Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-01-Speech-3-046"
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"en.20000301.5.3-046"2
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".
Madam President, Commissioner Patten, Mr Javier Solana
(you are not mad, quite the opposite). We are delighted about the rapid progress which has been made following the Helsinki Summit. We know that you have an important role in this. I am also very pleased that you have mentioned Mozambique today, and in this context, and that a major humanitarian effort can be made using the resources in question.
We cannot, of course, talk about foreign policy without mentioning Chechnya. My friend Jacques Poos will be talking about this on behalf of my Group. I want to concentrate on Kosovo. It is now quite clear that the situation in Kosovo shows that a lasting solution to the crisis there cannot be provided by military means. The KFOR forces have made, and are making, an invaluable contribution, but tanks and fire trenches cannot deal with political problems and ethnic conflicts in the longer term. It has now reached the point where the Pentagon has prohibited American forces from returning to northern Mitrovica. They have now been replaced by robust Danish, Finnish and Swedish troops.
It is easy to despair in the face of the violence and the hatred, but it is important for the sake of Kosovo, the Balkans and Europe that we do not fail. Through the Stability Pact, we have taken major steps which place us under an obligation. This is therefore a test of credibility for the Union’s common foreign and security policy.
At the moment, there is a huge shortage of suitable personnel in Kosovo. Last autumn, we already heard Mr Bernard Kouchner call for a civilian police force. I am now delighted to hear that, this weekend, Mr Javier Solana is to call the interior ministers together to discuss the question of policing. I hope that this discussion will, in the first place, concentrate upon Kosovo so that the desperate situation there might be remedied. When it comes to the Balkans and Kosovo, I also hope that the Council will comply with Parliament’s and, as I understand it, also the Commission’s demands for a multiannual budget for operations in Kosovo.
The situation in Kosovo has taught us a lot, for example that we should provide ourselves with a military capacity for crisis management, an idea which has already been translated into practical action. Another, at least as important, lesson of our experience, however, is that it is better to prevent a crisis than to have to take emergency action subsequently. Therefore, the EU must also have an independent, credible conflict-prevention capacity. On behalf of the Commission, Commissioner Patten has taken a number of praiseworthy initiatives in this direction. I am thinking of the proposal to set up a rapid reaction facility and a rapid reaction force for non-military operations and to introduce headline goals for non-military operations, together with a Commission Crisis Centre. My last question to Mr Solana is this: what concrete preparations are being made for conflict prevention of this kind? How have these been organised by Mr Solana’s office and how has the initiative been coordinated with the Commission?"@en1
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