UNMIK/PR/1003
Thursday, 3 July 2003

Address by SRSG Michael Steiner to the Security Council

Next week I will leave Kosovo. When I arrived a year and a half ago, there was no government – despite successful general elections. 153 prisoners from the war were still held in Serbia. In the northern part of Mitrovica there was a legal vacuum and turbulence. More members of minority communities were leaving Kosovo than returning. Pristina and Belgrade did not talk.

Since then we have put together a multiethnic government. We brought back the prisoners. Mitrovica is still not a normal European town. But we installed UNMIK administration in the northern part, where there are now regular police patrols. We reversed the negative trend in returns. And both parties have said they are now ready for direct dialogue.

We have moved forward to establish the framework for future progress. This framework is embodied in the eight benchmark standards, covering the cornerstones of any functional democratic society. You have seen the Secretary-General’s latest report, which details Kosovo’s performance against each of the standards.

We have explained and fostered public support for the standards through TV, radio and roundtable discussions throughout Kosovo. UNMIK’s new Strategy Coordinator will present my successor with a plan to further operationalize these eight standards. The EU Commission’s Tracking Mechanism affirms that the standards also pave the road to Europe.

Huge challenges remain. But with a number of new developments that I’ll describe presently, the groundwork for Kosovo’s future progress has now been laid.

Standards

Let us review Kosovo’s progress towards the standards.

Functioning Democratic Institutions: The Provisional Government and Kosovo’s other institutions are not perfect. But they are functioning and they are learning. The Kosovo Serb members participate in the work of the Assembly. Eighteen laws from the Assembly have now been put into force. And we have an orderly process for completing the transfer of non-reserved responsibilities to the government by the end of the year.

At the same time, the provisional institutions continue to push the limits of their competencies. The Assembly doesn’t always respect the rights of minorities. We must, of course, ensure compliance with 1244 and the Constitutional Framework.

Rule of Law: We have built a multi-ethnic judiciary and police force of 5,407 officers from scratch. UNMIK’s police cooperate with their counterparts in Belgrade, Skopje and Tirana.

Our record on crime is already better than many believe. There were about 500 murders between June and December of 1999. About 150 were Serbs. In 2002 the number fell to 68, six of them Serbs.

It was UNMIK who supplied the evidence and witnesses that convicted the German former head of Kosovo’s electricity company, on corruption charges. This demonstrated to people in Kosovo that when we say “zero tolerance for corruption” we mean everyone.

Equipped with new technical and legal instruments to use covert measures, the Organized Crime Bureau has mapped out the structures in Kosovo’s underworld.

The judiciary too has been active against organized crime. Notorious criminals have been convicted and major trials are ongoing. When a high profile Kosovo Albanian was indicted by the ICTY, he publicly declared his readiness to go to the Hague voluntarily.

Without prejudging the outcome, the police are doing all they can to catch those who perpetrated the heinous triple murder of a Serb family in Obilic. All key leaders of Kosovo condemned this crime.

Economy: MostKosovans rank the economy as their number one concern. And they’re right: Unemployment is running at 57%.

But we’ve laid the groundwork for a sustainable economy in the future. The Euro provides for monetary stability. This has been a huge success that allowed us to create an effective banking system. A billion Marks previously saved under mattresses are now saved as 500 million Euro in banks, where they’re available to make loans.

Kosovo has a balanced budget that relies on a functioning revenue collection service. We have a modern legal framework in place to protect investment and foster a market economy with laws on everything from contracts to bankruptcy. Crucially, we have launched the privatization process with the tendering of the first socially-owned enterprises.

But what we need now is investor confidence. This will only come with a functioning society based on the rule of law. This is what the standards are about.
Multi-ethnicity and Returns:To date we have had over 7,000 returns of displaced people. There have been about 1,100 since March this year. Yes, this number is still far too small. But the Framework for Returns, based on a bottom-up approach, is now in place.

Multiethnicity has beengradually improving. Members of minority communities represent 15% of the Kosovo Police Service - which constitutes positive discrimination. In the last graduating class from the police school, half the new officers were Kosovo Serbs. Serbian can be heard in the streets of Pristina and Prizren. On the night of the summer solstice, hundreds of young people from both sides of the river in Mitrovica participated in a Techno party on the town’s famous bridge.

And yet, a lot more work is required for Kosovo to become a truly multi-ethnic society. The slowness of returns and integration remains our most serious shortcoming.

