International Commission on the Balkans

The International Commission on the Balkans (ICB) was funded by Robert Bosch Foundation, the King Baudouin Foundation based in Belgium, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Charles Steward Mott Foundation set up by General Motors industrialist Charles Stewart Mott. These foundations have made substantial donations to a range of projects in connection to the German Marshall Fund of the UShttp://www.gmfus.org/partnership/index.cfm in relation to what is termed the 'transatlantic community.' Part of this included the ICB:
:The German Marshall Fund has co-funded the International Commission on the Balkans, an initiative to bring American and European experts together to seek solutions to unresolved Balkan issues in Southeast Europe and further these countries’ integration into international institutions. In Fall 2004, Commission members visited Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and will issue a report in Spring 2005.http://www.gmfus.org/template/page.cfm?page_id=126
The Centre for Liberal Strategies functioned as a secretariat of the ICB. Donors to the Centre for Liberal Strategies include:Freedom House, International IDEA, Stockholm, National Endowment for Democracy, Open Society Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Westminster Foundation for Democracy and othershttp://www.cls-sofia.org/cgi-bin/public/index.cgi?lang=1&topic=donors
The Centre for Liberal Strategies also has a similarly Atlanticist collection of partners http://www.cls-sofia.org/cgi-bin/public/index.cgi?lang=1&topic=partners
These foundations also fund the European Policy Centrehttp://www.epc.eu/en/ae.asp?TYP=ABOUT&LV=224&see=n&PG=AE/EN/ac&AI=37
Which includes figures such as Peter Sutherland,Lord Kerr of Kinlochard,Gijs de Vries,Craig Kennedy the President, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Ivan Krastev (below),John Monks,Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Luc Tayart de Borms, the
Managing Director, King Baudouin Foundation.
A Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), December 2006 report into the funding of European think tanks was designed to test "the extent to which EU think tanks are willing to disclose data about their sources of finance". It followed a similar survey in 2005. The findings indicate "that there has been little improvement in the financial transparency of EU think tanks.http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/ThinkTankSurvey2006-Appendix.pdf
The survey also examined whether organisations accredited Lobbyists (few did); other anomalies include:
:Assistant to the Director General Europe of BAE Systems told us that their company has no relationships with think tanks focussed in EU policy making. However, in their 2005 Annual Report, the London based Center [sic] for European Reform includes BAE Systems as one of their members.
Several of the ICB members listed below are members of the Centre for European Reform and an overwhelming majority have links to US companies or organisations or 'Atlanticist' organisations. what is also striking is the connection to arms companies either directly or via funding.
The make-up of the ICB has been criticised from the left:
:Most of them have been heavily involved in their own countries in privatisation, structural reform and labour market flexibility programmes that have increased social polarisation and inequality.http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/balk-m24.shtml
This report also mentions that Bruce Jackson is a close associate of the Bush administration and a foreign policy hawk: a director of the Project for a New American Century and founder of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. Jackson is also a member of the Project on Transitional Democracies. This, according to a Right Web profilehttp://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1347.html includes a well-connected lobbyist and political insider, Randy Scheunemann the founder and president of the public relations firm Orion Strategies which it asserts was an active supporter of advocacy groups aimed at building support for the invasion of Iraq and represented Lockheed Martin amongst others.
