Briefing Notes, 14 January 2003

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock
KFOR Spokesperson
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell
OSCE Spokesperson
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock

The first thing I am going to talk about, predictably, is the question of income tax. And I want to give you some background and some of the reality of this issue. The background is that the rates for 2003 were included in the original regulation which was signed on the 20th February 2000 so you are talking about nearly a year ago so why this should be a sudden surprise I don’t understand, for the Government as it now stabs existed but the income tax rates along with all matters in the 2002 budget were the subject of special consultations with the political parties in the interim period between the elections and formation of the Government and that is extremely important. So, first of all before the Government was formed this issue was discussed with the political parties. The phasing in of the income tax was deliberate birth to allow people to get used to it, and to allow time to build up a collection capacity. And the doubling of this tax system for 2003 was specifically mentioned in the publicity of the regulation at the beginning of the last year. But far more important, and this is significant, I think, is the fact that the doubling for 2003 was explicitly mentioned in the paper that was submitted jointly to the European Fiscal Council on the 14th of October by the minister of finance himself and the CFA. That paper was formally approved by the European Fiscal Council, by the Economic Council, the Prime Minster and the Minister of Finance and the president of the Assembly were all present at that meeting, so I was somewhat surprised to note the tenor of the reporting and a certain quotes to certain individuals about this issue in the press this morning. In essence this is something that has been fully consulted, that has had the understanding and discussion and consultation with all relevant players including those in the Government since the drafting of the regulation at the end of 2001 and its publication in 2002. There is also some misunderstanding about the way that tax affects families. Somebody was suggesting to me an interpretation this morning that if there is 5 people in the family and each of those people are earning salary, which is taxable, and they pay 10 percent on their salary that the overall impact upon families income is 50 percent. 10 % income tax rates are 10 % percent income tax rates regardless of how many people are paying. And not only that, 10 % income tax rates regardless of the level of salary are an extremely low level of tax, as is indeed 20 % of the higher rate. And one should not forget that the construction and reconstruction and development of Kosovo that has taken place since 1999 has been done on the backs of European and North American tax payers who have paid their taxes for the investment that has gone into Kosovo and the point is that the development of a self-sustaining society means that people will have to pay tax for services. The implication, commensurate with the reduction of tax, is that the budget has to be reduced. If people aren’t prepared, or cannot pay or it is too much of a burden to pay that tax, or people think it is, responsibility therefore means that the budget should be reduced accordingly. That means if you cannot pay the tax you need to reduce the expectations that come from public service payments and this is the reality that the people of Kosovo need to understand.

And it can be seen across a broad brush of things not least of which the subject of the electricity. If you want electricity you need to pay for it. If you get a bill for electricity you need to pay it. In that way there will be sufficient funds in the electricity budget to improve the electricity service and make sure when there is a problem with the generation system like we have from time to time that we can buy it on the international market.

As you can imagine from the way I have described this we feel particularly sensitive to this issue. I will cover other points….

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 15th of January, the SRSG will meet with the Greek Foreign minister, Mr. Papandreou, and it is planned to have a Press conference immediately afterwards in the 1st floor auditorium. As you know, Greece is currently holding the presidency of the EU.

I would also like to give you an update on some court cases. I understand that the Supreme Court recently, two international judges and one national judge reduced the sentence in the Bartezco bombing trial from 23 to 20 years.

In the Sali Veseli trial, what I think is colloquially know as Commander Drini, has, as I understand restarted yesterday in Prizren. And I think if you have any formal questions as to why that happened, the best is to give those to the Judicial Department.

And the third one is the 3. Atanga trial. This is the trail of a Ghanaian policeman who is accused of the deaths of two Kosovo Albanians in a traffic accident. This is scheduled now for January 20, and should last for a couple of days.

And finally Commander Remi's trial that was originally scheduled for 27 January is now postponed to mid February. And I understand this suspension is at the request of his defence counsellor who is putting together some additional investigative information, so it is been postponed at the request of the defence.

Thank you very much.

UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell

Murders

No homicides were recorded during this past week.

Explosion

On 11/01/03 an explosion destroyed the personal vehicle of a KPS police officer. The vehicle was parked near his home in Kacanik. The motive is uncertain and no suspects have been identified.

Arsons

On 09/01/03 in two villages in Pec Region, seven (7) Arsons occurred overnight. The targets of the Arsons were haystacks, wood supplies, a cowshed, and a tractor. The motive appears to involve a dispute, but ethnic conflict is not involved as both villages are inhabited by ethnic Albanians.

Please contact the appropriate Regional Press Officer for additional information concerning these incidents.

Responsibility

Since the triple murder in Peja on January 4th, we have observed both despair and self-condemnation among many ordinary people in reaction to the crime. It seems they feel the guilt is shared by all and that Kosovo society is somehow defective. Let me be clear: The responsibility for this crime lies with the people who committed it, and with those witnesses who have significant information which they are not sharing with the police.

Violent crime again decreased in Kosovo during 2002 and, with the support of the public, the police are solving most of them. This is something the people of Kosovo should be proud of and feel responsibility for, not the actions of brutal criminals.

EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

Energy

Three of the A units are currently working (A1, 4, 5) plus the HPP Gazivode together producing roughly 300 Mw. Unit B2 is out of the system due to a leak in the boiler and is expected to be returned later today.

The load shedding schedule is three hours ON and three hours OFF and is applied only when necessary.