By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Feb 10 2005 (IPS)

The enlargement of the European Union (EU) from 15 to 25 members last May saw only the countries of the Western Balkans left out of the family.

But Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro are still far from becoming full members of the EU, despite the fact that the aim is high on the agenda of their political leaders.

Among them, Albania sees itself in the EU by 2014, Croatia is to start membership talks in March, while Serbia and Montenegro, according to Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, “will open talks in 2007, having a chance to become a member in 2013.”

“Most of the Western Balkans countries feel that the road (to EU membership) will be clearer for them once Bulgaria and Romania (in the Eastern Balkans) join the EU in 2007,” Jelica Minic from the European Movement in Serbia told IPS.

“But besides the usual procedures, there are obstacles they must surmount, and growing public scepticism is one of them,” she added.

During his recent visit to the region, Olli Rehn, the member of the European Commission responsible for enlargement, said that each of the nations has “serious tasks ahead” before joining the EU.

Among the main challenges are the harmonisation of local laws with EU standards, and the synchronisation of social, educational or economic programmes.

Meanwhile, recent surveys show that some 75 percent of Croats are in favour of the country’s membership in the EU, as are 62 percent of people in Serbia.

“But scepticism is hidden under the surface,” says Croatian analyst Darko Bekic. “The Euro-sceptics come from the isolationist and xenophobic circles on the political right, from the anti-globalists who scare people with the possibility of job losses, and from the Catholic church, which views joining the secular EU as a threat.”

Part of the Croatian media is involved in the anti-EU campaign as well. There are daily headlines and lengthy reports on the threat of Croatia losing its national identity and even its sovereignty, gained in 1991 in the war of disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

“Why We Fought” and “What Was the Sacrifice For?” are examples of recent headlines. The war that led to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia claimed 20,000 lives in Croatia. The international recognition of Croatia as a sovereign state in 1992 was regarded as a long-awaited achievement of historic proportions.

Some articles even liken the way the EU functions to Yugoslavia’s command economy that was centrally run from its capital, Belgrade, in the past. Until the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, many of the key decisions for the entire country were adopted there.

Croatian analyst Gojko Tintor said that “some 55.4 percent of Croats fear the loss of the nation’s independence once the country joins the EU.”

According to Bekic, “People barely realise that economic growth is at stake, as money is the most important aspect, which doesn’t recognise national or any other boundaries in the EU.”

Similar animosity is visible in Serbia, where the media tend only to stress the problems of the new members of the EU.

Stories of dissatisfaction among ordinary people in the Czech Republic or Poland after joining the EU have become routine. Similar examples from the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia are abundant in the Serbian press. Headlines include “No Jobs in the EU for New Members” and other variations on that theme.

The media also report that nothing was gained with EU membership in Slovenia, or describe the collapse of production of the famous local product, the Kranj sausage.

With examples such as these, they raise concern over what has become the pride of Serbia in recent years – the production of healthy food.

Largely as a result of the isolation suffered in the 1990s and the lack of access to fertilisers and agricultural tools, and thanks to the abundance of fertile farmland, Serbia prides itself on its production of natural, healthy and tasty foodstuffs.

Headlines like “Food in the EU Is of Poor Quality”, “Threat of Standardisation of Cucumber and Tomato Production” or “Tasteless Meat All Looks the Same” regularly appear in the Serbian press. The articles abound with descriptions of how it is mathematicians rather than farmers or butchers who plan the production of some food products.

“It’s still far from a real Euro scare, but it has a way of reaching people’s minds,” says psychology professor Zarko Trebjesanin. “The next question can be 'what’s in it for us’ and the anti-EU sentiment will rise”.

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