Jackson is also a member of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, was a founding member of the American Enterprise Institute's New Atlantic Initiative and the US Committee on NATO, which produced The Project on Transitional Democracies as a spin-off in 2003.http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1536.html
:A former military intelligence officer, Jackson also worked in the commercial defense industry. In fact, while working for Lockheed Martin, in 1996 Jackson cofounded the U.S. Committee on NATO (formerly the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO), an organization whose policies encapsulated much of Jackson's beliefs. That Jackson's effective advocacy for NATO expansion coincided with his employment at Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contractor and a company that could benefit from bringing more countries into the U.S. weapons market, has not been overlooked. Wrote one Jackson critic: "Mr. Jackson was Vice President for Strategy and Planning at Lockheed Martin Corporation, which means that while Jackson was founding the U.S. Committee on NATO and the Project [on] Transitional Democracies; while he was serving on the board of the Project for the New American Century; and while he was chairing the Republican Party subcommittee on foreign policy—all of which advocated more defense—Bruce P. Jackson was also working for a company that stood to gain the most from stepped up spending on weapons."http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1233.html
Lockheed Martin also fund the Centre for European Reform, who use the CER and the Atlantic Council to promote this agenda:
:An integrated marketplace would enable allied governments to get more for their money in defense systems, allocate research and development more effectively and make the defense industry more efficient, Coffman said during his keynote address, "The Defense Industry Today: Implications for Transatlantic Cooperation," at a forum in Washington, D.C., co-sponsored by the Atlantic Council of the United States and the London-based Centre for European Reform.http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2000/LockheedMartinCEOCoffmanCallsForEqu.html
While doing so members of the CER feel free to comment on the lack of transparency and honesty that marks the EU. A 2004 Wall Street Journal article revealed that Neelie Kroes, the EU's candidate for its antitrust chief, the nominee for its top business regulator:
:...didn't disclose her lobbying work for Lockheed Martin Corp., though Lockheed has strong ties to Italian firms being investigated by the office she would head. The Lockheed work reveals another layer in the business background of Ms. Kroes. A member of more than 30 corporate boards, she was chosen for the post of Europe's top regulator by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso largely because of her business experience.http://icps.ftc.go.kr/data/master/2004/10/000333/000333_01.doc
It then quotes a CER member to wring his hands about the matter as if he was in an objective position:
:Analysts said Ms. Kroes's undisclosed Lockheed work shows why the EU needs to spell out in even more detail what could constitute potential conflicts of interest. "This seems to be an oversight" in the EU's rules, said Alasdair Murray, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in London. "That kind of link is even more important than her directorships, because it is less transparent." 
The American Enterprise Institute's "Britain and America: A Strategic Dialogue" held in London, January 12-13, 2001 brought together Jackson and various other members of the CER and other intelligence/defence individuals related to what could be termed an Atlanticist nexus. This included Gerald Frost billed as "head, Institute of European Defence and Strategic Studies (this should be the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, project director, Missile Proliferation Study Group;" Dean Godson, billed as "chief editorial writer, The Daily Telegraph (who sponsored the eventhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2001/01/11/do01.xml), associate editor, The Spectator"; Charles Grant, director, Centre for European Reform; Robert Kagan, "senior associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" (Brussels); Pauline Neville-Jones; John O’Sullivan the founder of New Atlantic Initiative; Irwin Stelzer; Alan Lee Williams, president, Atlantic Treaty Organization, director, Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom and James R. Woolsey the former director, CIA.http://www.aei.org/research/nai/events/pageID.453,projectID.11/default.asp
== People ==
Biographies of Commission Members from the Report of the International Commission on the Balkans (ICB).
Giuliano Amato: Former Prime Minister Italy Mr. Amato was Prime Minister from 1992 to 1993 and from 2000 to 2001. Thereafter he served as Vice President of the Convention. Mr. Amato was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 1994; Under Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office from 1983 to 1987; Minister for the Treasury from 1987 to 1989 and from 1999 to 2000; Minister for Constitutional Reforms from 1998 to 1999; Deputy Prime Minister from 1987 to 1988. He also headed the Italian Antitrust Authority from 1994 to 1997. Full Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Rome, School of Political Science, from 1975 to 1997, he had been Full Professor at the Universities of Modena, Perugia, Florence. Presently he is Global Law Professor at the NYU Law School and part time Professor at the EUI in Florence. Mr. Amato has written books and articles on the economy and public institutions, personal liberties, federalism and comparative government. Amato is also a member of Peter Mandelson's The Policy Network.
