before us there is

a new challenge in the period that is to follow and that we

have to pass it even more successfully in order to get into the

EU. We should learn that we cannot use our hot-strings in

order to achieve something, as well as that being a string

puller is not allowed when talking about the Justice System,

Health System and any other system that is state-funded. We

should teach the young generations that becoming successful

and achieving the life challenges is not easy, but when you

fulfill it with your own work, then they are a million times

worthier than when fulfilling it as a string puller. When, we will

say out loud that we have achieved all this, than we can say

that we are ready for becoming EU members.

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Anastazija Dimitrova

…studies environmental engineering and

landscape architecture in Skopje.

In the future Anastazija hopes to

achieve her goals, contribute to the

society and inspire people in many ways.

If we become a member of the EU under a different

name that is not Macedonia that is just a desperate

nation with lost identity, history and tradition who will

never be able to do much good in the Union.

During these 19 years of my life, according to some people I

have seen a lot, and according to other yet so little. One

thing that everyone can be sure of, is that I have seen and

felt the never-ending battle my country is leading in order to

become a member of the European Union. It has been

stated over and over again that this is our primary goal, but

the question why after 20 years we are still far away from

becoming a member still stays unanswered.

One of the most complicated problems that Macedonia is

facing in the process of becoming a candidate is the name

issue. Many people will say that this is just a silly

misunderstanding, a battle of Don Quixote against the wind

mills, but how can we stay indifferent when someone wants

to rename us against our will. If we become a member of

the EU under a different name that is not Macedonia that is

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just a desperate nation with lost identity, history and tradition

who will never be able to do much good in the Union. In

order to solve this problem, it is my belief that we have to

explain to the world that a name is never just a name, it is a

whole identity and identity is the one thing that no one has

the right to take away from you.

Of course the name is not the only problem. As residents of

the Balkan Polynesian, is in our mentality to think that we are

better then everyone, that we need no help or assistance from

anyone, that we can make it on our own. Well, if I have the

chance to say one thing to the people who run my country it

will be this: You cannot do everything, you do not know

everything. Ask for help, ask for opinions! We have to

understand that asking for help is not a bad thing to do. It will

not make us look bad and it will not make us loose. We can

learn so much from countries and nations around the world. If

we just try to change and fix things one by one, by looking

and comparing what other have done, we will be more

developed, more organized and more appreciated from

Europe and the world.

These changes of course, can never happen by night. But we,

as young people can help to make them happen sooner. We

have to understand that it is of great importance for

Macedonia to become a part of the European family, because

that will help us and our fellow citizens in the future. We have

to stand up and speak, we have to inspire change and be the

change. We have to take some action and show that we, the

youth have the power within us. It is never easy to conquer so

many challenges. But if we don’t try who will?

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Aleda Kushta

…is 19 years old and she is studying

Economics in her first

academic year, in Tirana.

Aleda speaks English, Turkish and a

little bit of Spanish

and Italian language.

The barriers that are created between the opposition

and government are making our achievement in the EU

even more difficult and the time of admission is being

extended indefinitely.

“A day will come when you, France, you, Italy, you, England,

you, Germany, all of you nations of the continent, will,

without losing your distinctive qualities, be blended into a

European fraternity.” This was what Victor Hugo, a well

known French poet and novelist predicted about the future

of Europe. In this century, his predictions came true.

But what is the EU? European Union is an economic

alliance of nations. It unifies standards and laws that

contribute to economic growth. The EU goals include

promoting economic and social progress, introducing

European citizenship as a complement to national

citizenship, and giving the EU a significant role in

international affairs. To achieve its goal of a borderless

Europe, the EU is removing barriers to free trade among its

members.

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The right to free movement under the same conditions as

every national citizen in the EU Member state. The right to

vote and to stand in local and European elections throughout

the EU. The right to diplomatic protection by every EU

Members States representation in the world. The right to file a

petition to the EU Parliament. Everyone who is citizen of a

Member State is automatically a EU citizen.

Every country that wants to be a member of the EU must not

allow corruption in administrative bureaus. Everyone must be

treated equally in front of the law. The comprehension

between the government and the opposition is also a very

important issue because it gives a political stability to the

country. The independence of the courts is another obligation

if you want to be an EU member. The implementation of the

new currency, the Euro, so we won’t use anymore the Lek

currency. The economy of the state must be in a certain level

so that the country development and welfare could be greater.

The first step that my country, Albania took last December

was the liberalization of the visa. I remember very well that

day because it made possible our free movement among the

European countries. The joy and happiness that this brought

to people that went for the first time outside Albania to see

their families or relatives after many years was indescribable.

I was also one of this people; I went to see my relatives in

Austria after 4 years. This was a successful achievement for

Albania. Another important achievement was also the

membership in the OTAN.

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The main point that makes the EU to be so requested is the

importance of an extraordinary practice such as the one that

determines not only the politics and economy, but also the

everyday issues of all citizens including day by day even

more areas. As an important example we can use the

implementation of the currency Euro as a mean of payment

since 2002. Another reason is that now the decisions are

not only taken in the capital cities of the states which are

members in the EU, but also in Brussels.

The EU is considered as the biggest economical zone in the

world. The importance of the EU has increased also due to

its gradual expansion. There were only 6 countries when it

started and now there are 27 members of the EU. Taking

this in consideration, if Albania could achieve being an EU

member in the future would be a significant accomplishment

which will help my country to have a greater development

and prosperity.

