UNMIK-OSCE-EU-UNHCR Press Briefing-27 September 2001

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

EU Spokesman Mike Todd
OSCE Spokeswoman Claire Trevena
UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort

DSRSG Andy Bearpark

Good morning everybody, for the last few days I have been watching, reading and hearing about the speculations in the press and elsewhere as to what's going with the power supply here in Kosovo and for the last few days I too have been experiencing the outages for a period of time when we haven't had power, more spectacularly of course yesterday afternoon during the thunderstorm. The people of Kosovo deserve to know why that is and that's what I want to tell you.
There are two reasons, this is not a complicated one, there are two reasons. The first is history; there is nothing I can do about that. Somebody say that Balkans had too much history and are probably right, but there is not a lot I can do about that. The history is that the power system which provides the power within Pristina and throughout Kosovo was designed as part of an interconnected system in what was then Yugoslavia. You may not like that, I honestly could not care less. It is a fact, I cannot change historical facts. I have here with me a map.
A map that has been produced showing the way interconnections were done. You can't see that in details and you don't need it. Let me show you and tell you that there is one red blob in Kosovo and just one. All other blobs are elsewhere. What we are here now trying to do, we all of us, is to enable that one blob to look after Kosovo's needs. It cannot be done perfectly. It could not be done perfectly anywhere in the entire world. What happens elsewhere is that you have five, six or seven blobs and even if you are in Western Europe and North America occasionally one of those blobs goes down, because that's the history of mechanical equipment, it always happens. But what happens in Kosovo is that when one blob goes down your light goes out, when happens in my own
automatically and one of the other blob comes on. There is nothing we can do about that, we have to live with that fight. In the longer term - and I'll come on to that if you like it -  there is something you can do. But the longer term is not one, two or three years. It's five to ten years. So that's the history, I cannot change  it for you. The second reason we have problems is simple, it's called money. It is straightforward as that. We can ask me any questions and I hope you do, but it is straightforward as that: it is money. The only way we can provide power when the blob goes down it's by buying it and it's very very very expensive. It costs millions of DM. So where those millions came from, last winter came from the taxpayers of Europe, and I thought hard that they should do so and I am very glad they did so. They paid bills week and week out for the import of electricity. We are not doing that anymore. It does not go on forever, people's generosity get changed, there are other priorities. They not paying that now, Kosovo needs to have the money itself to pay. How do you get that money ? You get it by paying electricity bills. It's not complicated, there is no detail, no question you are going to be able to think or to ask me to make it complicated. If people pay electricity bills, the power company can buy electricity. That's all, there is nothing else to do with whatsoever. So those are the two reasons why there are problems. History & Money.

What can we expect for the rest of the winter? If we have done our planning right, if with the enormous generosity of various aid donors - EAIR, US, Danish Gvmt and I can go on and on - things are certainly going to be a lot better than they were last winter or the winter before. But I want to warn you now, they are not going to be perfect. And the reason they are not going to be perfect again comes back to that one blob. If we have a particularly cold week, if we have a week when the temperature plummets more than we would normally expect, we  won't have enough power and there is nothing we can do because you can't store power that you have produced during the day and use it during the night when the temperature plummets. The system won't do that. What happen elsewhere in the world is that when the temperature plummets it switches on the instantly switchable on hydro power plant. I'm sorry, it's a very, very small hydro power plant here in Kosovo, it's not going to help. If the temperature plummets, we will not - for a matter I hope of no more then few hours - be able to make the electricity that we need. And at that point, I very much doubt that we can even buy it, because if the temperature plummets here in Kosovo the odds are that it will be plummeting in Montenegro, Bulgaria, Albania and FYROM so that there won't be electricity to buy. So I don't want people to have false hopes. Nobody can guarantee that the power will be on 24 hrs a day, 7x7, throughout the winter. What we are saying is that with the massive investments that have being made it should be an awful lot better that it was last winter. Let's watch  the whether and wait and see. You have noticed that I do not have any technical experts sitting with me, because I don't want technical experts, this is not a technical issue. If you are thinking of asking me about the valve on the left hand side of the right hand boiler B2 please don't waste your time, my time or the people of Kosovo's time, it's not an interesting issue. Ask me about the power system what the donors are doing and what it's going to be like this winter. I will answer any of your questions, just give me few seconds to put the earphone and I will take any questions fro anybody

Questions directed to the EU DSRSG Andy Bearpark during the Thursday Press Conference

Q.Do you think that you would convince the ordinary citizens of Kosovo that these are the real reasons that there is no electricity?

AB: Whether or not I can convince them now, I do not know. The two reasons I've given you are the two reasons. That's all.  Whether or not the people of Kosovo understand me and agree with me I do not know. Maybe I'll have to explain it again, week after week. Because I understand when the power is going off you don't like it and I'm not happy and I understand the level of upset, but these are the two reasons and I'm happy to explain these reasons time after time and again. 

Q.The citizens of Kosovo think that the Supervisory Board of KEK is corrupt, what do you think of that?

AB: The eight donors from the overseas lead by the EU Agency, including the governments of Denmark, UK and Sweden, Italy and the others, spent enormous amount of money in refurbishing, doing their very, very best to make the system work.  None of that money passes through my hand, not one single DM. That money does not pass through KEK's hand. That goes from a donor to the people that are running the project. Those eight donors have been running similar projects for 10, 20 30 years and they have very sophisticated audit systems. If they find even a little fraud they send their people down. If any of those government thought that something was going wrong with that money, there would be a plane loaded people at the Pristina airport within the hour to investigate, not because they worried what you thought or the people of Kosovo, but worrying because that is their own taxpayers thought. If you are looking at me and saying is there any corruption in KEK at all. I don't know! All I can tell you is this: the majority of the KEK workers do remarkable job in remarkable circumstances and deserve our support.  

Q. We, the people of Kosovo are thankful for all the assistance of the EU donated in Kosovo, but what about the fact that millions of DM have been spent for energy, and we have a worse situation than before the investment?

AB: It goes back to history and the way back how the system works. If you are fortunate and you have a motorcar you know that every few months you have to put it to be serviced. While the car is being serviced you have to walk or you have to borrow your friend's car. It is exactly the same with the electricity system. During the repair, you either have to stay without electricity or to borrow from somewhere but I have never seen any sign in the world saying, "Rent a power station, we deliver to your door". The people that are repairing the Power station have to be very careful in not causing any problem. In the theoretical world, you should close the power station completely refurbish it and then put it in function. If we were in this situation, in fact I'm not an expert, I do not carry with me an expert, but nobody would have wanted to be without power for more than 12 months.

Q: How much is the total EU investment in the energy sector of Kosovo, can you compare this with the costs for a new power plant for the needs of Kosovo?

AB: I do not have any figures today and as I said I'm not going to allow details, I'm trying to get the message across. Hundreds of millions of DM have been spent. It will cost more than that to built a new power station. Not only that costs more, but also it would have taken longer. Kosovo cannot survive for the next ten years with whatever we have got. We have to build that new Power station. If we raise that money with the bills, than the power company can invest in that.

Q: Can you relate the selling of generators and the internal sabotage?

AB: The main reasons are: 1) the Power station are old. 2) Disgraceful lack in investments throughout 1990. 3) We cannot repair them properly. You may repair one bit properly, but that bit puts a strain on the other parts and than that something else brakes down and than you have to do an emergency repair. I cannot answer the question of sabotage. You cannot know whether something was done accidentally or deliberately unless you know the persons mind.  I have heard, but I have no proof and I have discussed it with KFOR and UNMIK Police who are the sort of people. I would discuss that issue.

Q: You mentioned some months ago that there would be electricity, even for exporting out of Kosovo. Are there any political problems related to the lack of energy?

AB: No, the statement is not contradictory with the one of several weeks ago; no I'm not experiencing any problems of any description with the Government in Belgrade. Let me expand. A couple of weeks ago somebody gave his best estimates for the repair. I can apologies, but the guess that was made at that time has not proven to be right. It has taken longer. My message is that we cannot store the electricity for the pick. Kosovo will be an exporter but not earn money from exports.

Q: What do you think, are the FRY have anything to do with the disconnections in Kosovo? Are the FRY authorities to be blamed for the bad situation?

AB: I've never heard that they were, but the answer is no. There is a good relationship in the technical aspect, especially on power.  They were remarkable generous and sending us power, which they had no legal obligations to do, when we were not having power. And when we'll have such electricity, we will do the same. There are no political problems with Belgrade at all about these facts.

Q: Is there any mechanism or system for the control of the invested money?

AB: There is a difference between control and coordination. Nobody has control essentially, because each of the donors controls their own donations. Like the Government of the United States is controlling their own donation and the others. A group of seriously hard working people to convince governments to support and persuade them. Nobody has the right to control what the donors do.

Q: Does this mean that there are chances for misuse?

AB: No, no. It means the opposite. It means that the United States Government controls every dollar, so they could proof that the money are spend properly. This means that every Government can see where the money is being spent.

Q: December 2000 was the deadline for the overall of the Kosova B, But as we can experience there is no energy and the boiler does not work yet?
      
AB: No, no, no. Let me explain again, because this is vitally important for the people of Kosovo. The contract that was let last year was to do a set of emergency repairs, it was never ever intended that it could repair everything because it would have meant B2 being  off throughout the winter. That would not have worked. So it was what is called a partial overhaul. That partial overhaul was completed and this year - 2001 - the second part of that overall is being taking place. This year I attended a press conference when I was told that there were allegations that the money that has been spent on my contract has in some way been spent improperly. What I said then and what I will say now is: I have never ever been given any evidence to support that. If I had been given such evidence, it would be my job and is my job to immediately, I mean not even the following day, send back evidence to the officials in Brussels and they will be down here so quickly that you will not believe it. Now we are talking something like eight months on: nothing, nothing that has arrived to my desk supports the idea that there was improper activity within that contract. But if there is any evidence that any of that money went ashtray give it to me and will be investigated more fairly than anything. But I have getting a bit doubtful if nine months on nobody has given me anything.

Q: With 120 million DM can be built a new energy production plant. Maybe you know more about this fact?

AB: No Sir, let me explain why it cannot. First of all teams of people from EU and WB
came to Kosovo immediately after the bombing to look at what they should do to help Kosovo in its power system. Did those people sit there saying: hey guys how we can waste some of our taxpayers' money? How can we do this in the least efficient way? What 's the most stupid thing we can do to throw away 15 millions DM ? I don't think so, I really don't. They looked at the alternatives and as I explained the problem is that because the plan could not be closed down for a long, long period of time it costs more. Teams of economists looked at the options because we knew that it was going to be such a serious question and yes if we have been able to close down the power system of Kosovo for 18 months it could have been done more cheaply, but that was not an option.

 
Q: As far as I can see, even if all blocks work, Kosovo will not have electricity. Are you as an administration planning a new hydro or thermo power production unit?

AB: I must stress that Kosovo does have enough power if you just add it up and will have enough power if you just add it up in terms of power. So each year Kosovo should be producing more power that it needs to consume and it should therefore be selling that power. The problem as I say is the timing problem, that there will be part of the day and part of the year where is producing surpluses and big surpluses, but it will be peaks when it's not producing enough. So I should also explain yet again, over the period of twelve months once all the repairs are complete Kosovo will be producing more power than it needs. But even that does not solve your problem because of the peaking problems. Does Kosovo need another power station? Quite certainly yes, there is no debate, Kosovo does need a new. The debate between experts will be what sort of power station does it need and when. That debate is taking place all the time.  WB, institutions, consultants from various aid donors are studying that question. So at some stage in the future , may be this year, may be earlier next year, I don't know, those people will finally been able to say to us: ok, we have looked at all the alternatives, the best alternative is to build a clockwork power station somewhere in the middle of  Kosovo and that will then be the technical information we need. That job is then to get the money to build that power station. I will be here to help, but I'm not a magician, there will be a job for UNMIK, for the Provisional Self Government (or whatever the phrase is), for your elected representatives and for the people of Kosovo, because if they are then paying their electricity bills that will be creating money which can go towards building that power station, it will be a job for me because I think my job is negotiating with aid donors and it will be job for your democratically elected representatives, that's what they are supposed to do. So it will be a job for all of us to raise that money, now you may ask me how we would do it. If you were, the answer is I don't know, we'll find the way, it will not be easy.
 
Q:  Hundreds of millions spent and the result is still zero. Who has the responsibility for the zero results?

AB: There is a lot of people and there is a lot of people who are accountable, the people who spend a certain government's money are accountable to that government - rest assured, the people who work in KEK are accountable, the people who work at UNMIK EU Pillar are accountable. We are all accountable. On the first question: excuse me, what happened last year? Who paid for that power? The EU taxpayers paid for that power. The EU taxpayers is not going to pay for Kosovo's power for the next hundred years. Believe me on that! 

Q: You say that KEK is a single factor for the non-payment of bills by the minority enclaves, but from the other side all the ethnic Albanian villages are being disconnected for not paying the bills?

AB: When I arrived in the Balkans many years ago I was responsible for minority returns and within a week of my being there three people came to see me - a Serb, a Croat and a Bosniak - and each of them asking the same question: Andy who do you like the most? Can't answer your question, I come from UK, I deal with Scots, Welsh, Irish.. No it cannot be you must really like one side more then the other, and in the end the only answer I could thing of was to tell all three of them: I hate you all equally! And I'm sorry I'm not taking this question now. There are Serbs who are not paying the electricity bills, but there are also K.Albanians in best numbers who are not paying the bills as well. And I tell you two more things: there is not such thing as ethnic electricity, we don't produce it on ethnic basis nor we collect the money on ethnic basis. Thank you all and if you like I'll come back and do it again, I have no problems at all. 

EU Spokesman Mike Todd

Launch of the Euro Info Correspondence CentreThis Tuesday, October 2nd, will mark an important step forward for Kosovo's small and medium-sized enterprises, when Kosovo's new Euro Info Correspondence Centre is inaugurated. The EICC Kosovo will belong to a network of over 300 Euro Info Centres established by the European Commission throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region. It will help foster links between Kosovo's private businesses and those elsewhere in Europe; and it will help them target potential customers and export markets. The European Agency for Reconstruction has provided 800,000 Euro of EU funds to help set up the EICC in Kosovo.
 
