31 October 2003 Morning Edition

Kosovo News

· U.N. administrator for Kosovo says security improving (AP)
· Kosovo MPs look to increase powers B92
· Changes to Constitutional Framework only after standards, Krstovic (Tanjug)
· Serbian deputy premier says multi-ethnicity, clearly defined standards necessary for dialogue success (Tanjug)
· It is necessary to impose pressure on those who slow down the dialogue – Todorovic (Tanjug)
· Covic: Standards For Kosovo Should Be Measurable (Beta)

Regional News

· Several Injuries In Clash Between Police And Demonstrators (Beta)
· Serbian Legislature Begins Debate On Confidence Motion (Beta)
· A look at poverty that some eastern Europeans are fleeing (AP)
· COMMENT: Time to be serious about European defense (FT)

U.N. administrator for Kosovo says security improving

By REGAN MORRIS
Associated Press Writer=
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ Security has ``vastly improved'' across
most of Kosovo, but too many people silently tolerate ethnic violence in the U.N.-administered region where almost 60 percent of the people are unemployed, the top U.N. official in Kosovo said.
Harri Holkeri, in a report Thursday to the Security Council after 11 weeks on the job, said ``security and the rule of law remain my highest priority.''
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO since June 1999, following the alliance's bombing campaign that ended the Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Holkeri said a fatal attack on two Serb youths swimming in a stream during the first 30 minutes of his administration ``may well have been intended to be a message for me. However, it only strengthened my resolve to start my mission.''
Four other youths were wounded in that attack, the worst this year against Kosovo's beleaguered Serb minority, which has been targeted by ethnic Albanian revenge attacks since the United Nations took control of the province following the NATO military intervention in 1999.
Holkeri, who has vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, said in his report that investigators have ``run up against a wall of silence, due to fear and intimidation.''
``Far too many people tolerate ethnically based violence,'' he said. ``This must be opposed.''
Unemployment remains at 57 percent and is even higher for women and young people, he said, adding that ``privatization is essential and certainly the only hope in addressing the challenge.''
Security, however, is improving, he said. ``The overall security situation has vastly improved across most of Kosovo, but the dramatic advances being enjoyed by the majority community have not been felt by all,'' he said. ``The rule of law is being openly flouted in many places around Kosovo.''

Kosovo MPs look to increase powers | 11:54 | B92
PRISTINA -- Thursday – Parliament in Kosovo is to debate today a proposal to alter the Constitutional Framework setting out the distribution of power within the province.

The proposal was put forward by the parliament’s Legislative Committee and the Kosovo government, who say that the changes are necessary for the transfer of powers from the United Nations mission to the local institutions to continue.

Kosovo Albanian leaders have become frustrated with the slow transfer of authorities from the province’s UN mission, but for the changes to stand they must be rubber-stamped by the UN Security Council.

Oliver Ivanovic, the Serb member of the Kosovo parliament’s presidency, said the proposal was aimed at providing the province with elements of statehood.

“The Albanian majority has been insisting on this in parliament for some time now, intent on expanding the authorities to include a judiciary, police force, defence and foreign affairs”, he told B92. Ivanovic said that Serb members of parliament would vote against it.

PRISTINA-ASSEMBLY
Changes to Constitutional Framework only after standards, Krstovic
14:53 KOSOVSAK MITROVICA , Oct 30 (Tanjug) - Deputies of the coalition "Return" at a session on Thursday in the Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija objected to the initiative of Albanian deputies for changing the Constitutional Framework, assessing that would not be possible as long as the standards determined by former UNMIK chief Michael Steiner were not in place.
"Return" deputy club chief Dragisa Krstovic said tnat the current Constitutional Framework ensured the normal functioning of interim provincial institutions.
(end)

UN-KOSOVO-SERBIA-DEPUTYPREMIER
Serbian deputy premier says multi-ethnicity, clearly defined standards necessary for dialogue success
20:42 NEW YORK , Oct 30 (Tanjug) - Serbian Deputy Premier and head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo-Metohija Nebojsa Covic said Thursday in a letter to the UN Security Council that Belgrade truly wants the dialogue with Pristina to succeed, but that multi-ethnicity of working groups that will meet in the next phase of the Vienna talks is one of the pre-conditions for this.
The letter, distributed to UN SC members at their meeting Thursday evening by Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) UN Mission chief Dejan Sahovic, underlines that it is also crucial that the standards of a truly multi-ethnic Kosovo-Metohija be clearly and precisely defined.
(end)

PRISTINA-BELGRADE-DIALOGUE
It is necessary to impose pressure on those who slow down the dialogue - Todorovic
14:50 ZVECAN , Oct 30 (Tanjug) - Kosovo Government Coordinator Milorad Todorovic assessed on Thursday that the international community urgently has to impose pressure on those who are slowing down the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina that had opened in Vienna.
"Kosovo Premier Bajram Redzepi is the main obstructor of the dialogue between the Serbian and the Albanian sides," said Todorovic in a live broadcast by the regional TV Most in Zvecan.

