Mr President, Mr President-in-Office, Commissioner, our Group abides by its clear position. The constitution and also the reality of societal relations in Macedonia or FYROM must be brought into line with the needs of a modern multi-ethnic society. In this process, citizens’ individual rights should be to the fore and collective, ethnic rights should only be enshrined to the extent that it is absolutely necessary; this is also why there should be no right of veto for an Albanian vice-president, for example. Above all, these matters must be addressed in a democratic context and by democratic means. In the case of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a democratic state, violence is not necessary; it is unjustifiable, even damaging, above all to the reputation of the Albanian people themselves whose rights we represent with great conviction. If this is clear and obvious to the Council and the Commission, then admittedly this raises a number of questions. Mr President-in-Office, this Parliament has a right to be given answers to several questions. Firstly, how was it possible for a representative of the EU, François Léotard, to be appointed, who, in his very first statements, has already contradicted these principles and has put the terrorists on the same footing as the government? Was Mr Léotard not informed of the Council’s agreed position? Secondly, the KLA was allegedly disarmed in Kosovo. Where are the weapons coming from now then? After all, we are not just talking about a few Kalashnikovs which can be bought on the market anywhere. Does America or do certain groups of Americans have an interest in supplying arms? Thirdly, the terrorists were able to withdraw from Macedonia with their weapons. Should someone not have noticed where these weapons came from? Fourthly, how is the proposed disarmament process supposed to work if the weapons have already been taken out of Macedonia? Is it intended that it should be just as successful as it was in Kosovo? These are a few questions, and I have to make the critical comment that the reality of the situation is being addressed here, whether consciously or not, with some naivety; I am talking about the reality of a small extremist group, which to all appearances is being financed by the Albanian diaspora, which was not prepared to fund the university in Tetovo but which has paid for arms in association with other organisations, some of which are criminal. The Albanian population and their representatives must have the greatest interest in these small extremist groups no longer being able to go about their business. The Council and the Commission must do their bit to achieve this. Making changes within the states by force and changing the borders by force is something which we reject out of hand. It is the elected representatives of the governments and, in the parliament, the representatives of the Albanian and Slav-Macedonian sides which need our support, our advice and our ideas. We must make it absolutely clear to the violent groups that we reject them. If the Commissioner thought that we did not want to spend any money on arms, then he was right. But we certainly do not want to spend money on weapons which extremist groups use to plunge democracies into a state of unrest. (Applause)

Political group: PSE