Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-16-Speech-4-023"
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"en.19990916.2.4-023"2
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"Mr President, the Commission’s report on the location of the Reconstruction Agency for Kosovo is certainly a positive step because it aims to take into account the experiences of previous reconstruction work in other parts of Europe.
I think that this is also an opportunity not just to turn our attention to the main issue, that is, that this Agency can operate by drawing on the principles of transparency and efficiency that are crucial given the current situation in the Balkans. But I also think it is important and must be stressed that we must now tackle the reconstruction of the social, economic and moral fabric in a context where a broader vision of South-East Europe surely cannot be a dividing factor with regard to locating the Agency’s headquarters in one place instead of another.
Having heard my colleagues’ interventions, I think that we are asking a fair and legitimate question: ‘What is the Member State’s interest, which certainly cannot be a priority interest?’ So we need to ask another question as well – in the context of the European Union, what damage occurred to neighbouring countries owing to the action and events in Kosovo? Entire regional economies in various Member States have collapsed over recent months through the closure of airports and the events connected to the war in Kosovo. I refer in particular to the areas in Southern Italy.
So I think it is important to make more of an overall assessment, especially in light of an intervention policy which, as I read in the report on next year’s Union budget, provides for a far-ranging reorganisation of the policies concerning small and medium-sized businesses located in border regions.
I think that the real problem is trying to create conditions which make it possible to include, in a Mediterranean context, a more complete assessment, and one which gives, above all, a broad perspective. It does not mean espousing one solution instead of another solution in a parochial way as regards the location of the Agency’s headquarters, but we must keep in mind the clear and well-defined basic options.
As regards the speed, efficiency and transparency of the activities of this Agency, it is important to try to look at its establishment as a good opportunity for reconstruction, quickly and as a priority, in the current situation in Kosovo. But we also need to create the conditions whereby migration in the Mediterranean will be examined in careful detail.
Thousands of refugees are now reaching our shores with no destination in mind, while the Member States and the European Union are completely incapable of providing a perspective and a specific response to this problem. I think that this is the main issue we need to focus on, in order to avoid the possibility of having to assess other situations similar to Kosovo in the near future."@en1
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