Speakers at Tuesday's event will be Heinz Zourek, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission's DG Enterprise, DSRSG Andy Bearpark; and Director of the European Agency for Reconstruction, Hugues Mingarelli. Ismail Kastrati, President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce will also be present.

All media are invited to attend the launch, which will take place at 10.00 on the Tuesday morning at the EICC, located on the 1st floor of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce building in Pristina. Media are also invited to the reception to mark the launch. This will take place in the Ilyria hotel. There is a press release available outside with further information.

Banking UpdateTwo new banks branches have been licensed: Bank for Private Business in Peja/ Pec and Gjilan/ Gnjilane, and New Bank of Kosovo in Prizren.  Based on the results of the inspections, recommendations were made to the Board to approve the BPB Peja/ Pec branch and the New Bank of Kosovo Prizren branch.  This approval takes the total number of licensed banks operating in Kosovo to 15.

The BPK Governing Board has also granted preliminary approval for a bank license to Credit Bank of Pristina. 

With a number of applications pending, the BPK hopes to see more progress in the banking sector in the coming months, with more banks being licensed and more regional branches being opened. With the Euro changeover at the end of this year, fast approaching, people without bank accounts are being strongly encouraged to open them - to make the changeover as simple as possible. With more banks in more locations this will be easier for everyone.

Seminars for Business

The first of the Department of Trade and Industry's "Business Pack" seminars takes place in Gjilane today, at 2.00pm in the Municipal theatre. The purpose of the seminars, which will take place across Kosovo, is to provide private businesses with practical information concerning: Business Development Services, Commercial Laws, Taxation, Information on the new European Services for Business in Kosovo and the Euro. Media are welcome to attend.

OSCE Spokeswoman Claire Travena

Elections
As you know, the ballot lottery was held this week and the political entities now know what order they will be appearing on the ballot. The ballot form is being printed in England and three members of the Central Election Commission will be going to observe the process next week.

CEC
The CEC meets again tomorrow; it will be discussing the rule on financial disclosure - that's political entities accounting for how much they spend and where their funding comes from. And, importantly for you the media, it will be looking at how the rule on media access will be implemented - this is to make sure that each political entity gets fair and equitable air time on radio and tv and coverage in the print media.

Launch
The election campaign itself starts on Wednesday 3rd October - that's 45 days before the election. That's when all the rules kick in. To mark the launch, events will be held on the evening of the 2nd October in towns across Kosovo, with local political representatives, MEC members and others from the community.

In Pristina political leaders and others have been invited to a launch hosted by Ambassador Everts in the OSCE headquarters. That will be on Tuesday, at 5pm, in the OSCE. We will be putting out a media advisory to remind you next week. You are of course most welcome to come.

And we will still have our regular election briefing at noon on Tuesday.

RTK
As you may have seen the first meeting of the board of directors of Radio Television Kosovo met this week and chose Adam Demaci as its chairperson; Vjosa Dobruna and Blerim Reka were elected vice chairpersons.

CDRC
The Criminal Defence Resource Centre, established by the OSCE, is to be inaugurated this evening. The Criminal Defence Resource Centre aims to help local defence lawyers. It provides legal assistance on how to apply international human rights standards to cases; it also assists in the preparation of cases - including those involving war crimes and ethnic or politically motivated crimes. Its work will protect the rights of the accused at all stages of the criminal process.

The launch - which marks the opening of its offices in Pristina - will be at 5pm tonight. It's being hosted by Ambassador Daan Everts and is at the OSCE headquarters. The media are welcome to attend.

Minorities Report
And finally - the UNHCR and ourselves will be launching the 8th Assessment of the Situation of Minorities in Kosovo. That will be here at noon on Monday, after the regular UN press conference.

QUESTIONS:

Q : Haekkerup decided to ban the three black listed politicians. Why did not ban the parties as well ?

SM : I think because the Central Election Commission approved the parties and the individuals were on the Bush black list.

CT : Susan is quite right. CEC has certified the parties and the candidates has been prohibited for running before the election because the SRSG ordered to the CEC.

Q : Why  not the same for individuals and parties ?

SM : Because the individuals were singled out and named on the Bush black list.

Q : Some with the parties.

SM : I'm not sure, but I think he did not want to paint all members of the party with the same brush and he wanted the CEC to have  the decision on party certification direct with the CEC, but he could not go so as far to allow the three individuals who were specifically named along with their parties to participate.

Q : I got an info that a Kfor helicopter was attacked in northern Mitrovica. Was it a French hely? Who did attack it ?

DS : I am aware that shots were heard in the vicinity of an hely movement last night. A patrol was sent out to investigate. That investigation is ongoing.