Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-017"
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"en.20060906.4.3-017"2
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".
Mr President, over a twelve year period, through the use of terror, mass expulsions and attempted ethnocide, the Milošević regime has created a situation in Kosovo which today means that over 90% of the population can no longer imagine being associated with Serbia in some institutional form or other. This is the reality we must start out from, and this was also the reality when NATO intervened there. This means that we cannot shirk the fact that we are at the threshold of clarifying the status question and that this clarification will comprise Kosovo’s national independence.
On the other hand, we are currently witnessing a policy in Belgrade which must be a cause for alarm. Serbian politicians know precisely where the status question stands in reality, only they dare not risk admitting this to their own people. In other words, they are attempting to make themselves out to be the victims. They want the international community to basically strip Kosovo bare so as to then be able to make this out to be an act against the Serbian people.
If one reads the information service of the Serbian Church, it can be established that the relevant bishops there are quite openly writing about the fact that the Serbian Government does not wish to participate in any clarification of the status question, as this would ruin any chance of getting the country back at a favourable moment viewed from the point of view of world history. It is there in writing. This demonstrates the still explosive nature of the whole issue. On the other hand, it demonstrates the pressurised situation in which the minorities in Kosovo find themselves. All this serves to show that a massive presence on the part of the European Union and the international community will be required for a long time yet.
Two elements are therefore required. On the one hand, speedy clarification of the status question. I certainly agree with Sarah Ludford that the most important element is combating unemployment as far as this fledgling people is concerned, but nobody is willing to invest in Kosovo before the question of status is clarified. We have therefore lost too much time on this issue already. I believe speedy clarification of the status question is a prerequisite for an economic upturn and for eliminating unemployment and, hence, the most serious danger posed by radicalism.
On the other hand, however, we need this independence to be conditioned over the medium- and long-term, first and foremost, also as far as minority issues are concerned, and I believe that for our part, our presence must be anticipated for many years to come. Given that, unfortunately, and this must be said unequivocally, UNMIK has failed to carry out its duties in many areas, a great many expectations in Kosovo rest on a European administration. I agree with the Commissioner that we should give people there as much autonomy as possible.
We talk far too little of, and with, the government and the elected parties there, who often disappear behind the international appointees. On the other hand, however, our presence will be required to safeguard democracy, the rule of law and peace in a strategically important part of Europe."@en1
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