Mr President, Commissioner, if I am honest, the situation in Kosovo makes me feel both sad and helpless. In 1999, we went to war to stop the expulsion and repression of the Albanians in Kosovo. I was in favour of that; after all, I had visited the country and its people since 1990 and had experienced terrible things, including torture, experienced the apartheid regime for myself. I naively believed that everything would then improve. I could not imagine that the same Albanians who had suffered all that would now do the same wrongs to their fellow human beings of other nationalities – Serbs, Roma, Ashkali. They did, in the end with obviously planned and criminal acts of violence. Many people died or became refugees and cultural heritage was desecrated. What is more, they then attacked hospitals and schools, which we had probably helped to pay for, KFOR and UNMIK. It is clear who was behind it. I believe the ordinary Albanian people know, too. The Albanian leadership’s protest and distancing of itself was not loud enough or convincing enough for me. This terrible act of violence has set Kosovo back a long way. Is that how it wants to join the EU, as Mr Patten said? The criminals there do not want to join the EU; they do not want to live together in a civilised manner. They want strife because strife gives them scope for corruption and crime. Everything is now in ruins. I do not believe that the international community has pressed hard enough for those Serbs who want to return to do so; it has not provided all the necessary accompanying measures. I would not want to return to an enclave either, neither would I want always to have to be protected by KFOR. That is why not enough has been done here. We need to think about that. The government in Belgrade has deliberately prevented the local Serbs from being actively involved in shaping Kosovo. It has established parallel structures, fearing that Serb involvement in Kosovo would be the seal of Kosovo’s independence. I do not believe that ‘Standards before Status’ is the only way; so far, it has led us astray. It should be ‘Standards and Status’. We must now set about solving the questions of status. The powder keg of Kosovo will not be kept under control without a trustworthy vision for the future. Sixty per cent of the population are young people and 50% of them have no work. How are we to deal with that when leaders come along who are always stirring things up because Kosovo’s future is not clear? We should give some thought to whether we should not press on more with privatisation and support for businesses, offering financial assistance for jobs that are open to both Albanians and Serbs like in Serbia under Milosevic – similar to the ‘oil for democracy’ plan. So let there be financial assistance for that; I believe this is where the EU could prove useful. The UN must relinquish more of its responsibility to the government in Kosovo and Belgrade must put an end to its parallel structures. Then Albanians and Serbs will at last have to see that they can only govern the country together and that they will only be able to join Europe together, in a country where they have made peace and live together peacefully. Otherwise, any aid from us will really be pointless. IN THE CHAIR: MR DIMITRAKOPOULOSVice-President

Political group: PPE-DE