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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 07/04
A Fair Exchange: Aid to Yugoslavia for Regional Stability
June 15, 2001
Abstract
The donors' conference for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), planned for 29 June 2001 in Brussels, will set the pattern of international economic assistance to Belgrade for the next year or more. In return for substantial donor support, the international community should require the FRY to undertake a number of specific steps that are essential for increasing regional stability.
An effective strategy of conditionality would require donors to find a new clarity of purpose and cohesion in their relations with the governing coalition in Belgrade. To date, the United States is the donor that has most explicitly and operationally conditioned assistance on meeting political objectives, though there are some indications that Washington may be prepared to narrow those conditions substantially, if not yet to drop them. If they refuse to adopt a strong policy on conditionality, whether from misplaced fear of weakening the coalition in Belgrade or for other reasons, major donors will overlook the fact that the gravest threat to Serbia's fledgling democracy is not the weak economy. It is rather the powerful legacy of extremism, war crimes and attempted territorial conquest. If this legacy is inadvertently strengthened through donor aid, regional instability will continue and the threat of renewed conflict remain.