Carl Bildt: Former Prime Minister Sweden In Sweden, Mr. Bildt served as Member of Parliament from 1979 to 2001, Chairman of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999 and Prime Minister from 1991 to 1994. Mr. Bildt served as European Union Special Representative to the Former Yugoslavia as well as the first High Representative in Bosnia between 1995 and 1997, and then as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the Balkans between 1999 and 2001. In the United States, he is the only non-US member of the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation and on the Board of the Centre for European Reform as well as the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Apart from numerous other awards, Mr. Bildt has an honorary degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where he is a Fellow at its renowned Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. 
Avis Bohlen Former Assistant Secretary of State United States Until May 2002, Ms. Bohlen was Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control. A career Foreign Service officer, she also served as US Ambassador to Bulgaria, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Paris, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Canadian affairs for European security issues. She previously served as Director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs, Executive Director of the US Delegation to the US-Soviet Nuclear and Space Arms Talks in Geneva, Deputy Political Counsellor at the US Embassy in Paris, and Chief of the Strategic Affairs and Arms Control Section in the Office of NATO Affairs. Currently member of the Board of Directors of the International Research and Exchange Board IREX in Washington, DC. In 2003 was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre. Ms. Bohlen received the President's Distinguished Service Award in 1991. 
Jean-Luc Dehaene Former Prime Minister Belgium Mr. Jean-Luc Dehaene gained his degrees in law and economics at the Universities of Namur and Leuven. From 1971, he held the position of advisor, then as Head of Cabinet for several different Ministers. He first held a ministerial post in 1981. From 1988 to 1992, he then became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Traffic and Transport and Institutional Reform. Finally, as Prime Minister, he led two governments, from 1992 to 1995, and subsequently from 1995 to July 1999. He is seen as the architect of state reform. He led Belgium into the Euro economy and reorganised the government finances. Mr. Jean Luc Dehaene was vice chairman of the European Convention and is at present a Member of the European Parliament. 
Kemal Dervis: Member of Parliament Turkey Mr. Dervis holds a Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University, USA. Following his studies, Mr. Dervis lectured at the Department of Economics of the Middle Eastern Technical University. In 1973-1976, he served then Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit as an advisor on issues relating to the economy and international relations. He then returned to Princeton University teaching economics and international relations. In 1978, he took office at the World Bank, where in 1991 he became Head of the Central Europe Department, including former Yugoslavia and Albania. In 1996, he became a Vice-President of the World Bank in charge of Middle East and Africa Region. In May 2000, he was appointed VicePresident responsible for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. In March 2001 he left the World bank to become Minister for Economic Affairs of his country, called back to deal with the financial crisis that erupted in February 2001. After the crisis was overcome he resigned from the government in August 2002 and was subsequently elected to Parliament in November of 2002. He also represented the Turkish parliament in the Convention for the Future of Europe. Mr. Dervis has published numerous articles on economic policy and development economics. He is co-author of "General Equilibrium Models for Development Policy" and recently published a new book entitled "A Better Globalization". 
Mircea Dan Geoana: Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Romania An alumnus of the Polytechnic Institute and, respectively, the Law School at the University of Bucharest, Mr. Mircea Geoana graduated in 1992 the "Ecole Nationale d'Administration" in Paris, France. He served as professor at the National School for Political and Administration Sciences and the "Nicolae Titulescu" University in Bucharest. He graduated the 1999 World Bank Group Executive Development Program at the Harvard Business School. In February 1996, was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the United States of America. Prior to his appointment to Washington, he was Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania. From 1993 to 1995 he also served as Spokesman for the Romanian Foreign Ministry. Mr. Mircea Geoana was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania in 2000-2004. In this capacity, he served as OSCE Chairman-in-Office in 2001. In December 2004 he was elected Member of the Romanian Senate. 
