Political problems are usually easy to understand, but sometimes politicians find it in their interest to make them appear unusually complicated. Police reform is a case in point.
On
This was the commitment that the European Union had been waiting for to open negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (
Recently, a number of proposals have been put forward with regard to the budget. All good ideas are welcome. At the same time, I do not believe that police reform requires wholesale fiscal reform. Rather, the best solution for financing the new police structure is the same mechanism as is already used to fund the operations of SIPA and the State Border Service, namely the regular state budgeting system
In this way, police officers throughout
The European Union wants police reform because it needs a single counterpart with the legislative authority to deal with and implement the many justice and home affairs issues required in the accession process. European and international police forces require a single interlocutor with whom they can discuss operational matters. And
That is why I am confident that an agreement on police reform that both respects the wishes of the citizens of this country and fulfils the three EC principles will be reached. However, the time to move the police reform process forward is now.
The Police Reform Directorate is currently finishing its report, a report that leaves room for discussion and modification. Now is the time for the parties to seek solutions on police reform, which are in compliance with the three EC principles and which would enable the Directorate to issue a proposal on police reform implementation that is based on a sound political consensus.
This is a unique opportunity for the newly elected leaders of
If, however, police reform cannot be agreed, anyone who blocked an agreement would be responsible for delaying the signature of the
The sooner politicians unblock the police reform process, the sooner citizens throughout
Christian Schwarz-Schilling is the international community’s High Representative and the European Union’s Special Representative in