Meanwhile, Albania did not achieve her challenges because

of the disputes between the government and opposition.

The last elections for the Major of Tirana brought once again

the political forces into conflicts. Even though the elections

were declared by the respective ambassadors in Albania

and the EU ambassadors as regular and impartial ones, the

opposition forces rejected them.

The barriers that are created between the opposition and

government are making our achievement in the EU even

more difficult and the time of admission is being extended

indefinitely. As soon as these disputes could be solved, our

acceptance in the EU family will be a reality.

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Arber Selmani

…currently works as an arts journalist

in a daily newspaper in Pristine.

In the last years he has worked on

the

radio and a television station.

Arber is also a student of Marketing.

Five European countries do not recognize Kosovo as an

independent country, there is corruption, murders,

crimes, and other things, but the main justification to all

these things is: “we are in transition.”

When I think about that almost 45% of population of

Republic of Kosovo, my country, are unemployed, 35% of

them lives in poor conditions, 18% of them are facing the

death and from the corruption field we are the best one, with

all these facts it looks like we are far away from the

integration of European Union. Its not that I don’t want to,

but those guys from the EU are not “foolish” people to

accept us, the country which they expect stability and they

don’t find something near that. However, if you think about

the development of this country in the period after the war,

EU had made only one mistake, when they asked for State

stability in Kosovo, because in fact the Republic of Kosovo

is the most stabile country in Balkans, Europe or almost in

the whole world, but still if we take a look to the state

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stability of European countries we have many examples

when people of those countries have abused state finances.

Half-stability we can count either when the number of

unemployment is very high approximately 45%-50% ,

stability is when the young people are not educated and

everyday they used to spend their lives to the coffee bars

and pubs, there is no future from these places. It is stabile

even the citizen votes that happens once in a while, and it

doesn’t change anything. If it is required the stability of the

country in order to integrate to EU, what we can say about

this, is that Kosovo is on a sub-way with no end. Kosovo

was always been stabile even though we had many

promises from politicians in their electoral campaigns that

they will change and improve our country for a better future;

those were only bunch of lies from them, of course with a lot

of stability again.

I checked the other things to figure out other conditions to

be part of EU. It was required a stable economy. Maybe I’m

not exaggerating this, but the stability was always there.

Economic tenders are always won by inexperienced people.

Kosovo as a new country is the biggest victim of Former-

Yugoslavia which means that is far away from this

integration. Five European countries do not recognize

Kosovo as an independent country, there is corruption,

murders, crimes, and other things, but the main justification

to all these things is: “we are in transition.” Recently, Japan

had a powerful earthquake which left many consequences

in that country but if we compare the photographs which

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were taken after the earthquake and those taken 6 months

after that happened, it looks different country and what

Japanese people did was a masterpiece because for 6

months they achieved rebuilding their country in the best

possible way. In Kosovo, since the war is over 11 years are

not enough to improve the country and still the only

justification is that we are in Transition.

Years ago when the police files were stolen inside the police

department, it would be a huge scandal all over the world but

what the prime minister said was “the police was careless in

this situation and we have to be more careful”. If you can

make it to steal files in police department that means that you

can kill 20 people in the middle of the day. 12 years have

gone and I’m 12 years older now, so if I multiply with 5 or 6 I

will be quite old when this country can make it possible to

integrate between other EU countries. It is not random that we

had internationals for a quite long time after the war, because

not many of them help us, if we don’t firstly help ourselves.

Often it is said that young people can shake rocks but I do not

agree that they can move the terrible foundation. Millions

money of Kosovo have lost and I cannot return them back as

an economist. Personally what I can do is to create a good

state education, so these things cannot happen again.

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13. About AIESEC B&H

AIESEC is the biggest global organization administered by students and young people. It is an international network which enables organizations to collaborate and find students and graduates throughout exchange programmes, seminars, conferences and virtual systems of communication.

Focus of AIESEC is the individual and his personal and professional development.

AIESEC is present in B&H since 1953, which makes B&H one of the oldest AIESEC countries in the world. Today, AIESEC in Sarajevo has around 50 members, which actively

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participate in the implementation of various activities and projects.

Projects of AIESEC B&H

„AIESEC Career Days“– Primary goal of the project is enabling contact between students and labor market and in such way to reduce unemployment of young people and augmentation of their activities.

PboX (Project based on exchange) – This is a

project which is based on exchange of students, but

it also includes organizing lectures, workshops,

round tables and conferences on a topic of social

importance.

FLMS (Future Leaders Motivation Seminar) – The

main aim of this project is admittance of new

members in AIESEC, their acquaintance with the

organization, their involvement and a start of training

for development of young leaders.

LTS (Local Training Seminar) – The goals of this

conference are member training, presentation of

future plans (especially of the local committee) and

through workshops, sessions and different

simulations to

Summer NatCo – The aim of this conference is to

present to the members the achievements of

AIESEC B&H in the past period and to choose the

president and members of the management boards

on the national and local levels.

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„Time for Plan B(alkans)” group members:

Irma Zulić (B&H) Sonja

Project Coordinator Delova

(MK)

Dajana Džindo Cristian

(B&H) Gherasim

(ROM)

Rezarta Caushaj Žarko

(ALB) Petrović

(MN)

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the

members of “Time for Plan B (alkans)” Project group and can in no

way be taken to reflect the views of the organizers of the Southeast

Europe and the EU – Leadership Development Programme