Kiro Gligorov: President of the Republic of Macedonia (1991-1999) Mr. Gligorov graduated from the Law Faculty in Belgrade in 1939. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he took part actively in the anti-fascist and people's liberation movement in Macedonia. From 1945 to the beginning of the 60s, he held specialised executive functions in the spheres of economy and finance in Belgrade. From 1963 to 1969 he was Minister of Finance of the SFR of Yugoslavia. One of the leading economists supporting the advancement of market economy in Yugoslavia, he was elected a member of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1974-1978) and President of the Parliament of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Thereafter he was forced to abstain from political activities. At the onset of the crises in Yugoslavia (1989-1990) he made a comeback in the political life of Macedonia, promoting multi-party elections and the introduction of a market economy. These activities resulted in his election as President of the Republic of Macedonia, in the first free, multi-party elections held in January 1991. While he was in office as President, the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed its independence and became the only Republic of the former SFR Yugoslavia to attain its independence though a peaceful and legitimate manner. On the first general presidential elections in the Republic of Macedonia held in October 1994, Mr. Kiro Gligorov was re-elected President of the Republic of Macedonia with a five year term, which he completed in 1999. 
Istvan Gyarmati: Chairman, Centre for Euro Atlantic Integration and Democracy Hungary Mr. Gyarmati is currently Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Euro Atlantic Integration and Democracy in Budapest and Co-Chairman of the International Security Advisory Board for Southeast Europe of the Geneva-based Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. He has been a Foreign Service officer since he graduated from the Budapest University of Economics, Faculty of Diplomacy, in 1974. His postings include member of the Hungarian delegation to the MBFR and IAEA (1981-86, Vienna), to the CSCE Follow-up Meeting (1987-89, Vienna), Head of Delegation to the CFE, CSBM, Opens Skies Negotiations (1990-92, Vienna), Head of Security Policy Department, MFA (Budapest, 1992-96); Personal Representative of the CSCE/OSCE Chairman-in-Office in Georgia (1992-93), Chechnya (1995) and the Negotiations on CSBMs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996), Chairman of the OSCE Senior Council (1995), Executive Secretary of the Budapest CSCE Summit (1994); Under-Secretary of Defence (1996-99), Chairman of the Missile Technology Control Regime (1998-99), Chief Adviser of the Foreign Minister on Security Policy and Chairman of the OPCW (1999-2000), Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs of the East West Institute. Mr. Gyarmati holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and is a candidate of Strategic Studies. He is member of the IISS, of numerous scientific projects, Associate Professor at the Zrinyi Miklos National Defence University. He is author of numerous publications on security policy, European security, conflict management and Hungarian defence policy. 
François Heisbourg: Director Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique France Mr. Heisbourg began his career as a member of the French foreign ministry's policy planning staff followed by a position at the French Permanent Mission to the U.N. (New-York). From 1981-84 he was the International security adviser to the French Minister of Defence as well as a founder member of the French-German Commission on Security and Defence. He took over the Directorship of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. In the years 1992-98, he was Senior VicePresident (Strategic development) at MATRA-DefenseEspace and subsequently was made Director of the Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique in Paris. He is adviser to the French Foreign Ministry Planning Staff; Board member of the Aspen Institute in Berlin and Member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce; Chairman, Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Mr. Heisbourg has published numerous articles and interviews in the academic and general media in both English and French among which 'Hyperterrorisme: la nouvelle guerre', 2001, and 'La Fin de l'Occident? L'Amérique, l'Europe et le Moyen Orient', 2005. 
Bruce P. Jackson: President Project on Transitional Democracies United States Mr. Bruce Jackson is the founder and President of the Project on Transitional Democracies, a multi-year endeavour aimed at the integration of post-1989 democracies into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic. From 1986 to 1990, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defence in a variety of policy positions pertaining to nuclear forces and arms control. In 1990, Mr. Jackson joined Lehman Brothers, an investment bank in New York. Between 1993 and 2002, Mr. Jackson was Vice President for Strategy and Planning at Lockheed Martin Corporation. From 1995 until 2003, he was the President of the US Committee on NATO, a non-profit corporation formed in 1996 to promote the expansion of NATO and the strengthening of ties between the United States and Europe. During the 2002-2003, he served as the Chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. He continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the Project for the New American Century, a non-profit corporation involved in educating American opinion on foreign policy and national security. 
