Press Conference, 15 February 2002

SRSG Michael Steiner
PDSRSG Charles Brayshaw
UNMIK Spokesman Simon Haselock

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock

Ladies and Gentleman it is my great pleasure to welcome the new SRSG Mr. Steiner to speak to you this morning. He will make a few opening remarks and then we are a bit pressed for time but we will have a short period of questions. But you have to understand that I might have to cut you off in the middle of your prime because we have to go on and do something else. So thank you very much. Mr. Steiner.

SRSG Michael Steiner

Thank you very much Simon. Even if you think it is a platitude but I am really happy to be here. It started already very intensively off yesterday. Let me just mention one point in the beginning and that is about Charles Brayshaw. I think he has done a remarkable job during the last weeks and months. It was difficult for obvious reasons and I want you to know that we will be interchangeable. So if he talks, he talks for me, if I talk, I talk for him and everybody should know here that we will be a very close team in respect to the workload ahead.

Let me just mention a number of points. I have been in New York the week before and what I detected in New York is that the Secretary General and his staff are very supportive of what we are doing so I think we have the support also of the international community if we are able to produce results.

By the way I had a very nice dinner yesterday evening in Tiffanies, so all I've heard about the living conditions was very much relativeted yesterday evening to see that there is food here and it is not bad, so the preconditions are without any question at hand.

Today we will have some more briefings. Yesterday we already had the first meeting of the senior staff. Today we had another one this morning which included the Regional Administrators. Tonight I will see General Valentin because of course we intend to have very close co-operation with KFOR continued.

Tomorrow will be the first meetings with the main political leaders and I will have to see what they have to tell me, how they evaluate the situation. I must stress and I ask for your understanding that I am at the moment more into listening mode. I think that is only fair that I don't come in with ready made concepts but just to listen to the elected leaders but most and foremost to listen to what the people here, the Kosovars have to say and what their expectations are.

But not withstanding this listening mode I'd like to stress some points.

First point would be under the headline of good governance. There is no functioning society, and you will find nowhere in Europe a functioning society without stable functioning government. And we had here elections as you know. I do not want to over-dramatise the fact that time has elapsed between the elections and the nomination of the government which is still outstanding.

This happens also in other places in Europe but I think it is now becoming high time for the parties to get their act together also in respect I think of those who have been called to vote for them, to participate in the elections. The leaders must know it is their responsibility. I will listen now as I told you and I will be ready to help but in the end the decision has to be taken by those who have been elected.

Another point I'd like to stress is the Rule of Law. What it is about is that we want the rule of law instead of the rule of the jungle. We want to build here a civil society after the model we see everywhere in the rest of Europe and specifically in the EU. And when I come to today's demonstrations - nobody denies, of course, the right to peaceful demonstrations but we deny the right to violence.

And I must say that the guilt or the innocence of someone should be established in the courts and cannot be established on the streets. I must be very clear and frank on this issue. There is a choice to be made. If one wants to join the club of European democracies one has to accept the fundamental rules. And the part of the fundamental rules is the rule of law. And if you have a procedure which is absolutely correct, a legal procedure, then of course we need to follow this rule and someone who wants us to act differently in realty says that he does not want Kosovo to join the European democracies. There we must be very clear; there is no room for manoeuvre here, there is no room for bargaining here, we have to follow the rules and I think people have to make up their minds where they want to go in this area.

Third point I want to mention is the economy which is of course linked to the big problem of jobs here in Kosovo. My guess is that one of the immediate challenges we will have to face despite all the difficulties is to get the privatisation going because that is the precondition also for getting investments. We will establish here, internally first, some idea how we can get this implemented and make proposals then also to New York and to the Security Council.

Another point, very important is the issue of returns. I think it is vital that there be a safe home for all Kosovo residents. I think we all need to work together for Kosovo to become safe place for all Kosovars. Let me also mention that today we have the anniversary of the Nis express bombing. This is just a point which proves it is so important that we don not have simply lip services to multi-ethnicity, we have to have it in practice and we need to have words followed by action.

Finally, let me state that the idea from me in these first days is to go around, not only in Pristina but also in the rest of Kosovo and talk to people and find out what they aspirations are and how they evaluate the situation and only then I would like to be more concrete. Let me just say that I know there are enormous problems ahead of us but the important thing is that things go in the right direction. I think this is exactly happening, because if you compare the situation today with the situation one year ago or two years ago, let alone three years ago then you see there is progress and I think there is despite all the difficulties which we all know no reason to be pessimistic.

Thank you.

Questions:

Q: I have two questions for Mr. Steiner. My name is Bojan Bozovic, BBC correspondent. Mr. Steiner, can you tell if Mr. Kostunica, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia sent you some letter with couple of requests such as protect Kosovo Serbs in Strpce municipality and Mitrovica with two assembly. And my second question the Kosovo Serb expect better security conditions. Thank you.

