KOSOVO: THE MUNICH SPIRIT CONTINUES TO AFFECT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. THE PROPOSAL TO CREATE A MILITARY PROTECTED HUMANITARIAN SAFE HAVEN HAS BEEN REJECTED BY A WEAK ESP-GUE-GREENS MAJORITY.

THE ONLY POSITIVE NOTE IS THAT THE EP HAS FINALLY FOUND THE COURAGE TO REQUEST THE INCRIMINATION OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC.

Statement by Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the Radical Party and MEP.

Strasbourg, Thursday 15 April 1999. "In the resolution on Kosovo adopted today, the European Parliament (EP) rejected for only 6 votes the proposal made by Commissioner Emma Bonino in favor of the "establishment of military protected safe havens", a proposal which John Paul II endorsed on Easter Sunday.

A weak majority at the EP that goes from the Communist group to the Greens passing through the Socialists has preferred, once again, to follow the 'Munich sirens' rather then support the only proposal capable of facing the tragic situation of 500,000 people displaced or deported inside Kosovo.

The only positive note is the EP's support, after a long series of rejections, of the Radical Party's petition, endorsed by over 180.000 individuals from all over the world, to indict President Milosevic before the Yugoslav Tribunal at The Hague for crimes against humanity, war crimes, as well as the Radical proposal that asks the European Council and Commission to launch "initiatives to inform the populations of Serbia and Montenegro through programs in Serbian".

Radical Party

Tel: +32.2.230.4121

Fax: +32.2.230.3670

www.radicalparty.org