WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1447/99 by Ioannis MARINOS Persecution of Gypsies in Kosovo
Date: 1999-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, MARINOS Ioannis
Subjects: Kosovo, Roma, common foreign and security policy, ethnic cleansing

29.1.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 27 E/73

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(1 September 1999)

The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its
findings as soon as possible.

(2000/C 27 E/089)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1447/99

by Ioannis Mar(cid:237)nos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 September 1999)

Subject: Persecution of Gypsies in Kosovo

A few days ago, Euronews and RAI television broadcast pictures of the entire Gypsy community of Kosovo
abandoning the province en masse.

It is has been estimated that some 100 000 Gypsies living in Kosovo will be forced to abandon their
homes by the Kosovars, who are accusing them of being (cid:145)Serb collaborators(cid:146).

What is the Commission(cid:146)s position on this new round of ethnic cleansing whose victims, this time, are the
entire Gypsy community of Kosovo, who are suffering the same kind of persecution as the Serbs allegedly
meted out to the Kosovars and what measures will it propose to put an end to this persecution and to
enable the people affected to return to their place of origin and their homes?

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

(10 September 1999)

The Commission is opposed to, and strongly condemns ethnic cleansing of any sort directed at any ethnic
community. The Union condemned ethnic cleansing as carried out by the Serbian authorities on other
ethnic communities, and has condemned recent incidents in Kosovo involving members of other ethnic
communities.

The Union is participating in the United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMiK), the civilian administration of
Kosovo. This civilian administration, working together with the military administration, military force for
Kosovo (KFOR), is in the process of ensuring that such incidents cease, and that a tolerant, peaceful, multi-
ethnic society is built in Kosovo, in which all can participate fully.

(2000/C 27 E/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1448/99

by Giovanni Pittella (PSE) to the Commission

(1 September 1999)

Subject: Infringement procedure initiated against Italy in respect of training and employment contracts and
the serious repercussions on businesses which have helped to create jobs in recent years

According to figures published by the Commission itself (Eurostat), unemployment is an extremely serious
problem within Europe. There are reportedly at least 16 million unemployed people in the EU and one of
the worst-affected regions is Southern Italy.

Very serious social and economic repercussions may stem from the recent Commission decision to initiate
an infringement procedure against Italy on the grounds that the training and employment contracts
concluded over the last four years by many southern Italian SMEs with young unemployed people (who
would otherwise be excluded from the employment market) on the basis of the EU(cid:146)s own employment
promotion guidelines are illegal.