Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-15-Speech-2-191"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000215.10.2-191"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – I do not think that our reconstruction agency or the task force before it, which have been working incredibly hard in Kosovo, would regard it as an adequate description of their labours to suggest that they had been standing idly by. I am sure the honourable Member did not mean that.
Of course, she is entirely correct in saying that the Union’s credibility is on the line with what happens, not just in Kosovo but in the Balkans as a whole. I am very concerned that the assistance we provide should arrive expeditiously and in a way which can maximise our assistance.
I would just make two points about the situation in Kosovo which we are addressing as enthusiastically as we can along WHO lines. First of all, I am sure that the honourable Member recognises that over the period of the 1990s the government in Belgrade underfunded the health service in Kosovo, and many Albanians found that they were not really receiving any health care at all. As a result of that, a parallel health care system was put in place through the Mother Teresa Society. So what we are dealing with is not just the consequences of conflict but the consequences of years of neglect and chronic under-investment.
Secondly, and I am sure that the honourable Member recognises this as well, some of the tragic stories to come out of Kosovo in recent weeks have not been about child mortalities during carriage of a baby, but child mortality after a healthy baby has been born. Those were cases in which women who during the hostilities, or before the hostilities, tragically killed their own children. We are dealing with a horrific story in Kosovo. We have to work as well as we can in the health care field and in others to restore something approaching civilised standards and civilised behaviour, but it is not going to be easy."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples