Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, firstly I would like to extend warm thanks to the rapporteur, Mr Brok, for his report. If the Council had worked as quickly as Mr Brok then we would certainly be a great deal further on. The Council’s failings in this respect are a source of much regret. The rapporteur and the report are right to start from the premise that we should, and must, provide help swiftly, however it is also right to start from the premise that we will not provide help indefinitely or at random. I would particularly like to draw your attention to Amendment No 5 at this point, which clearly emphasises that it is only possible, and permissible, to use the funds from the special financial aid to finance those Kosovan budgetary requirements arising from public or semi-public, communal and other authorities and institutions, which are controlled either directly or indirectly by UNMIK. Commissioner, it must be made clear that we support UNMIK and the institutions set up by the United Nations, in particular Pillar 4 of course, and it will not do for us to support the parallel structures that have formed in Kosovo and are still in place. What is to be done with this money? I would like to highlight the issue of human rights. The West fought for human rights in Kosovo and what is happening there today? We were able to put a stop to the mass expulsion campaign carried out by the Serbs but almost every day insupportable things happen: people are killed, people are prevented from living there or are prevented from living their lives as they see fit. Every single day there are attacks on Serbs, on the Roma, on Bosnians, but attacks are also still carried out on Albanians. I was in fact shocked to read in the report, assuming this is true, how an Albanian doctor, who was working in the hospital in the Serbian quarter of Mitrovica under what must have been great difficulties, ultimately had to give up helping his kinsmen in this hospital because there were constant threats on his life. These are events and situations that cannot be tolerated. I hear – whether it is true or not I do not know – that the Serbs are even continuing to operate a mine in the Serbian sector of Kosovo. There are, at the very least, rumours that Serbian militias are up to their old tricks again. It is irrelevant, as far as I am concerned, as to whether it is Serbs, Roma, Bosnians or Albanians who are threatened or killed in Kosovo. It is also irrelevant, in my view, as to who is working towards separation and division in Kosovo. What is all-important, to my mind, is that the bodies we are financing should achieve what we want them to achieve, a multi-ethnic Kosovo that is, a Kosovo where people can live together. We need more police officers, as we have nowhere near enough. We need an independent judiciary – this would certainly be difficult to establish –, we also need funds for the office of High Commissioner for Human Rights. All of this needs to happen, and quickly too. If we do not provide rapid assistance then the situation will deteriorate and new conflicts and crisis situations may arise. That is why I believe that we were right to take action quickly, to recognise the urgency of the situation and make funds available. Only, now we want to see this translate into deeds and we also want to see success in Kosovo, and I would urge the Commission to see that these funds are put to good use, notably for building up the police force and for establishing the judiciary.

Political group: PSE