WRITTEN QUESTION E-0472/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(20 February 2003)

Subject: Circumstances, procedures and timescale for settling the future of Kosovo before possible EU accession

1. How long does the Council think it will be possible to maintain the current status of Kosovo as a de facto UN and EU protectorate with, on the one hand, an external Administrator and, on the other, its own parliament, government and president, joint use of the currency of 12 EU Member States, but without its own foreign relations and with formal recognition of the area as part of a State which in practice no longer exercises any control over it and the authority of which is totally rejected by the vast majority of the population?

2. How can the Council prevent uncertainty about the future and impatience for a solution leading to renewed tension rather than good neighbourly relations between bordering areas inhabited by Serbs and Albanians?

3. Will the Kosovo regime be determined in accordance with the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of the area concerned before any EU accession by Kosovo, or a state of which Kosovo is part?

4. Under what circumstances and procedures and on what timescale will a decision be taken on the future status of Kosovo? How are all the parties involved being consulted? How will the Council ensure that this solution leads to lasting peace and democracy?

Source: De Volkskrant newspaper, 5 and 8 February 2003.

Joint answerto Written Questions E-0471/03 and E-0472/03

(29 September 2003)

The Council is fully aware of the statements made by the Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic on Kosovo prior to his assassination. It is also fully aware of the recent initiative of some members of the Kosovo Assembly to pass a resolution on the Independence of Kosovo. In the GAERC Conclusions of 24 February 2003 the Council urged all parties, both in Belgrade and in Pristina, to refrain from any unilateral initiatives which were incompatible with the objective of a multiethnic and democratic Kosovo and may jeopardise stability and the normalisation process not only in Kosovo but in the entire region. The Secretary General/High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, in direct contacts both with the authorities and in Pristina has also reiterated and emphasised the concern of the Council about recent destabilising statements and initiatives and urged all parties to refrain from unilateral acts.

The Council firmly believes that all aspects of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 remain valid. The final status of Kosovo will need therefore to be addressed in due course in line with that Resolution, involving the Government in Belgrade and the elected leaders and representatives of the local political institutions in Pristina.

In supporting the UNMIK and the UN Secretary General's Special Representative, the Council supports unreservedly the standards before status policy. This policy is an essential prerequisite to facilitation at the appropriate time of the political process designed to determine Kosovo's future status in accordance with Resolution 1244. In this connection, the Council in its conclusions of 24 February 2003 gave UNMIK's efforts to gradually transfer remaining competencies to the provisional institutions of self-government in Kosovo by the end of 2003, except those reserved for the SRSG under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, its full support. It also reiterated in its conclusions of 14 April 2003 the importance it attached to the most recent initiative of the SRSG to initiate direct dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina on practical issues of mutual interest.