The EU and reconstruction in the Western Balkans
Publisher: Richard Zink
Volume: 5 pages, pdf
Description:
The 1998-1999 Kosovo crisis was an important milestone for NATO because it triggered the Alliance’s first armed intervention. It was also an important juncture for the European Union. The EU’s action to stabilize Kosovo marked the first time that the Union moved quickly into a volatile post-conflict environment. This is how Chris Patten, the EU’s former External Relations Commissioner, recalls that moment in his recently published memoirs entitled Not Quite the Diplomat:
Not a week passed without Madeleine Albright (then American Secretary of State) or her Balkans frontman, Jim Dobbins, telephoning to find out how we were translating promises into contracts, plans and real-time spending. Our past performance did not give them much confidence. This was the first big test of our ability to run things competently, and we passed it – speeding up delivery by cutting corners where we could, setting up the European Agency for Reconstruction, and giving the excellent officials sent out to manage it delegated authority and political cover.