Brussels, 21/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the General Affairs Council devoted an indepth debate to the Western Balkans in the light of the joint report drawn up by Secretary General/High Representative Javier Solana and Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5). During the final press conference, the Portuguese Council President, Jaime Gama, pointed out that this issue had been dealt with by the Fifteen with the extraordinary European Council of Lisbon in mind. It will also be the main theme during the working dinner attended by the foreign ministers alongside the heads of state and government. The Conclusions approved by the Council will be very rapidly reproduced in our series EUROPE/Documents. Messrs Gama, Patten and Solana placed emphasis, during the final press conference, on the following political elements:
- Montenegro. Commissioner Patten reported to the Council on the "difficult situation" that this small Republic is going through, in the light of his recent visit to monitor "on the ground" what the requirements are and how the EU assistance programme should work. He announced that the amount allocated to the Obnova programme will be doubled in 2000, from EUR 10 million to 20 million. Since 1998, EUR 83 million will thus have been channelled by this means, without counting the bilateral contributions of Member States. The EU also provides humanitarian and food aid. These figures, says Mr Patten, underline the EU's support to the "government and to the president" of Montenegro. According to the Commissioner, this new contribution is a clear sign that the EU "wants to help Montenegro as much as possible".
- FRY/Serbia: lifting the air embargo and strengthening financial sanctions. The Council: - adopted the regulation that suspends the air embargo and which, once published in the OJ, will suspend the air embargo for six months (it will then be up to Member States to verify whether the Yugoslav authorities adopt a discriminatory attitude compared to their national companies); - invited the Committee of Permanent Representatives to finalise its examination of the Commission proposal relating to a Council Regulation aimed at strengthening financial sanctions, so that it may be adopted before the end of the month. Mr Patten explained that these two points were "not linked in a mechanical way" but that the Fifteen hope they will take effect "at the same time". In his view, an agreement on sanctions is "very close" and the problem which is raised is not political but "technical", namely that the "sanctions must affect those who are guilty and not the innocent".
- Kosovo. Mr Gama pointed out that it was first of all, in the spirit of the EU, a matter of "ensuring peace and security" in the region, and then of contributing to its rehabilitation and its reconstruction, in order to "create a civil society based on law". Mr Solana specified that he had told the Serbs of Kosovo it "would be better, and in everyone's interest, for them to take part in the interim administration". He is awaiting their response.
The Council's Conclusions: express concern about the worsening situation in Kosovo and condemn extremism on both sides; condemn the threats and harassment against the independent media and the democratic opposition in Serbia; confirm support to the democratically elected government in Montenegro; and invite the Commission to examine ways to strengthen financial assistance, and the EIB to study the possibility of financing projects. As already pointed out, the full text will be reproduced in the next issue of our series EUROPE/Documents.
Spain had maintained reservation on these conclusions because of the problem of the languages used with the Kosovo Reconstruction Agency. It renounced the reservation but only on the understanding that, if the solution is not defined this very week, then the Agency should in practice suspend its activity. The Commission had considered as unjustified the request to add Spanish to the three "working languages" of the Agency (English, French, German). The main thing, it considers, is that the Agency should be able to operate properly.