Mr. President,

I’m therefore delighted to inform you about the publishing of an open appeal in Pristina yesterday, signed in the Albanian, Serbian and English languages by all the non-Serb leaders of Kosovo. The appeal urges the refugees and displaced people in Serbia, Montenegro and FYROM to return to Kosovo now. I quote:

“ It is time for you to come home. … We do not ‘invite’ you to come back to your home because Kosovo is your home and you have the right to live here in peace. Kosovo is your home, just as it is our home; we want and work for you to come back and live in peace with us as neighbors, in a spirit of mutual respect. It is truly time to put the past behind us and move on. …

We are ready and willing to provide for your needs in health, public services, and education on an equal basis with all the other people of Kosovo. We cannot offer more than that, but what we are able to offer, we do with sincerity.”

This is exactly the sort of concrete commitment by leaders that we’ve worked for to reassure displaced people.

Kosovo doesn’t belong to Albanians or to Serbs or any other ethnic group – Kosovo belongs to all its people. Internalizing this fact is the key to Kosovo’s future.

Centrifugal Forces

Despite the progress we’ve made, the rhetoric has become more adversarial. Both sides are pre-positioning themselves on future status.

In Pristina, Kosovo Albanians try to infringe on reserved powers. And they continue to push for rapid independence. Belgrade continues to support parallel structures with money hidden under car seats and obstructs freedom of movement by refusing to recognize UN number plates for Kosovo. Some knowingly paint an entirely bleak picture of the realities in Kosovo, effectively discouraging returns.

Leaders on both sides need to foster confidence. If leaders are not leading their constituents forward, they are leading them backward.

For our part, we must stay the course – not despite the criticism coming from both sides, but because of it.

Kosovo’s European Future

By keeping our eyes on the road ahead, we have accomplished many things. But one standard where progress had long eluded us was direct dialogue with Belgrade on practical issues.

Thessaloniki changed that.

I had three goals for the EU-Western Balkans summit in Thessaloniki. One: a further step towards the EU. Two: to bring a multi-ethnic delegation. And three: to put direct dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade on practical issues – the seventh benchmark - on the right road.

So what was achieved?

First, in the words of Commission President Prodi, integration of the Balkans, including Kosovo, in the EU “is now irreversible”. Second, my delegation was multi-ethnic. And third, direct dialogue on practical issues was put on track – the very dialogue requested by the Security Council mission after it visited Kosovo last December. Despite all the rhetoric; the dialogue will come.

Groundwork Laid

What UNMIK has been doing in Kosovo is something new – and we are still learning. Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq all demonstrate how difficult it is to win the peace, to build functioning institutions and to start up the economy. Kosovo has the added burden of its unresolved political status. This is now coming slowly to the fore. No one should be surprised by this.

What is more surprising is how far we’ve come – and from how far people have come to help get us to where we are. Men and women from 119 countries serve in UNMIK. KFOR, whose contribution in providing a safe and secure environment is the essential basis of all our work, itself draws forces from 37 countries. And as the Russian contingent is leaving, I thank them for four years of professional service.

Mr. President,

Kosovo is now moving toward the standards that will define its place in Europe.

Who could have imagined a year and a half ago that the European Union would say that Kosovo is destined to be part of the EU?

Who would have thought that the President, the Prime Minister and the Kosovo Serb Interministerial Coordinator for Returns would have been welcomed together as part of the UNMIK delegation at an EU summit?

Who would have thought that the president of FYROM would invite President Rugova to be part of an UNMIK delegation visiting Skopje?

Who would have thought that we would put Pristina on track for direct dialogue with Belgrade?

Who would have imagined a year and a half ago all the leaders of Kosovo’s majority community formally urging all displaced people to return to Kosovo now?

My successor inherits many challenges. He or she also inherits a team of dedicated and talented people. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to lead this team in such a unique UN mission. And an honor to serve the people of Kosovo. The next SRSG and all the staff of UNMIK will need your continuing support. In the meantime I leave the mission in Charles Brayshaw’s capable hands.

Much remains to be done to complete Kosovo’s transformation into a society where all its people can live in security and dignity. But with the help of thousands of men and women from all communities in Kosovo and from most countries in the world, I leave behind a solid foundation.

From the oppression, humiliation and tragedy of 1999 Kosovo has embarked on the road towards a liberated, functioning, democratic society. Participation for all has not yet been achieved. The dream has not yet been realized. But the groundwork has been laid.