WRITTEN QUESTION E-1480/99

by Lucio Manisco (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(1 September 1999)

Subject: Reconstruction of the Danube bridges destroyed during the war in Kosovo

One of the disastrous effects of the NATO war is that the destruction of bridges over the Danube has brought the entire region's economy to a halt and has had a particularly serious effect on Bulgarian and Romanian trade.

1. What action does the Commission intend to take in order to ensure that reconstruction of the Danube bridges destroyed during the war begins immediately?

2. What type and what amount of aid does the Commission intend to allocate in order to prevent any further damage to the economic relations between the countries in the region and between those countries and the EU Member States?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(15 October 1999)

1. The Commission is aware of the important economic implications of the destruction of the bridges over the Danube for the riparian countries. It affects not just the bilateral economic relations between Serbia and neighbouring countries but also affects other countries along the river which have traditionally used the Danube as a navigation route between the Rhine and the Black Sea. Concerns have also been expressed recently regarding the potential for flooding upstream.

Given the current political regime in Belgrade, and the sanctions against the Republic of Serbia, the Council has ruled out, under the present circumstances, any assistance from the Community, other than of purely humanitarian nature. There is therefore no scope for Commission involvement in reconstructing the bridges.

The Honourable Member should be aware that, according to information made available to the Commission, the authorities in Belgrade are putting pressure on the international community to lift the sanctions and seeking to gain membership into the international financial institutions, by using the reconstruction of the bridges and the reopening of the Serbian sections of the Danube to navigability as a counterpart.

The Commission is aware that the Danube commission is examining possibilities for achieving a solution which addresses the concerns of the Danube states. The Commission is nevertheless very conscious of the fact that any support provided by the international community to this end could be easily manipulated by the Milosevic regime and presented as a successful step towards the lifting of sanctions or recognition of the regime by the international community. This has to be avoided.

2. The Commission is substantially contributing to the transformation process in the region via the Phare and Obnova programmes. In parallel, and following the Kosovo crisis, the Commission has made available an amount of 392 million in form of humanitarian aid to the whole region.

Under the Phare programme, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, inter alia, receive support for their preparations for accession while Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) receive support for their transition to democratic reforms and economic transformation. Of particular relevance are the cross border co-operation programmes which, by recognising the specific problems faced by border regions, aim to promote co-operation between countries and regions along the borders of the Community and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), with primary focus on financing infrastructure and environmental projects.

The Obnova programme is a Community initiative for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and FYROM. The main focus has been on regional co-operation and good neighbourliness projects, the rebuilding of infrastructure and other

facilities damaged in the conflicts, the consolidation of democracy and civil society, the return of refugees and the preparation for economic recovery. At present, while the FRY is eligible for support under the Obnova programme, Serbia is only, for the reasons mentioned above, receiving humanitarian assistance, democratisation assistance and support for independent media.

Of particular relevance has been the action implemented by the Commission to relieve the cost related to the refugee influx in the neighbour countries, where an amount of 100 million has been made available, in form of budgetary assistance, to Albania ( 62 million), FYROM ( 25 million) and the Republic of Montenegro ( 13 million).