Zlatko Lagumdzija: President, Social Democratic Party Former Prime Minister Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Lagumdzija holds a Ph.D. in computer Science and Electrical Engineering at University of Sarajevo. He is a professor of Management Information System at the School of Economics and at the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering School, University of Sarajevo since 1989. President of the Social Democratic Party of B&H (SDP) since 1997. Member of Parliament of B&H, House of Representatives since 1996. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of B&H (Prime Minister) 2001 - 2002. Minister of Foreign Affairs of B&H in 2001 - 2003. Acting Prime Minister 1993. Deputy Prime Minister of B&H 1992 - 1993. Member of "Global Leaders for Tomorrow" of the World Economic Forum, since 1998. Awarded with numerous international and national awards for his professional and expert results. Postdoctoral research at MIS Department and CCIT at University of Arizona, Tucson 1988/89. Consultant to various business and governmental organizations. Author over hundred research and expert papers and four books in MIS area. Author of numerous articles on Bosnian political and economic issues and series of independent TV forums on Bosnian future. 
Ilir Meta Former Prime Minister Albania Mr. Ilir Meta is Chairman of the Socialist Movement for Integration, which began in September 2004 as a reform movement within the Socialist Party. He has graduated from the Faculty of Economy, Tirana University. He was involved in political life at the beginning of the 1990s as a member of the leadership of the Student Movement. A member of the Socialist Party Leading Council since 1992, Mr. Meta was SP vice chairman during 1993-1996. In the period 1996-1997, Meta was deputy chairman of the Foreign Policy Parliamentary Commission. Mr. Meta was appointed Prime Minister of Albania in 1999, and was reconfirmed in this post after the June 2001 elections. Mr. Meta resigned in January 2002 to give way to a solution of a government crisis. In August 2002 he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, from which he resigned in June 2003, as result of the failure of the government to pursue the reforms toward EU integration. 
Neven Mimica: Former Minister for European Integration Croatia Mr. Mimica received in 1976 a degree in Economics from the University of Zagreb and in 1987 a Master's degree from the Faculty of Economics. Between 1979-83 he was a Research Associate and Adviser at the Republic Committee for International Relations, in 1983-87 he became Assistant to the President of the Republic Committee for the International Relations in Charge of Foreign Exchange System and Foreign Trade System. Between 1987 and 1997 he served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia. In 1997 Mr. Mimica was appointed Assistant Minister for International Economic Relations at the Croatian Ministry of Economy. In 2000, he was appointed Chief Negotiator for Stabilization and Association Agreement and Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Croatia. In 20012003 he occupied the position of Minister for European Integration. Since November 2003 he is member of the Croatian Parliament. 
Dame Pauline Neville-Jones Former Governor of BBC United Kingdom Ms. Dame Pauline Neville-Jones is Chairman of QinetiQ Group plc, a defence technology company with government customers in the UK and USA and Chairman of the Information Assurance Advisory Council (IAAC). She is a member of the UK governing Board of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) and of the governing Council of Oxford University. From 1998-2004 she was the International Governor of the BBC with responsibility, among other things, for external broadcasting, notably the BBC World Service (radio and online) and BBC World (television). Prior to that, she was a career member of the British Diplomatic Service serving, among other places, in Singapore, Washington DC, the European Commission in Brussels and Bonn. She was a foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister John Major (1991-1994), chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in Whitehall (1993-1994). As Political Director in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1994-96), she was leader of the British delegation to the Dayton peace conference on Bosnia. She is a graduate of Oxford University and was a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund in the United States (1961-1963). She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG) in 1995. She is a Doctor of the Open and London Universities. 
Janez Potocnik: Member of the European Commission Slovenia Mr. Janez Potocnik graduated with honours from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, where he did his Ph.D. degree in 1993. For several years (1989-1993), he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research in Ljubljana. In July 1994, he was appointed Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development of the Republic of Slovenia. In 1998 he was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union. In 2002, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia appointed Mr. Potocnik the Minister without portfolio responsible for European Affairs. Since 2004 he is Member of the European Commission responsible for Science and Research. 
Alexandros G. Rondos: Former Ambassador at Large Greece Mr. Rondos, a Greek national, born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, was educated in Kenya and the UK where completed BA (Hons) at Oxford University (Brasenose College). Career has included journalism at West Africa Magazine, followed by twelve years work in relief and development work. After two years at the World Bank, became an adviser to the Foreign Minister of Greece, counselling him and implementing changes in Greek strategy in the Balkans as well as helping manage the Greek Presidency of the European Union during the Iraq crisis. Throughout this period also served as a personal envoy of the Foreign Minister on missions to Turkey, governments in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. 
Goran Svilanovic Chair, WT I, Stability Pact for SEE Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Serbia and Montenegro Mr. Svilanovic graduated from Belgrade University's School of Law in 1987, and received his M.A. degree in 1993. At the end of 1998, Svilanovic, along with another six professors, was expelled from the Law School for his participation in a strike organized to protest against the new and restrictive university Law. In 1993 Mr. Svilanovic organized a legal aid department "SOS line for the victims of national, ethnic and religious policy and trade union discrimination" in the Centre for Anti-War Action, dealing with the protection of minorities in Serbia. In December 1995, Mr. Svilanovic was elected president of the centre's Council for Human Rights in Belgrade, member of FIDH. President of the Civic Alliance, political party 1999-2004. Member of Federal Parliament 2000-2003. Federal Minister of foreign affaires of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, later Serbia and Montenegro, 2000-2004. Since January 2004 Member of the Parliament of Serbia. Since November 2004, Chair of the Working table I of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. In 1996 the University of Belgrade published his book "Proposal for Repetition of Legal Proceedings." Svilanovic wrote a large number of articles in the sphere of law, most of them concentrating on the condition of human rights in Yugoslavia. 
Richard von Weizsacker President of Germany (1984 - 1994) Mr. Richard von Weizsacker studied philosophy and history in Oxford and Grenoble. In 1938 he joined the army and participated in World War II. In 1945-1950, Mr. von Weizsacker continued his studies in Gottingen. Mr. von Weizsacker was elected to the Bundestag in 1969. He served as vice president of the Bundestag (1979-1981), but he resigned the office to become the governing mayor of West Berlin (1981 - 1984). In 1984, Mr. von Weizsacker as the CDU/CSU candidate won the presidential election. On May 8, 1985 - the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe - he made a dramatic speech to the Bundestag that articulated the historic responsibility of Germany and Germans for the crimes of Nazism. Running unopposed for the first time in the history of presidential elections in Germany, Weizsacker was re-elected in 1989. His second term witnessed the process of the unification of Germany and collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. He was one of the "Three Wise Men" who were requested by the President of the European Union, Romano Prodi, to elaborate suggestions for institutional reform of the European Union in preparation for the integration of new member states (1999). 
Ivan Krastev Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies Bulgaria Mr. Ivan Krastev is a political scientist and Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the last decade he has been visiting fellow at St. Anthony College, Oxford; Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington; Collegium Budapest, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin; Institute of Federalism, University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna and Remarque Forum, New York. Since October 2003 he has been the research director of the project "Politics of Anti-Americanism in the Beginning of the 21st Century" coordinated by the Central European University, Budapest. Since January 2004 Mr. Krastev is the executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans. Among his latest publications in English are: DeBalkanizing the Balkans: The State of the Debate; The Balkans: Democracy Without Choices; Corruption, AntiCorruption Sentiments, and the Rule of Law. His paper "The Anti-American century?" appeared in the April 2004 issue of Journal of Democracy. His book "Shifting Obsessions. Three Essays on Politics of Anti-corruption." was published by CEU Press in 2004.
== References ==