On the initiative and with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium), the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (US), the new International Commission on the Balkans held its first meeting on April 15 in Brussels. Centre for Liberal Strategies functioned as a secretariat of the International Commission on the Balkans. The International Commission was chaired by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and its members were 17 internationally renowned decision-makers from different countries of Europe and the United States. The objective of the International Commission was to develop a vision for the integration of the countries of South East Europe into the European Union and other international structures highlighting the progress made to date, supported by recommendations for action to the governments of the region and to the international community. As Chairman Amato pointed out: "We intend to be helpful both to the decision makers and to the societies in South East Europe as well as to the incoming European Commission". Plan of the International Commission was to undertake three study tours to the region. The efforts of the Commission resulted in a final report by the early spring of 2005. Web Site: www.balkan-commission.org List of Members: Chairman: Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister, Italy Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister, Sweden Avis Bohlen, former US Ambassador to Bulgaria, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs Jean-Luc Dehaene, former Prime Minister, Belgium Kemal Dervis, Member of Parliament, former Minister of Finance, Turkey Mircea Geoana, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Romania Kiro Gligorov, former President, Macedonia Francois Heisbourg, Director, Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique, France Istvan Gyarmati, Chairman of the Board, Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, Hungary Bruce Jackson, President, The Project on Transitional Democracies, USA Zlatko Lagumdzija, President, Social Democratic Party; former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina Ilir Meta, former Prime Minister, Albania Neven Mimica, Member of Parliament, European Integration Committee, Croatia Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, Governor, BBC, United Kingdom Janez Potocnik, Member of the European Commission, Slovenia Alexandros Rondos, former Ambassador at Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Advisor to the Greek Foreign Minister, Greece Goran Svilanovic, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Serbia and Montenegro Richard von Weizsacker, former President, Germany Executive Director: Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Board, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria Project coordinator: Vessela Tcherneva, Program Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria Full text of report (Adobe, PDF)
Period: April 2049 - May 2006
Coordinators: Ivan Krastev, Vessela Tcherneva
Financing Organisations: Robert Bosch Stiftung; German Marshal Fund of the United States; Charels Stewart Mott Foundation; King Baudouin Foundation