WRITTEN QUESTION No. 432/98 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Commission. Guarantees in the Serbian Basic Law concerning the rights of minorities in Kosovo
Date: 1998-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament, VAN BLADEL
Subjects: Kosovo, Serbia, application of the law, autonomy, constitution, ethnic group, human rights, protection of freedoms, rights of minorities

C 223/172

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17. 7. 98

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission

(26 March 1998)

The  Commission  can  neither  confirm  nor  deny  the  accuracy  of  the  press  releases  to  which  the  Honourable
Members refer.

The respect of human rights and the assurance of fundamental freedoms within their justice system is a matter of
national competence for each Member State.

The Commission does not have the competence to judge whether measures arising from a criminal investigation
taken by a Member State are justified or commensurate with the suspected offence.

(98/C 223/224)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0432/98

by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Commission

(24 February 1998)

Subject: Guarantees in the Serbian Basic Law concerning the rights of minorities in Kosovo

The situation in the Serbian province of Kosovo, where the majority of the people are ethnic Albanians, is rapidly
deteriorating. Hardly a day goes by without someone being killed or injured on both sides.

The gulf between Serbia(cid:146)s political leaders, who regard Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia, and the leaders of
the Albanian population, who want to make Kosovo an independent republic, seems unbridgeable.

Like the other actors on the international scene, the Commission has several times stated that a solution to the
problem must be sought within the borders of Serbia or Yugoslavia, even if it means conferring a great measure
of autonomy on the Albanians. The Serbian authorities state that the Serbian Basic Law grants all minorities,
including  the  Albanians,  a  measure  of  autonomy  which  meets  all  internationally  accepted  standards  on  the
position of minorities.

Can  the  Commission  state  to  what  extent  the  guarantees  offered  by  the  Serbian  Basic  Law  do  in  fact  meet
international standards?

If these guarantees do not meet international standards, can the Commission state which points of the Serbian
Basic Law need to be adapted?

If  they  do,  can  the  Commission  state  to  what  extent  the  basic  law  is  being  implemented  by  the  Serbian
authorities?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 1998)

The concept of autonomy under the 1990 constitution of the Republic of Serbia is very limited, in particular as all
economic decisions are centralised. Kosovo Albanians have lost all of the legislative and executive authority
which they had gained under the 1974 federal construction.

Human and minority rights in Kosovo, as elsewhere in Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, are in
theory guaranteed to a high level by the 1990 constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the 1992 constitution of
the  Federal  Republic  of  Yugoslavia.  Furthermore,  Article  16  of  the  1992  constitution  obliges  the  Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia to comply with the various international treaties and conventions to which it is party
(including most of the relevant international covenants on human rights).

These rights are not, however, implemented by the Serbian authorities. One example would be the law on special
property transactions, which prevents Kosovo Albanians from purchasing real estate from Serbian owners › in
contradiction with the right to inviolable property and the decrees on the equality of social and private property.