A4-0048/94

Recommendation of the European Parliament to the Council on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The European Parliament,

-having regard to Rule 92 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the second paragraph of Article J.7 of the Treaty on European Union,

-recalling its previous resolutions on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in particular that of 29 September 1994,

-having regard to the proposal for a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy (A4-0048/94),

A.reaffirming its support and profound attachment to the existence in Bosnia-Herzegovina of a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, in which Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Serbs live with equal rights, but expressing the fear that the survival of such a society is now seriously jeopardized by the escalation of military activity in Bosnia-Herzegovina,

B.considering that the Belgrade government's lack of recognition of both the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, which have accepted the peace plan proposed by the Contact group, is a cause of permanent tension in the region,

C.whereas Bosnia-Herzegovina's efforts and concessions to secure a peaceful settlement of the conflict have only led to a political situation where more efforts and further concessions are requested from a country which is about to enter a third winter of war during which an already humiliated population will again be fully dependent on humanitarian aid to survive,

D.whereas the commitment of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia to make the federation function peacefully at all levels deserves to be underlined and should be encouraged by the European Union,

E.whereas the size of the protected areas and exclusion zones need to be more precisely defined to guarantee the security and the humanitarian protection of the populations of the areas ("enclaves") concerned,

1.Recommends the Council of the European Union to use its influence with the UN Security Council and the Contact group in order to ensure the following:

(a)the acceptance of the Contact Group's peace plan by the Pale authorities and the application of the plan by all parties;

(b)any further lifting of the embargo against Serbia and Montenegro ought to be conditional on the recognition by the Belgrade government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

(c)the siege of Sarajevo should be ended and free access to and from Sarajevo should be ensured by the opening of at least one "corridor" which should be under UNPROFOR control and benefit from NATO support;

(d)the policy of protected areas and exclusion zones should be made fully consistent not only with the proposals set out in the peace plan, but also with the security of the populations concerned, such a policy implying free access to those areas for the humanitarian operations and active prevention of and/or reaction to any further aggressive actions against the enclaves concerned;

(e)the international community should recognize that the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, like any sovereign state, has a right of self-defence as laid down in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter;

2.Instructs its President to forward this recommendation to the Council and, for information, to the Commission, the Member States and the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina.