Strasbourg, 15/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - Conflict prevention and crisis management must be undertaken through civil means: the Parliament clearly asserted this in its resolutions on 30 November 2000 and 17 January 2001. Elmar Brok, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee, recalled this in a questions addressed in plenary to the Council and Commission, when insisting in particular over the need to put an end to what it considers to be an artificial sharing of tasks between the Commission and Council, and in calling for the Commission to take more wide ranging initiatives in this field.
The European Union itself is the best example of conflict resolution, asserted Anna Lindh, Council President, when citing the statements of the European parliamentarian John Hume, Northern Irish citizen, winner of a Noble peace prize. According to Mrs Lindh, greater efforts are need in conflict prevention, notably by contributing towards changes in society through peaceful means, in the context of a sustained engagement and by using instruments available in a coordinated manner, on the ground and in Brussels, Mrs Lindh cited in particular the role of the police (the aim is to promote the ability to rapidly deploy 5,000 police officers: a meeting between chiefs of police from all the member countries will take place in May), the judiciary and the administration in times of crisis. According to her, it is necessary to consider other fields than those identified at the Feira Summit, notably to answer the needs of observers, specialists in human rights and disarmament. Good cooperation between civilians and the military is also a priority, concluded Mrs Lindh, when also recalling the importance of cooperation with the United Nations, OSCE, sub-regional organisations in Africa and the G8.
During the debate, the Council also made a statement on the situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and condemned the violent actions of the recent weeks, by trying to put across the following message: the future of FYROM lies in its rapprochement with Europe and the EU, and stability and security are crucial conditions to achieve this. The situation of this country is an example of the need to prevent conflicts, agreed Commissioner Chris Patten, when recalling that all the cooperation programme or Commission aid contain elements of conflict prevention, but that the Commission is examining how to go further, notably to better identify "conflict indicators" (for example social exclusion indicators or for environmental degradation) and set up early warning systems. These issues are tackled in the Communication that the European Commission intends to present to the Council in April, with the aim of answering a three fold challenge: improve the speed of the reaction, ensure a more effective coordination of decisions and means, provide itself with personnel that is up to the task. Mr Patten recalled that, in the framework of the internal reorganisation aiming to ensure a better coordination of the instruments available in case of a crisis, the Commission set up a conflict prevention and crisis management unit, and that it intends creating, within this Unit, a crisis management cell that should be operation next summer.
All the parliamentarians are in favour of effective prevention, they all call for a contribution towards the enhancing of democracy in the most vulnerable countries (in Africa, 20% of the people live in a conflict situation, added the British Labour member Glenys Kinnock), all called for suitable means (but what will they be used for if, on the other hand, the Europeans sell arms to these countries, regretted the French Green Didier Rod). It is not the means which are lacking, but the will of the Member States, noted Catherine Lalumiére (Socialist group, French), when regretting the timidity of the States which she has often seen as a member of organisations which deal with conflict prevention, such as the Council of Europe and the OSCE, of which she is the Secretary General. The concept of prevention is empty if the tools to implement them do not exist, stated the French Socialist Michel Rocard, when recalling that he had asked as of 1996, in a resolution, that a network of crisis prevention be set up within the Commission (and when questioning whether the Commission and Council are satisfied with what has been decided upon since then) and that, in 1997 and in 1998, himself and Wilfried Martens had proposed, in two reports on relations with the ACP States, the creation of four regional monitoring centres for ethnic and religious tensions in Africa.
"In some way you're the "godfather" of conflict prevention networks", Patten told Rocard, admitting that the mechanism had to be developed. Regarding Fyrom, the Commission places great importance on the University of Tetovo, as proven by the decision to grant it 5 million euro in aid. On that point, Mr. Patten agrees with the Radical Olivier Dupuis but less so when the latter calls for constitutional changes enabling Fyrom to call itself Macedonia (even though the Greeks oppose this). Mr. Dupuis' words obviously aroused negative reactions on the part of Greek parliamentarians of all colours.
EP requests inventory of instruments and mobilisation of necessary resources
Better to prevent crises and conflicts than manage them: prevention requires acting on the causes of the conflicts (in cooperation with existing international and regional organisations and with NGOs), says the EP by adopting a resolution tabled by Elmar Brok on the subject. The resolution notes that the Union already has a whole range of instruments (including the code of conduct on the export of arms and programmes against the proliferation of small caliber weapons): it must make an inventory and use these instruments in a coordinated manner. The Council is, moreover, invited to follow up the February 1999 recommendations on a European civilian peace corps, preferably by the end of the year.
EP calls for number of EU monitors in southern Serbia to be increased
In a resolution submitted by almost all political groups, on Thursday the European Parliament condemned the acts of violence of Albanian extremists at Fyrom's border with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, calling for UN Resolution 1244 (which places special emphasis on the respect of the current borders of the States of South Eastern Europe) to be rigorously implemented. The EP, moreover, welcomes: - the short-term cease-fire agreement singed in the Valley of Presevo, encouraging the parties to conclude a final agreement (see EUROPE of 14 March, p.4); - the moderation shown by the Government of Fyrom, asked to resolve the crisis through political and diplomatic means; - the presence of European Union monitors in Southern Serbia, but calls for their numbers to be increased and their presence extended to the northern part of the former Yugoslav Republic Macedonia.