Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-16-Speech-4-021"
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"en.19990916.2.4-021"2
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"Mr President, I would first like to express my sincere regard for the work of the rapporteur, Mrs Doris Pack. As a committed politician she enjoys great recognition among Balkans experts, for Mrs Pack was and still is “in situ”.
We can be brief on the setting up of a European Office for Reconstruction. A commendable initiative. We support the two main strategies advocated by the rapporteur.
After a dark, repressive decade, there is light at the end of the tunnel again for society in Kosovo. The sticking point continues to be whether this applies equally well at this stage to those of the Serbian minority who have stayed behind, as it does to the Albanian majority that has now returned. In any case, EU aid should be for the benefit of both population groups, albeit on a proportional basis. A much-needed incentive to show mutual tolerance, provided from outside.
I would like to make a general comment on the practicalities of delivering aid to the sorely afflicted Kosovars. Either it can be distributed evenly across the legendary Field of Blackbirds (Kosovo Polje), or it can be put to use through model projects. The latter approach is favoured by the sad fact that some regions and towns in the de jure Serbian province had to pay a particularly high price in human and material terms, owing to the fury of Milosevic’s special police units and the regular Yugoslav army. Selecting a number of model projects and developing them successfully is precisely what is needed to provide the Kosovars with something concrete to hold on to, for it is progress that is likely to help them gain in courage.
Furthermore, the restoration of public order in Kosovo is of course an essential prerequisite to the success of all reconstruction assistance, by which I mean EU assistance too of course. There is plenty of provocation from both sides. On no account should the international community tolerate this, rather it should take a co-ordinated and resolute stand against this on the spot, and under the leadership of KFOR, the organisation that has primary responsibility for public safety.
We have frequently heard about the faith the West has in the Kosovan parallel social institutions, i.e. the Albanian shadow state of the last ten years, being an ideal starting point for a new beginning for this territorial bone of contention, yet this idea merits critical comment. Whilst there are undoubtedly areas of society which would lend themselves to this (think of the underground education system or continued medical care and specialisation), it will not do to simply follow the same line where politics is concerned. That is why elections ought not to be a priority for the moment. Political calm, allowing the political landscape in Kosovo to take shape, are musts.
I will end on a lighter note. A positive development is the return of a critical Kosovan press, which covers a broad political spectrum. It doesn’t hesitate to denounce the misdeeds committed by its own Albanian people in open and severe terms. Take the expulsion of the Roma and the Serbians. This indigenous display of moral courage certainly justifies having a European Office for Reconstruction in Pristina."@en1
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