Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-016"
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"en.20060906.4.3-016"2
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".
Mr President, Kosovo is indeed a part of Europe. It is not our back yard, but our front yard, and in the long term, a future EU territory. The European Union has a major responsibility for the future of Kosovo.
Dear friends, in that respect, the keys are in your hands, and in those of the Council. As Mr Poettering and other eminent MEPs are present here this morning, I would like to make an important point: the cuts to the Commission’s staff budget proposed by the Council would make this task in Kosovo and the Western Balkans simply impossible.
The Council’s plan would lead to the disappearance of 1700 posts at the Commission, starting with 170 posts in 2007. Please do not ask the EU and the Commission to do more in ensuring external and internal security – be it in Kosovo, Lebanon or the Canary Islands. If our hands are tied we cannot do as you ask.
EU policy and aid does not come from heaven: it needs competent staff to carry it out. It also has a cost.
I have a special plea for the Finnish Presidency. The current United Nations Status Envoy comes from Finland, and I have special responsibility on behalf of the Commission concerning the Western Balkans and Kosovo. I hope the Council and the Presidency do not make our task of working for peace and stability in the Western Balkans and Kosovo impossible. I call on Parliament to correct this budgetary dead-end. I also call on the Presidency to solve this dilemma soon, without unnecessary delay, using the famous Finnish common sense, and not stubbornness this time.
In our joint paper on the EU’s future role in Kosovo, presented in July this year, Javier Solana and I made it clear that the EU will have to take the lead in international presence after the status process has been concluded. Our paper analysed the nature, size and responsibilities of a future international engagement; it also set out the EU’s role after the status settlement and practical means to realise Kosovo’s future European perspective.
I fully agree with Minister Lehtomäki and those MEPs who said that UNMIK will not be replaced by any kind of EUMIK, but rather a leaner, more streamlined international presence or international civilian mission.
The joint paper, which was endorsed by the Council, supports the work of President Martti Ahtisaari. Achieving a negotiated solution on the Kosovo status issue cannot be taken for granted. The United Nations Status Envoy needs our full support to put forward a comprehensive package that will allow the UN Security Council to decide on the way ahead. The key issue at stake is the protection of minorities, in particular of the Kosovo Serb minority.
The success of the status process will depend to a considerable degree on the ability and willingness of the EU to respond rapidly and concretely in support of an overall solution. The EU needs to give a clear signal that it will stay in Kosovo to play a key role in the implementation of the status settlement and to support its long-term EU perspective through the stabilisation and association process.
The powers of the future international presence in Kosovo should be limited to overseeing the implementation of the status settlement. All other powers currently exercised by UNMIK should, as a rule, be handed over to Kosovo’s authorities, so that they can govern with full responsibility and full accountability.
After the status settlement, our objective is to ensure that Kosovo becomes a reliable partner, progressing towards the EU together with the rest of the region. The EU will need to continue supporting Kosovo’s Government in setting up a modern, open, market-oriented and business-friendly environment, based on EU-compatible structural reforms.
Finally, as members of the budgetary authority, you know that stabilising Kosovo will come at a cost. I fully agree with Minister Lehtomäki that we will have to make appropriate provisions in the future to be able to cover this cost. The Commission is working with the World Bank and the local authorities to prepare a ‘Kosovo Development Plan and Strategy’ for the medium term. After the status settlement, we will organise a donors’ conference to mobilise the international community’s support for the people of Kosovo.
Let us remember that it is better to cover the costs of economic and social development than to send more soldiers to the Balkans."@en1
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