Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-035"
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"en.20060906.4.3-035"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, a status solution is the best option for Kosovo and for that reason we should support the efforts of UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari to find one, using all possible means.
As has been mentioned so many times in this debate, an unconditional pre-requirement for a lasting solution is to be able to resolve the issue regarding minorities, and that is something of a multigenerational problem. The presence of NATO’s KFOR troops is important for the time being, but now and in the future we will need to pay special heed to the importance of the close relationship between military and civil action. Apart from anything else, the European Union is preparing for a huge civil crisis management operation in Kosovo. It will be on a scale never seen before and its main focus will be on the police and the rule of law. We will need a good number of experts from the Member States of the European Union in order to carry out this operation, and it will be our challenge to find such a large number of experts.
The work of the Planning Team is as yet unfinished, but the intention is for their report to be in the hands of the Council’s working group at the end of the month. Preparations are thus making headway in many different ways and in many different sectors, but we can surely improve their steady flow.
Several times here there have also been references to the Council’s draft budget for next year, especially with respect to how it will make the use of staff resources more effective. The Presidency is very committed to finding a solution that will satisfy all parties, but it will also naturally have to listen to the views of the other Member States.
Besides, my opinion is that the situation is not as gloomy as we have been given to believe, especially in the Commissioner’s very emotive speech. In the Council’s view, enlargement is clearly a priority area and, accordingly, we are not proposing staff cuts there. In fact, this maligned budget for next year increases administrative expenditure by 3.4%. Admittedly, the cuts sought for the period 2007-2013 are very ambitious, but as the Commission is at the same time planning increases for enlargement, there will in any case be more staff in the Commission in 2013 than in 2007, even though we will be monitoring this ambitious trend. So there will be more staff in 2013 than next year anyway. We are trying to find, and we are committed to finding, solutions which will ensure that there are adequate numbers of staff to deal with important matters. This is obvious, of course.
Finally, for some light relief and as the Finnish sauna was mentioned here, I will say that, however well the internal coordination of the Finnish Presidency proceeds, I shall not be joining Mr Ahtisaari or Mr Rehn in the sauna."@en1
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