Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-04-Speech-3-063"
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"en.20010704.2.3-063"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office, Commissioner, we welcome Mr Léotard’s appointment and also Mr Badinter’s intervention in the situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. I believe that, in them, we have two representatives of the European Community who are in a position to do good there. Like Commissioner Patten, however, I should not like it to be forgotten that the EU Delegation on the spot has already been doing beneficial work for years and has constantly intervened. We need a permanent presence on the ground, not because we want a protectorate of some kind but because we want to demonstrate our interest in preserving the state of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. They need a mediator and I think that we have now identified him. However, I do not believe that we can disregard the fact that it might also be good for NATO to be seen to have a presence in Macedonia as a preventive measure.
Neither does the fact that we now make our financial assistance conditional on there being a clear desire for peace on the ground mean that we are interfering in domestic matters, as this is described in the region. After all, we cannot indefinitely spend our taxpayers’ money in a country in which the desire for peace is not underpinned by joint initiatives to create that peace. We cannot, for example, build roads and infrastructure while government troops and rebels are buying weapons. I underline the fact that it was the KLA that brought conflict into the country; there is no doubt about that. Nevertheless, the government must not now give in to the KLA’s demands so as to avoid civil war; instead it must take account of the long-standing demands of the elected Albanians in Macedonia and seek solutions with them. In my opinion, however, the solution cannot be to divide the country along ethnic lines. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia belongs to all of its citizens and this must also be enshrined in the constitution. A right of veto, however well-meant, cannot be awarded to any section of the population; this causes division. The president of the country is the president of all the people of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and an Albanian vice-president with a right of veto would therefore be an unreasonable demand from the Albanian side.
It must be possible for all citizens to use their mother tongue. The long-standing plan to decentralise power and strengthen the cities and local authorities must finally be executed. But decentralisation of the army and the police, which the Albanians are now calling for, cannot reinforce the country’s cohesion, quite the opposite. The desire for peace must be underpinned by moderate and justified demands. The European Union must foster reform and reconciliation in its vicinity, which means that we cannot stand idly by and watch while a civil war looms in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The KLA rebels were taken from Skopje to northern Macedonia with their weapons on air-conditioned buses. Can you imagine what kind of an image this gave of our involvement in the country? It did us serious damage and it falsely portrayed us as supporters of the Albanians. Macedonia makes it all too obvious to us that we finally need to force ourselves to develop an overall policy for the Balkans, because it is only as part of a joint strategy with Kosovo that it will be possible to resolve this problem."@en1
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