Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-04-Speech-4-132"
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"en.20011004.5.4-132"2
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". – Mr President, the Commission fully shares Parliament's view that the Framework Agreement of 13 August is crucial to peace and stability in FYROM and that the Macedonian Parliament should be urged to adopt the measures recommended under the agreement.
Commissioner Patten and EU High Representative Solana are in Skopje today to underline the importance of, and convey the urgent need for, constitutional changes and a revised law on local self-government, as foreseen under the agreement.
We face truly formidable challenges over the next few weeks and months in FYROM. The EU is fully behind the Framework Agreement and is committed to providing financial assistance, including assistance for emergency aid and for measures in support of the agreement. We have provided over EUR 10 m in humanitarian assistance through ECHO since the crisis began; EUR 54.5 m under CARDS in 2001, which includes a recent top-up of EUR 12 m for housing reconstruction, local infrastructure and support for host families; EUR 12.8 m under the Rapid Reaction Mechanism to repair and reconstruct houses, to repair electricity and to support confidence-building measures, such as mine clearance, election monitoring and police training; and EUR 50 m in macro-financial assistance still to be disbursed from a previous macro-financial package, which is being combined with an additional grant of EUR18 m to help FYROM cope with the specific needs arising from the crisis. This assistance is, of course, conditional on an IMF agreement with the Macedonian Government.
The Commission and the World Bank are ready to organise a donor meeting on 15 October, provided that the Macedonian Parliament adopts the necessary constitutional changes set out in the Framework Agreement.
It is not an overstatement to say that the effective delivery of EU assistance could be critical to the success of the Framework Agreement and, therefore, to peace. Our paramount concern is to ensure that we act quickly and flexibly.
We have therefore decided to propose an extension of the European Agency for Reconstruction, which has an excellent track record in delivering assistance throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The agency has people on the ground and direct experience in the region, notably in the sort of emergency reconstruction that we will need to deliver in FYROM this autumn, as well as in longer-term assistance of the type it is now overseeing, for example in Serbia. We therefore urge Parliament to give positive consideration to our proposal to extend the mandate of the agency.
Beyond the Framework Agreement, we are determined to pursue a strategy of closer integration of FYROM into the European mainstream, simply, first of all, by implementing the new Stabilisation and Association Agreement signed in April. A lot has to be done in this area and FYROM must demonstrate that it can live up to international standards by respecting minority rights and show that its democratic structures are stable enough for it to pursue its path towards European integration – in simple terms, to become a member of the European family."@en1
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