Brussels, 26/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - "There is a contract between the European Union and Kosovo", declared Commissioner Chris Patten at the end of his meeting on Thursday with the Administrator of Kosovo and a delegation of Albanian political leaders. "We shall help Kosovo, but for its part Kosovo must undertake to move towards European values and European methods (…) of democracy, respect of human rights and minority rights and participation of the whole community in the government", he said, adding that "the leaders of democratic parties have to make a clear difference between the ballot-box and bombs and bullets".
Mr. Patten provided the European Commission's support for the actions of the new Administrator of Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, "especially for the creation of a legal framework", and recalled that the Commission "has helped Kosovo a great deal and is committed to continue" (350 million euro are earmarked for this year, other than humanitarian aid). Hans Haekkerup stressed the "importance" of European Union aid, and stipulated that one of his objectives was to collect taxes to cover current expenditure, so that EU aid could serve to invest in the future.
Earlier, at NATO Headquarters, Mr. Haekkerup revealed the major outlines of the plan for a parliamentary assembly in Kosovo. This should comprise 120 members, 100 of whom elected through universal suffrage, the other 20 seats being reserved for minority representatives. Not everything has been settled yet, and the Administrator of Kosovo "hopes" that they will be able to organise election "by the end of the year". The communities are said to agree on a large part of the "legal framework" for the province, but the most difficult aspects still need discussing, including what the text should be called - the Albanian community is insisting on the term "Constitution", which smacks of independence that not everyone particularly likes.
The Dane Hans Haekkerup was accompanied in Brussels by a delegation of Albanian political leaders, including the moderate Albanian Ibrahim Rugova, and Hashim Taci, former leader of the UCK, and representatives of the different minorities present in Kosovo.