Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 45: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he and his colleagues within the EU and UN continue to monitor the situation in the western Balkans with particular reference to the need to ensure continued stability in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33800/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Ireland, together with our EU partners, is committed to enhancing stability in the Western Balkans region. The EU perspective for the countries in the region, agreed at the June 2003 Thessaloniki European Council, is essential in helping to build and maintain this stability. The EU will remain engaged in assisting the countries in the region to undertake the reforms necessary to move forward in their path to the EU. While there remain issues of serious concern, and much remains to be achieved at national level, the regional dynamic is more encouraging. The expected signature of Croatia's Accession Treaty at the European Council in December is particularly welcome evidence of this.

The arrests this summer of Ratko Mladiæ and Goran Hadziæ and their swift transfer to the Tribunal in The Hague marked an important milestone for reconciliation in the Western Balkans. The arrests demonstrated the commitment of President Tadiæ and the Serbian Government to fulfilling their obligations with regard to International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) cooperation.

These arrests were preceded by a number of important initiatives by the governments of the region to deal with the legacy of the Balkan Wars. In March 2010, Serbia's parliament passed a declaration condemning the Srebrenica massacre and apologising to the families of the victims. In the same month, Bosnia and Herzegovina appointed an Ambassador to Serbia after a three-year hiatus. This was followed by a joint visit by the Serbian and Croatian Presidents to Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 2010 to attend a commemoration to mark the 15th anniversary the Srebrenica massacre. In November 2010, the Serbian and Croatian Presidents paid a joint visit to Vukovar in Croatia, where the Serbian President laid a wreath to commemorate the victims of the three-month siege in 1991.

Over the past two years, the region has also received a boost in its relations with the EU through the extension of a visa waiver scheme for entry to the Schengen Zone to almost all countries of the Western Balkans.

Following on from a joint EU-Serbia resolution at the UN General Assembly last year, Serbia and Kosovo have been engaged in an EU-facilitated dialogue since March 2011. The talks are focused on practical matters such as land registry, customs stamps, telecoms and electricity. It is hoped that the parties will reach agreement on some of these matters soon, even if higher level talks have been delayed because of the continuing tension in northern Kosovo, where members of the local Serb population have resisted the location of Kosovo police and customs officials at the northern border between Kosovo and Serbia.

Elections took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia in the past year. In all cases, the elections passed off peacefully and marked an improvement on past elections.

However, more than a year after the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, government formation has yet to be completed and the political atmosphere remains difficult. In May, EU High Representative Ashton achieved a notable success in the EU's efforts to stabilise the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina when she persuaded President Dodik of the Republika Srpska to repeal a planned referendum which could have questioned the state-level judiciary and the international presence in the country.

Montenegro, which was granted candidate status last December, was the subject of a broadly positive assessment in October by the Commission, which is now proposing that a date be agreed to open negotiations on accession.

While the Council of Ministers has already agreed that accession negotiations should begin with Macedonia, the "name" issue remains a stumbling block.