WRITTEN QUESTION P-1749/00

by Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(25 May 2000)

Subject: Elections in Kosovo

Kosovo's first local elections will be held this autumn.

The success of this enterprise is crucial, since local democracy is the foundation for the region's political reconstruction, a goal in which the people of Europe are making considerable moral and material investment.

Will the Commission take part in the preparation and monitoring of the election procedure, and also in the establishment and operation of the first municipal and communal councils that these elections will produce?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2000)

In the division of responsibilities within the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the Community has responsibility for Pillar 4 Economic reconstruction, recovery and development. The Commission is directly involved in the management and financing of this pillar headed by a Commission official who is also a Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General. Administrative costs are paid from the Community budget. The majority of the financing for the work of the pillar is coming from the Union and from Community funds. The organisation of the donor coordination mechanism for such issues is in the hands of the Commission and the World Bank.

On the other hand, the Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is the lead agency for Pillar 3 of UNMIK, and thus for issues of institution-building, civil society, and elections. The OSCE is therefore primarily responsible for the organisation of the forthcoming municipal elections. The costs of this exercise, and the rest of the work of that pillar, are borne by OSCE members. Although this means that Member States, under the OSCE key, pay 67 % of the these costs, and that the Community is concentrating its efforts on Pillar 4 for which it is primarily responsible, the Community is also providing vital assistance in this area without which the elections cannot take place e.g. 5 million for the hardware for civil and voter registration as well as support for the UNMIK ID cards and the voter education campaign. No decision has yet been taken, by the Community, as regards additional involvement in the monitoring of the elections themselves, although Community-funded personnel on the ground (e.g European Community monitoring mission (ECMM)) will undoubtedly play a role.

The establishment and operation of the municipal councils are a matter for UNMIK. The financial aspects are covered by the Kosovo budget, the largest single voluntary contribution by the Community, and a large part of the remainder of which derives from the economic and customs structures which the Commission has successfully, through the work of Pillar 4, helped to put in place. The Community has, in addition, provided considerable support through its twinning programme, the members of which are involved in the drafting of the new municipal law and which will continue to provide the elected administrations with expert advice on the highest Community standards of municipal administration, so as to ensure sustainable democracy at the grassroots level.