Paola Buonadonna Brussels and Dusko Doder Belgrade

EUROPEAN aid commissioner Emma Bonino, just back from a three-day trip to the refugee camps in the former Yugoslavia, has spoken out about the European Union's diplomatic failure in the wartorn region.

In a frank interview with The European in Brussels, Bonino expresses her frustration at the disparity between the EU's aid role and its inability to influence the peace negotiations.

"As head of Echo (the EU humanitarian office) it is my job to get the help there, without questioning whether the child we save is Bosnian, Croat or Serb", she said. "But as a European citizen and a member of the Commission I am bitter at the situation created by the Maastricht treaty in the field of security and defence.

"The United States can get in there and seize the initiative. The EU, as thing stand, cannot even say "good morning" without first consulting 15countries.

Though President Clinton said the deaths of three key members of his peace-making team would not affect the US push for peace there are fears that delays could prove disastrous.

The head of the US team, assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke, is expected to return to the region next week to resume diplomacy. Events on the ground, however, appear to be working against him. Croatia is determined to secure Dubrovnik by capturing the hinterland held by the Bosnian Serbs.

Union urged to get tough in Balkans

Paola Buonadonna - Brussels

Humanitarian aid Commissioner Emma Bonino, who returned from a three-day trip to Zagreb and Belgrade on 22 August, is set to urge the European Union presidency to seek a more aggressive diplomatic role in the attempts to find peace in former Yugoslavia.

In an interview with The European in Brussels, she expressed her anger and frustration that the EU, the largest single aid donor in the area, had no clearly defined role in the diplomatic offensive.

"As head of Echo, the EU's humanitarian office, it is my job to get the help there, without questioning whether the child we save is Bosnian, Croat or Serb", she said. "But as a European citizen and a member of the Commission I am bitter at the situation created by the Maastricht treaty in the field of security and defence.

"We do not have a common external policy. What we have in former Yugoslavia is a so-called Contact Group without a precise institutional basis. If the situation is not rectified at the Intergovernmental Conference in 1996 Europe will never have one voice when faced by these problems.The US can seize the initiative. The EU, as things stand, cannot even say "good morning" without first consulting 15countries".

During her visit Bonino managed to convince the Croatian government to let humanitarian aid through to the 25,000 refugees of Vojnic; followers of the pro-Serb Muslin Leader Fikret Abdic of Krajina.

She has also promised the authorities that she will intercede with Spain, now holding the European Union presidency, to find a burden-sharing solution among the 15countries for refugees. She is to express her anxieties to the Commission.

The Croat government has said it can only absorb 5,000refugees, and it hopes that EU countries will take the rest. But in a move which seemed to mirror the snubbing of EU envoy Carl Bildt by the Bosnian authorities, the Serbs cancelled two meetings with Bonino in Belgrade.

Since 1991 the EU has spent Ecu1bn ($1,3bn) in aid for the region, including food, shelter, hygiene and mental health programmes. A further Ecu15m has been allocated for aid for the Serbian refugees of Krajina.

Observers are starting to doubt whether such a massive deployment of funds makes sense in the face of continuous fighting, shifting alliances and the serious obstructions encountered by aid agencies on the ground. Several non-governmental organisations who distribute aid paid for by Echo have voiced their concern that by supporting shelter programmes in the regions where refugees are being resettled they may become indirect accomplices to ethnic cleansing.

Bonino is well aware of the paradox and talked of the frustration of her role as head of Echo. "All Echo can do, apart from mopping up after crises which have not found political solutions, is to raise questions", she said.

For Bonino, however, the solution is not to stop the aid but to increase the political pressure. She underlined that aid is not paid to governments but to NGOs on the ground. This makes Echo neutral but also unable to negotiate. Meanwhile, after a few months of intense war and refugees displacement in both Europe and Africa, Echo resources are running dry.

Bonino has already tapped into 50 per cent of Echo's reserve fund, Ecu160m, and she has just announced that she will open the second half. "If nothing else happens the humanitarian agencies on the ground have more than enough to cope through the winter", she said. "But if Gorazde falls there are another 60,000 people to take care of".