Covic: Standards For Kosovo Should Be Measurable

BELGRADE, Oct. 30 (BETA) - Serbian Deputy Premier in charge of Kosovo and Metohija Nebojsa Covic requested the U.N. Security Council to make the standards of democratic society the international community required of Kosovo "precise and measurable."

Covic made this request in his letter to the members of the U.N. Security Council, who are discussing the regular reports of the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and UNMIK Chief Harri Holkeri regarding the state of affairs in Kosovo, in New York.

Covic, who also heads the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo, will not attend the meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Instead, the views of the Belgrade authorities will be presented by the Serbia-Montenegro ambassador to the U.N., Dejan Sahovic.

In his letter, Covic said that "vaguely defined standards will result in various interpretations and will inevitably lead to a false assessment of the situation."

He also said that an assessment on whether the standards had been successfully implemented ought to be made the subject of a consensus and he warned that otherwise "disagreements will lead to new conflicts in the future."

Several Injuries In Clash Between Police And Demonstrators

BELGRADE, Oct. 30 (BETA) - On Oct. 30, the second day of protests of the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia in front of the Serbian Legislature, there was a clash between the police and protesters, resulting in several injuries.

BETA was told at Belgrade's Trauma Center that seven people had been treated for mainly minor injuries, while one woman was kept on in hospital.

The Alliance stated that at least ten workers and one reporter were slightly injured in the clash with the police. It was said that the chairman of the Alliance, Milenko Smiljanic, was among the injured, including the secretary
of the Alliance's council, Zoran Vujovic, and the chairman of the Independent Union of Serbian Metal Workers, Radoje Ciric.

The Alliance is the successor of the former communist trade union organization in Serbia, whose leadership was close to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic throughout his rule, until his political demise in 2000.

The unions are calling for the government to resign, for early elections to be scheduled and that a moratorium be proclaimed on the privatization process.

A debate is under way in the Serbian Legislature on a confidence vote in the government.

Protests in front of the legislature are prohibited during sessions.

On the first day of protests of the Alliance, Oct. 29, when almost 10,000 demonstrators rallied, the police did not prevent them from protesting in front of the legislature, where the debate on the dismissal of of Legislature Speaker Natasa Micic was under way.

On Oct. 30, the police intervened twice against the demonstrators at the protest of the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions.

The first intervention was at about 1:00 p.m., when the police used shields to push back some 2,000 demonstrators away from the legislature building, and the second at about 4:00 p.m., when the demonstrators attempted to break through the police cordon in Kralja Milana Street, where the legislature is located.

While the police were pushing the demonstrators back at around 4:00 p.m., a reporter of BETA saw them trample several people who were later taken away by an ambulance.

This was the police's first anti-riot action in Belgrade since the Milosevic regime was overthrown in Oct. 2000.

However, the number of demonstrators dwindled in the afternoon to several hundred, which, at that time, was equal to the number of police.

The police withdrew from around the legislature at about 5:30 p.m., after the union members dispersed.

The Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia announced another protest for Oct. 31.

Serbian Legislature Begines Debate On Confidence Motion

BELGRADE, Oct. 30 (BETA) - On Oct. 30, the Serbian Legislature began a debate on a confidence vote in the government, initiated by the opposition Serbian Radical Party.

In his address to the house, commenting on the objections presented by the deputy whip of the Serbian Radical Party caucus, Gordana Pop-Lazic, who explained the confidence motion for almost two hours, Serbian Premier Zoran Zivkovic said reforms were "a painful process."

He said the Serbian government had opted for unpopular reforms and that it would continue with them, like every next government would have to. In his words, the reforms could be halted, but this would have catastrophic consequences.

Zivkovic pointed out that the demand of the Association of Independent Trade Unions, for stopping privatization in Serbia, was impossible to fulfill.

Before Zivkovic's speech, Gordana Pop-Lazic said the Serbian government would have to step down because it was not carrying out a reform policy nor democratic changes. She also criticized the government because there was no rule of law or social stability.

