WRITTEN QUESTION E-0627/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(2 March 2000)

Subject: Kosovo: privatisation of State enterprises before determination of the competent State authority

1. Can the Council confirm that factories, mines, construction companies and other enterprises in Kosovo which from their nationalisation, accompanied by the abolition of workers' self-management, in 1994 until spring 1999 belonged to the State of Yugoslavia or, within the latter, to the federal state of Serbia, have since been, or are being, privatised by the new authority?

2. Since the establishment of the UNMIK administration in Kosovo, to whom has the revenue from the State enterprises referred to in question 1 been paid including that from the mining and industrial enterprise Trepca, which as recently as 1996 exported goods to the value of $ 100 million, and the part of the Jugobanka bank pertaining to Kosovo, which the French enterprise Société Commerciale de Métaux et de Minéraux wishes to take over?

3. In connection with the privatisation, is there any prospect of the power of decision over the enterprises being restored to the people of Kosovo, or do only rich foreign enterprises have the opportunity to take over businesses in Kosovo? Have foreign enterprises already invested in Kosovo, and if so, where and how much?

4. On what legal basis can privatisation take place in Kosovo without the involvement and consent of the Government of Yugoslavia or Serbia, given that, although in practice Kosovo is no longer under the authority of those governments, the constitutional status of Kosovo still has not been officially altered?

5. Will the Council take measures to ensure that any privatisations are delayed until elections have been held and Kosovo's constitutional status has been finally determined, so that the State authority for Kosovo which is then recognised can take democratic decisions concerning the ownership of State enterprises?

Reply

(25 May 2000)

The Security Council of the United Nations, by Resolution 1244, has given the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) authority over the territory and people of Kosovo, including all legislative and executive powers, and to provide for transitional administration.

Regulation No 1999/1 on the authority of the Interim Administration, signed on 25 July 1999, states that UNMIK shall administer movable or immovable property, including monies, bank accounts, and other property of, or registered in the name of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or the Republic of Serbia or any of its organs, which is in the territory of Kosovo.

The Council is aware that UNMIK is working on a database of the 156 publicly owned enterprises in Kosovo, as a first attempt to put together, in a systematic way, information concerning public enterprises in Kosovo

As far as the Council is informed, UNMIK is finalising a privatisation strategy, which should take into account the time lag associated with the needed clarifications of ownership rights. It should envisage a scheme of management/lease contracts that would be concluded in parallel to this clarification process. Privatisation in the traditional sense would be considered once the ownership status of non-private enterprises would have been clarified.