Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-282"
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"en.20050706.26.3-282"2
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"Mr President, we could talk for many an hour about the errors of the past, and, having done so in the places where they were made and also, in the past, in this House, I would rather concentrate on the errors of the present time.
Let me start with the statement by the President-in-Office of the Council to the effect that negotiations with Croatia, a country crucial to the stability of the region as a whole, could begin only as and when Mr Gotovina is extradited. It is very interesting that, in saying that, you put yourself at odds with the Luxembourg Presidency, and are acting as if the United Kingdom were to be allowed to assume the Presidency of the Council only on condition that the Loch Ness Monster were caught first. Nobody in this House has any idea where Mr Gotovina is. If you have any knowledge of his whereabouts, then I would ask you to inform both this House and the Croatian Government.
We should be treating Croatia in the same way that you – wrongly – want to treat Turkey, which is to say that we should start negotiating with it, and it is only if full cooperation turns out to be lacking – and we have a committee to monitor whether that is the case – that we should abandon or suspend them. The fact is, though, that Croatia is a Central European democracy with a stabilising influence on the whole region, and so a start should be made on the negotiations.
On Bosnia, to which I turn secondly, Mr Cohn-Bendit is absolutely right to say that the Dayton Agreement has failed. What is needed is a Bosnia-Herzegovina made up of three people with equal rights and, above all, of free citizens. Failing that, the structure will be a source of new dangers and grave conflicts.
Thirdly, there is Kosovo, which I visited only a few days ago, and where radical elements will gain in strength if we carry on letting President Rugova miss the mark with his policy of seeking peace. In view of the bombings a few days ago, I appeal to the Council to tarry no longer and to move towards the inevitable, that being an independent Kosovo – subject to stringent conditions, planned for long-term existence, and monitored by the international community.
The fourth point I want to make has to do with minorities, about which we talk endlessly. In Kosovo’s Assembly, minorities are guaranteed representation. In Serbia’s parliament, a new electoral law, introduced a few years ago, makes it impossible for any representative of a minority to have a seat. What we need is uniform standards across the board, without which we will not be able to arrive at a credible policy."@en1
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