WRITTEN QUESTION E-2573/00 by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Serbian monasteries in Kosovo.
Date: 2000-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Albania, Kosovo, Orthodoxy, Serbia, common foreign and security policy, heritage protection, ownership, religious institution

C 103 E/186

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.4.2001

order to protect swallows(cid:146) nesting places? Moreover, has the impact of the decline in the swallow
population on Finnish folklore concerning the summer been taken into account? The Finns believe that
swallows bring the summer, so that their non-appearance is a serious disappointment to Finns who have
been waiting nine months for summer to arrive. Is the Commission aware of the symbolic significance of
swallows for the Finnish people and Finnish culture? Is there any way of taking proper account of this
significance in Community decision-making?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(4 October 2000)

The Annex to Commission Directive 89/362/EEC of 26 May 1989 on general conditions of hygiene in
milk production holdings (1) lays down the hygiene rules for milking, in the form of a code of hygiene.

During discussions with experts in the Member States when the code was being drawn up, the presence of
birds of all species (cid:129) not only swallows (cid:129) was mentioned as a possible source of contamination. Two
types of risk were identified at that time: contamination of milk during milking or storage by salmonella
from bird excreta, or contamination of cows by the mycobacterium, the agent responsible for avian
tuberculosis.

The group of experts concluded that
the risk of milk becoming contaminated by salmonella was
considerably higher via the cows(cid:146) own excreta than via that of birds. This is why the animals must be
kept clean and their udders must be washed before milking commences.

With regard to avian tuberculosis, the hypothesis that certain livestock could be recontaminated after
bovine tuberculosis had effectively been eradicated was accepted. However, only poultry were implicated.
This is why the code of hygiene in the Annex to Directive 89/362/EEC states that pigs and poultry must
not be housed in a shed or premises where cows are milked.

The code also lays down, as a basic hygiene measure in premises where cows are milked, or where milk is
handled or stored, that flies, rodents and other vermin must be controlled.

Regarding swallows as poultry or vermin would be a misinterpretation of the hygiene regulations.
Moreover, these regulations apply only to premises where cows are milked or where milk or dairy
products are handled or stored, not to premises where animals are merely housed. In other words, these
provisions do not apply to cattle barns or to swallows.

(1) OJ L 156, 8.6.1989.

(2001/C 103 E/213)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2573/00

by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(1 September 2000)

Subject: Serbian monasteries in Kosovo

In the sector of Kosovo under the control of
Italian troops there are 22 orthodox churches and
monasteries, where at the time of their expulsion the Serb community gathered together all the documents
certifying ownership of houses, land, woodland and firms,

Is the Council aware that the Albanians used dynamite to blow up churches and monasteries in order

1.
to destroy the documents certifying Serbian ownership of property?

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Does it not consider that the property and activities of the Serb inhabitants of Kosovo should be
2.
protected and efforts made to ensure that correct legal and administrative procedures are observed in the
region?

3. What measures will
destroyed by pillaging?

it take to prevent the historical and artistic heritage of Kosovo from being

Reply

(10 November 2000)

The Council deplores the continuing ethnic violence against non-Albanian minorities in Kosovo. Accord-
ing to the Council(cid:146)s information, the destruction of Orthodox churches and monasteries is not primarily
due to the fact that documents are being stored there, although the Serb community does seem to have
used certain sites to keep important documents safe. Reference might be made to the Patriarchate of Pec.
In this case, however, information has reached the Council to the effect that most of the documents which
were being kept there have meanwhile been transferred to the municipal authorities in Pec, under
Albanian majority administration, after having been copied onto microfilm with assistance from Belgrade.
These copies are said to have remained in the hands of the Patriarchate.

The Honourable Member will certainly be aware that the Union is not responsible for maintaining public
order and security in Kosovo. That is the task of the UNMIK Police Force and KFOR on the basis of the
mandate they received under Security Council Resolution 1244. However, the Council welcomes KFOR(cid:146)s
efforts to provide round-the-clock protection for the most important religious sites, to patrol secondary
sites and to establish checkpoints throughout the whole province in order to control access to areas
inhabited by Serbs.

The Commission has already had occasion in the past to draw the European Parliament(cid:146)s attention to the
fact that it does not have the necessary powers to protect Kosovo(cid:146)s civil and religious heritage, but that it is
of course willing to cooperate with other organisations (Reply to Written Question E-1587/99). The
Commission(cid:146)s projects include a joint study with the Council of Europe to define conservation needs
regarding Kosovo(cid:146)s cultural heritage and the creation, together with the Council of Europe, of a high-level
expert group to suggest ways of solving the problems resulting from the damage to, and in some cases,
destruction of, Kosovo(cid:146)s cultural heritage. Once the findings of the study are available, which should be
towards the end of the year, it will be possible to have an overall view of the problem.

(2001/C 103 E/214)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2574/00

by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(1 September 2000)

Subject: Accident involving a UN jet in Kosovo

On 12 November 1999 an ATR jet rented by the United Nations World Food Programme crashed into
Mount Picelli, killing the three crew members together with 21 volunteers from Rome who had come to
Kosovo to help a country torn by hatred and misery. According to reports in the European press, the
officer in charge of the control tower was a British soldier who did not have sufficient training to carry out
the duties entrusted to him, having only followed a five-hour course.

1. What steps will the Council take to assist the inquiries being conducted by the Italian authorities into
this accident, which cost 24 lives?

Should it not seek the cooperation of the British Government in an effort to shed light on these

2.
events?

3. With the same end in view, should it not also seek to secure the cooperation of the United Nations,
which also has responsibility for the administration of Kosovo?