Debate reveals wide differences between members

16/04/1999 (Agence Europe)

The EP debate on Kosovo, before voting on the resolution (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.7) revealed differences between Euro-MPs over military intervention in Yugoslavia even though a majority of MEPs voted in favour of it. Thus British Labour MEP Mr. Titley pleaded for firmness and said that, in the search for an overall solution for the region, account would have to be taken of Turkey's crucial role and give the country the feeling that it belongs to the family of Europe. This was also the case of Mr. La Malfa (Italy) who, speaking for the Liberal Group, considered that "NATO intervention was long due". Mr. Lambrias (Greek, EPP), on the other hand, considered that, in this affair, the EU had "ceded its prerogatives to the United States, through NATO", and cited the example of Iraq (where, despite American bombs, Saddam Hussein "is doing well, whereas Iraqi children are dying of hunger"). This stance is not that of the EPP, said Germany's Doris Pack. There can be no lasting solution to Kosovo if the UN and Russ

ia do not lay a role, said the President of the Green Group Mrs. Alvoet. As for the President of the Union for Europe Group, Mr. Pasty, he said that a message of hope had to be sent to the Serb people, that a "cynical dictator" was leading to collective suicide, "and not to a glorious destiny that he has had them believe". The Belgian member of the Radical Alliance, Mr. Dupuis found Mr. Pasty "too optimistic" when he spoke of Mr. Milosevic's "suicidal policy": this policy is "scientific", said Olivier Dupuis, declaring himself, moreover, "sceptical" regarding the plan of the German Presidency, as, according to him, Mr. Milosevic would use it to withdraw his troops "to where he wants to and to secure a partition of Kosovo from which he would emerge the victor", with 40 to 50% of the territory, "where, it so happens, can be found a few monasteries, as well as interesting naturalresources". It is his personal experience that dictates Otto von Habsburg's critical attitude to the sending of ground troops. I went

to Croatia a lot in the war, he said, and I noted that people of fight on their own ground have more success than outside forces (who often arrive with bad consciences, he added). Tom Spencer, British conservative, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, on the other hand, believed that Milosevic must be convinced a decision has been taken to deploy ground troops where necessary. "But let us not try to tell the Serbs that this is not war, as it feels like war to them", affirmed Mr Spencer. German Green member Daniel Cohen-Bendit stated that, when he was young, he was taught how to read history books correctly and that, ten years ago, Milosevic had said and written what he planned to do in Kosovo, and that he has now done what he said and wrote. Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, of French nationality and a member of the Union for Europe Group, affirmed that the Serbs and the Albanians should learn how to live together again and that it is not an intervention force that will teach them how to do it. In her view, othe

r countries of the region should be involved, whose presence within an intervention force would perhaps be better accepted by the Serbs than external forces. André Soulier, French member of the EPP Group and chair of the sub-committee on human rights, said that a Parliament delegation should go to Belgrade or Pristina to bring back the man to whom the EP awarded the Sakharov Prize, Mr Rugova. Mrs Muscardini (Alleanza Nazionale, Italy) proposed another symbolic gesture - that the members of the Parliament should all, at the end of the legislature, go to the frontier between Albania and Kosovo. Mr Würtz, French member of the United Left Group, said he had the impression that Europe is "letting itself be trapped" by the United States in this affair. While firmly condemning Milosevic's policy, which is an "abomination and a crime", he felt that NATO intervention "bears the mark of the United States", just before the NATO summit, which must "codify their hegemony". "We do not want to make pacifist lyricism and we

do not accuse NATO of cynicism", said Swedish Green member Mr Gahrton in his turn, but "we believe that an alternative to violence should be found as Mandela succeeded in doing in South Africa". "We must resist military build-up", said Mr Souchet, French member of the Europe of Nations Group, who is convinced that the co-existence of Serbs and Kosovars in the Rambouillet context is henceforth impossible. This war is not fair, affirmed Carlo Ripa di Meana, Italian member of the United Left Group, who pointed out that, following the dropping of depleted uranium projectiles, the Kosovars will have to protect themselves against radioactivity on the ground once they get back to their homes.Emma Bonino recalled the Union's initiative of providing humanitarian aid of EUR 150 million, to which will be added 177 million from Member States. She also recalled that, among the innocent victims, there are also Serbs who are receiving aid from the Red Cross.