SRSG: Yes I received a letter from President Kostunica congratulating me here on the first day in Kosovo. I have to look into the details and discuss the content first with my collaborators but it was a friendly and nice letter which I received yesterday evening shortly after arriving here. When you mention the security of the Serbs here in Kosovo, of course this is a big issue and that is of course one of the benchmarks, as you know, for the international community in judging the progress here in Kosovo. My feeling is that very broadly speaking the security gets better. Of course there is much more to do. But please allow me, as tonight I will have the first encounter with COMKFOR, that I first talk to the colleagues before I get into details there.

Q: Arben, BBC. Mr. Steiner…

SRSG: You are BBC too?

Q: Yes, Albanian section.

SRSG: Strong showing.

Q: Mr. Steiner we do see these days that there is deadlock on negotiations, we do see that there is possibility of failure of the negotiations between Albanian political leaders, so what decision, what kind of resolution have you brought with you from Germany here in Kosovo about the institutions, especially about the government? The second question is what is the difference between Mr. Steiner and other SRSGs?

SRSG: To the first question I will not tell you the answer. It would be absurd because if I say that, out of the respect for the election results, out of respect for people here, I first have to listen to them. It would be absurd if I now come in and say that is how it has to be done and you just follow it. That is not the issue. What I think we have to do is to have a certain phase where we all talk together. But this phase can not be too long, you are absolutely right. Then I think in the interest of Kosovo we must come to a conclusion but it is wrong now to outline my thinking. Differences vis-à-vis my predecessors. I would think there are different situations. My predecessors have been confronted with different stages in the developments here in Kosovo. I think it is fair to say that Bernard Kouchner had to tackle an emergency situation. If you remember it was humanitarian aid, it was the immediate setting up of the international presence which was at state at that time. If you look at the period with Hans Haekkerup, there it was some designing question, the Constitutional Framework, or the elections, administrative issues. I think we are moving now in a different phase. Hopefully we can start with that rather soon, and that is the transfer of authority from UNMIK, from the intentional community to those who have been elected once they are ready to form a government. That is the problem we have, of course, as you know here in Kosovo that this process is blocked by the fact that we still don't have a government that is why it is also important that we get it so that we can hand over the authorities which were so far with the international community. Of course this has to be done step by step. This can not be done immediately. Secondly I think we all have to expect the new institutions to make mistakes. Of course they will make mistakes. How can they do it differently? You are not born as masters, so you have to learn it. But I think we should also take certain risks. We should not be too cautious in handing over the authorities in areas which are not pertaining to the residual competencies of UNMIK. And on top of that I think we need now to broaden our view. We should not only look to Kosovo, we need to look to the neighbourhood. It is important for us here in Kosovo what happens in Macedonia, it is important what happens in Montenegro or what happens in Belgrade. So I think it is now time, if I compare this different stages: emergency, administration designing and now transfer also to look at the broader region because I think we should be involved in these issues because they directly affect us. It is also important for us what happens in Belgrade. Of course it is important. And therefore as we are not living here on an island we need to, as I said, broaden our view and have as many contacts as we can with the immediate neighbourhood.

Q: Jelena Bjelica, Reporter weekly from Belgrade. How are you planning to convince Kosovo Albanians that they should be interested in what is happening in Belgrade, as they had no interest in what was happening in Belgrade in the past two years?

SRSG: I am not so sure that they have no interest whatsoever. I think probably it is normal that after traumatic events as we had them here in 1999 that first you are looking at your own situation, you are looking to your security situation, to your economic perspectives, this is absolutely normal. But I think also that the Kosovars know that what happens on the other side of the boundaries or the borders is important and it affects them. Just look at traffic. Traffic just proves you the case that you are not living on an island. You have to be in contact with your neighbourhood. Or look at energy. I mean there are many fields. We are living in 21st century and that means that you can not achieve your goals and you can not serve your people if you are only looking inside. You have to look outside, you have to be in contact. After all the overall aim is that one day, it will be a long way, it will be a stony way, but one day also Kosovo will be part of the European established institutions so in order to that you of course need to know what is happening in the neighbourhood.

Q: Mr. Steiner, what about Kosovo and the Stability Pact. Do you want the new government to complete the partnership agreement with the European Union?

SRSG: I have met Mr. Petrich and we have discussed that and I think it makes sense that we also mobilise the possibilities of the Stability Pact. Of course we all have competencies, and these competencies have to be respected but I think that also Kosovo needs to have a place within Stability Pact and we agreed, Mr. Petrich and me, that we need to follow this up and operationalise this co-operation. Please excuse me for this, I hope he is not angry with me. Of course I meant Mr. Busek. By the way Mr. Petrich I will meet also in the near future. We have a good relationship; we know each other since long time. But of course I meant Mr. Busek, whom I meet in Brussels two weeks ago.

Thank you very much.