Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-28-Speech-3-073-000"
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"en.20120328.17.3-073-000"2
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".
Mr President, this year it is 100 years since the royal Serbian army occupied Kosovo during the first Balkan war. The events of that time are documented in reports by the Carnegie Foundation and the Austrian Social Democrat Leo Freundlich. The occupation was followed by 86 years of oppression and finally by the Milošević regime’s attempt at genocide. For the last 12 years, the Kosovans have had the opportunity to establish a democratic European state. They have encountered serious problems, but they have also achieved a great deal. Our job today is to recognise this and to help them to make further progress.
I want to be quite clear about this. I am in favour of Serbia joining the European Union. For this reason, I was in Serbia only last Sunday. However, I am also calling for justice for Kosovo. Serbia has candidate status, but Kosovo not yet been recognised by five EU Member States. This situation must change. Kosovo has guaranteed the rights of minorities and has reserved seats for them in the Kosovan Parliament in accordance with the Ahtisaari plan and the Kosovan constitution. After the Serbian elections, there is a risk that the Albanians in the Preševo Valley will not be represented by a single member in the Serbian Parliament. In contrast, the deputy prime minister and the vice-president of the Kosovan Parliament are both Serbs. This is why I genuinely believe that we need to keep a sense of proportion and let common sense prevail. We must establish the same clear conditions for both sides as they move towards joining the European Union.
There are nine agreements in place between Priština and Belgrade. Of these nine agreements the most important have not been signed and only two have been partially implemented. The others have not. We want to see action and not just promises and empty words. Action should be taken before the Serbian elections. We do not want to find measures once again being blocked after the elections are over. Of course, we do not want Kosovo to be divided or the status question to be reopened. Instead, we want a new European democracy to be allowed to develop."@en1
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