Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-018"
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"en.20060906.4.3-018"2
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".
Mr President, first of all, I should like to express my agreement with what my fellow Members had to say during the first round of this debate. I too was a member of the delegation that visited Kosovo and Belgrade in Serbia.
I should like to address my last words to the Commissioner. What struck us and what we wondered about is whether the EU is sufficiently prepared and whether we have enough human resources over there who can shoulder this important and heavy responsibility next year. I should like to add to your appeal to the Finnish Presidency and express the hope that in its pursuit to deploy as many people in a positive way, it will demonstrate Finnish obstinacy.
It is clear that that part of Serbia, which Kosovo formally still is, is heading for independence in some form or other. When you talk to the local people, particularly the Kosovar Albanians, it is impossible to draw any other conclusion, and I would add to express my agreement with what Mr Swoboda said on this subject: a form of independence, as they call it themselves, or limited sovereignty is inevitable, whether we like it or not. I think that the facts are plain for everyone to see, so we should get used to the idea, and the Security Council will probably issue a ruling to that effect at the end of the year.
Everyone you talk to in Kosovo is convinced that the international community, NATO in the first instance, of course, will need to remain present for a good number of years. NATO is responsible for military security. It is also expected that the European Union will play an important role, and in that regard a number of key issues present themselves.
First of all, as others have already mentioned, there is the protection and the rights of the Serbian minority in Kosovo. An important point in this connection, and I confirm in that respect what has already been said, is that we can expect cooperation and openness from both the Kosovar-Albanians and the Serbians who live in Kosovo, and Belgrade, too, of course has an important role to play. That is also obvious from talking to people. We must also ensure that we continue to bring pressure to bear on Serbia in that respect.
I should like to add that if we assume that independence as I described it is probably inevitable for Kosovo, we will still need to take the sensitivities of the Serbs and Serbia into consideration in one way or another, and we will also need to see what we can offer Serbia during the course of the year. A more flexible way of awarding visas may play a role there as well, as a token from the European Union to demonstrate that we take that country’s future in Europe seriously.
Needless to say, the international mission will also play an important role in the further economic development and in creating political stability in a possibly independent Kosovo. Economic development, as is also apparent when visiting the area, is, of course, an important priority.
I think that all of this should be seen in the light of the European prospect that is actually, when one considers the statements, including those at the Thessaloniki summit a number of years ago, also being offered to Kosovo.
Everyone knows that the EU will, in future, be playing a bigger role in Kosovo. Once its status has been established, everyone expects us to take over what the UN has been doing, but I agree with what everyone has said in this connection: our role will be different and some tasks will need to be redefined. After all, it is apparent from discussions with people in Kosovo that many are critical of the UN’s role. What they no longer want in any event is an international organisation dictating how they should run their own country. They finally want to be in charge of their region, their country, and we should be prepared for this. A great deal has been said about this, because the UN has made clear its intention of leaving next year. That is a weighty responsibility for the European Union.
The European Union will need to play a role in the development of the police system, but will also need to supervise the development of the judiciary, and what is more, I think it is important to invest heavily in the administrative structures as well as in the economic development to which reference has already been made. The European Union may well want to take over NATO's military role in due course, as it did in Bosnia."@en1
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