Pompously launched in the summer of 1999, the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe has been so far a good reason for organising numerous reunions, sessions and all kinds of workshops. And also a good pretext for establishing committees and commissions in the countries that should be benefiting from this project.
Balkan countries couldn't have possibly missed out on such an opportunity, if we consider their "extensive" experience in the field of more or less useful commissions, all of them fund-eaters, fed by meagre budgets.
More than 15 months since the reunion in Sarajevo, where the Stability Pact was adopted by state and government heads from 56 countries and representatives of international organisations, the European initiative is being stalled.
Although Balkan leaders are incessantly complaining about delays that are piling up day by day and about lack of concrete enforcement. And there are no signs whatsoever that the Pact's evolution will undergo significant changes over the following period.
The Stability Pact stipulates observation of human rights, of national sovereignty and independence of democratic institutions in the region and, later on, integration into the European Union of the countries in the area.
However, after more than one year, financial support has failed to reach those in need. Because it took more than half a year in order to gather the donors from the Stability Pact for the Balkans, who decided, at the end of March, to earmark 2.4 billion dollars for projects favouring regional co-operation.
The international community and mainly the beneficiary states have all welcomed the "generosity" displayed by donors, who had outdone themselves by giving 600 million dollars more than initial estimates.
It took several more months to settle projects and priorities, while funding for projects aimed at beneficiary states was to be decided upon during special reunions of the Pact's Workshops.
But things stopped here and projects remained mere projects, because the promised money failed to reach Romania and the other states that were to benefit from the much-popularised Pact.
Moreover, Romanian officials say that no financial agreement for disbursing necessary funds has been signed so far, which stops the works even before they had a chance to begin.
That is exactly why Bucharest authorities are planning to ask for a donors' conference to be convened, hoping that the process of economic reconstruction will be continued.
This is little likely though, as international community leaders are expected to focus on Yugoslavia, following the events that occurred one month ago and that led to the deposal of former president Slobodan Milosevic. Anyway, the only funds disbursed so far by donors were aimed at Yugoslavia's democratisation, hoping to change the political regime in this country.
In case a new donors conference is convened, it is most likely to focus on Yugoslavia, in the attempt to find new sources for financing the reconstruction of this state, badly affected over the past ten years by changes occurred after Tito's death, by the split of former Yugoslavia, the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the conflict in Kosovo and by NATO air raids operated last year.
As Balkan states - the poorest in Europe and also the most affected by conflicts in the area - lack the means to exert pressures, beside statements of discontent regarding the evolution posted by the Stability Pact, all they can do is sit and wait for donor states to disburse funds, hoping to achieve visible reconstruction in their economies.
This process, however, will be slowed down even more now, when everybody's attention is turning to Belgrade.
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