Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-18-Speech-4-229"
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"en.19991118.11.4-229"2
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"Mr President, the situation in Kosovo is marked by great uncertainty and violence and even by murder from time to time and in the end, as we have heard, that discredits us all. In many cases in which I have tried to help since 1989, I have felt myself to be personally compromised. Why did we intervene as an international community? We decided to help the Albanians because their basic and human rights were being infringed. For that reason we went in and I still believe that it was the right thing to do.
Over eight years of an apartheid regime in Kosovo the Albanians did not do anything to anyone, neither to the Serbs nor to the Roma, nor to the Croats, nor to the Bosnians. But they have suffered dreadfully and we must not forget that. The mass graves, more of which are found every day, are proof of this. I therefore believe that it will be very difficult for them to live together. Wounds heal extremely slowly. We in Central and Northern Europe know that too. I therefore believe that we must demand something, that they can contribute and that is, coexistence on the ground. And we must help them. These criminal acts must also be denounced by the Albanian leaders. We must help with the means at our disposal to find the perpetrators and convict them.
We want to prevent injustice and now some of those we have helped are turning out to be liars and are themselves driving out minorities. The Roma, Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, anyone in fact who might not speak this language, belongs to this group. I should not like the oppressed people to become oppressors themselves. We must therefore ensure that in the communities where there is persecution, even the reconstruction be suspended, so that every single citizen in this country takes responsibility himself and ensures that such criminal acts do not occur again. KFOR cannot be everywhere, it cannot stand behind everyone and so every decent Albanian – and there are more of them than we think – really must feel that they themselves are taking responsibility.
The problem is also that the Albanian leaders or those people who think they are, are not really in a position jointly to build the future for this land, for their homeland, and so we must also appeal to them. I believe that we need an interim government – and more quickly than Mr Kouchner is able to establish one.
Secondly, at local level, we need really responsible people and if these people cannot be Albanians or Serbs where they are in the majority, then it must be someone from the international community so that we have a contact to talk to. Everywhere, where things are going well in the communities, we must react positively and say that we are helping you more than we help those who do nothing.
Now – this is of course a difficult task which must be carried out by UNMIG – the problem is that this is something that is easier to solve on paper than in reality. But I am not of the opinion that we can do all of that merely by installing democracy. We must do that, but the first need is to create jobs, we must create infrastructure, so that the young people who are now going around with Kalashnikovs, can finally hold tools in their hands and do something for their country. Then we shall be on the right path and Mr Kouchner must also be a little more effective than he is at the moment, whoever may be hampering him in carrying out his task."@en1
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