A4-0098/95

Recommendation to the Council on the outcome of the Pact on Stability in Europe and the action to be taken thereon

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Rule 92 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to Article J7, second paragraph, of the Treaty on European Union,

- having regard to Council Decision 93/728/CFSP of 20 December 1993 on the joint action adopted by the Council on the basis of Article J3 of the Treaty on European Union on the inaugural conference on the Stability Pact ((OJ L 339, 31.12.1993, p. 1.)),

- having regard to its recommendation of 22 April 1994 on the joint action on the Pact on Stability in Europe ((OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 418.)),

- having regard to the documents adopted by the participant states at the conclusion of the inaugural conference on the Stability Pact in Europe (26 and 27 May 1994),

- having regard to Council Decision 94/367 CFSP of 14 June 1994 on the continuation of the abovementioned joint action ((OJ L 165, 1.7.1994, p. 2.)),

- having regard to the Council Presidency's statement of 14 March 1995 on the Stability Pact,

- having regard to the Stability Pact itself, adopted at the final conference of 20 and 21 March 1995 in Paris,

- having regard to the proposal for a recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy (A4-0098/95),

A. having regard to the French initiative of April 1993 which led to the Pact on Stability in Europe,

B. pointing out that the aim of the Stability Pact is to ensure the consolidation of frontiers and respect for minority rights in Europe, beginning with the states of central and eastern Europe and the Baltic states which, in the longer or shorter term, have the prospect of accession to the European Union,

C. stressing that the Stability Pact process was conceived as an exercise in preventive diplomacy to help resolve the frontier and minority problems of central and eastern Europe and the Baltic region, and that this is a precondition for the accession of the countries concerned to the European Union,

D. considering that in this respect the aim has been partially achieved and that states which have not yet concluded good-neighbourliness and cooperation agreements and arrangements should therefore press on with their efforts to do so, as is the case with Hungary and Romania, and that states which have done so should eliminate their differences of interpretation of such agreements and arrangements, as in the case of the agreement between Hungary and Slovakia, in order fully to guarantee stability in Europe,

E. emphasizing the responsibility which now falls upon the OSCE, as the repository of the Pact on Stability in Europe, for monitoring its implementation,

F. pointing out that the Stability Pact was conceived as a geographically open and flexible process, as reiterated by the Presidency of the Council at the final conference of the Pact on Stability in Europe,

1. Recognizes that the Stability Pact process has created a momentum which has enabled a positive dialogue to develop between the states concerned themselves and between them and their neighbours and a number of problems to be resolved within a relatively short period;

2. Takes therefore a generally positive view of this exercise in preventive diplomacy, while noting its limits, and draws attention to the vital role played by the regional round tables, a device which was envisaged but never introduced in the context of the CSCE/OSCE;

3. Welcomes the substantial role played by the Commission in the Stability Pact process - hence outside the intergovernmental framework - in facilitating the identification of projects aimed at contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Pact and eligible under the PHARE programme;

4. Urges the Council to exert its influence to bring about the removal of the last differences standing in the way of the full achievement by the Pact on Stability in Europe of all its objectives: welcomes the good will shown by the Prime Ministers of Hungary and Romania in a joint statement to continue their negotiations with a view to reaching a bilateral agreement to resolve their countries' mutual problems and to lodge that agreement, when it has been concluded, in the Stability Pact;

5. Recommends to the Council that it:

(a) monitor the implementation of the Pact on Stability in Europe, in view of the inherent deficiencies of the OSCE, and to this end make use of the political dialogue laid down both in existing and future Europe agreements, and in partnership and cooperation agreements, as structured dialogue with the countries of central and eastern Europe, the Baltic states and Slovenia will also allow problems of mutual interest to be dealt with in a multilateral context,

(b) work nevertheless within the OSCE to ensure the continuation of the regional round tables which have proved their worth and facilitate dialogue between the states concerned and their neighbours,

(c) continue its monitoring of the Pact on Stability in Europe also within the Council of Europe, in view of the conventions drawn up by the latter in respect of human rights and minority rights,

(d) consider extending the Stability Pact method, mutatis mutandis, to regions which are vital to the security and stability of Europe and hence to the security of the European Union, such as the Balkans and the Caucasus, which lie within the area covered by the OSCE,

(e) see whether this method, as a European Union joint action, could not also be applied in the Mediterranean, so that the Euro-Mediterranean conference to be held in Barcelona in November 1995 might be followed by negotiations with all Mediterranean coastal states and other non- Community states concerned with a view to concluding a Pact on Stability and Security in the Mediterranean;

6. Thanks the successive Council Presidencies for having invited, in view of Parliament's right to be kept informed (Article J7 TEU), an ad hoc delegation to follow the work of the conferences on the Pact on Stability in Europe, as it had requested in its above-mentioned recommendation of 22 April 1994;

7. Instructs its President to forward this recommendation to the Council and, for information, to the Commission.