In the afternoon, deputies of the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Party of Serbian Unity walked out of the session, in protest over the fact that the government did not withdraw the police from the protest of the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, being held in front of the legislature.

The legislature's Security Committee decided to call for reports from the general inspector of the Serbian Interior Ministry, Srbislav Randjelovic, about the police intervention near the legislature building, and from Belgrade health institutions about the people injured during the police intervention.

The Serbian economy and privatization minister, Aleksandar Vlahovic, told the deputies that the government had noted results in the reform process "which it can be proud of."

At the session, which lasted until 6:00 p.m., deputies of the Serbian Radical Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia, former ruling coalition parties, objected to the fact that Vlahovic attributed poor reform results to the period of their government.

The Serbian Legislature will continue the session on Oct. 31 at 10:00 a.m.

A look at poverty that some eastern Europeans are fleeing

By The Associated Press=
Some facts about eastern European countries:
___
ALBANIA: Unemployment officially 15 percent, unofficially at
least 30 percent. Average monthly income US$185. No official statistics on number of emigrants, but thousands have left since communism ended in 1990.
___ BOSNIA: Unemployment officially 40 percent, unofficially 60 percent. Average monthly income US$240. No statistics on emigration, but estimates run to tens of thousands over recent years.
___ BULGARIA: Unemployment officially 13 percent, unofficially, 20 percent. Average monthly income US$170. Estimated 700,000 left in recent years.
___ CROATIA: Unemployment about 20 percent. Average monthly income US$700. No statistics on emigration, but thousands believed to have gone since 1991.
___ CZECH REPUBLIC: Unemployment 10 percent, pockets of 20 percent or more in rural areas. Average monthly income US$585. No statistics on emigrants; officials estimate 100,000-200,000 live illegally in United States alone.
___ HUNGARY: Unemployment 5.7 percent, substantially higher in rural areas. Average monthly income US$590. No statistics on emigration.
___ MOLDOVA: Unemployment officially 8 percent, unofficially 10 percent. Average monthly income US$60. Estimated 600,000 left in recent years.
___ ROMANIA: Unemployment officially 6.6 percent, unofficially substantially higher. Average monthly income US$140. More than 400,000 emigrants in recent years.
___ SERBIA-MONTENEGRO: Unemployment officially 25 percent, unofficially at least 35 percent. Average monthly income US$180. About 300,000 left in recent years.

COMMENT: Time to be serious about European defence: GERARD ERRERA:
By GERARD ERRERA
Source: Financial Times
Date: October 31, 2003
Edition Name: London Ed1
Section: COMMENT
Page: Page 19
Is the development of European defence the biggest threat ever to the Atlantic alliance, as some have recently suggested?
This is not the first time progress towards European defence has been presented as a danger to Nato. Remember June 1996? That was when, following a proposal by France, Britain and Germany, Nato decided that the Europeans could, when acting collectively, use Nato assets for military operations.
Or December 1998? Then, thanks to an initiative by Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister, France and Britain, with the backing of Germany, took a decisive step at the St Malo summit: they concluded that the European Union "must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises". It was agreed that the EU should be able to act, whether using Nato assets or its own, "outside the Nato framework".
Today the question being debated is a simple one: when conducting autonomous operations outside the Nato framework, would it not make sense for the EU to be able to rely on its own autonomous capabilities to plan and conduct such operations? This is what France and Germany, with Belgium and Luxembourg, proposed at their April 29 summit. It was discussed at the Berlin meeting between Mr Blair, President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schroder on September 20.
In 1996 and 1998, events followed the same pattern: an agreement between France, Germany and Britain developed into an EU-wide consensus; and Washington sternly warned the three countries that they were jeopardising the very existence of the Atlantic alliance. Today, an EU consensus remains our goal; and the reaction from Washington has been much the same.
But what followed the 1996 and 1998 initiatives was not Nato's demise but its revitalisation. After 1996, Nato made a success of its first big peacekeeping operation in the Balkans, began a new relationship with Russia and forged closer links with the wider Europe. After 1998, Nato fought a successful campaign in Kosovo and welcomed new members. Today, efforts to provide European defence with new autonomous capabilities coincide with the birth of a Nato Rapid Reaction Force.
From all this, it is clear that there is no question of an "EU army" (nor, for that matter, a Nato army). What we have is a shared will among European countries to put their capabilities at the EU's disposal whenever necessary so that it can fulfil its international responsibilities and defend its interests. The aim is not to compete with Nato but to make the EU a serious, respected partner internationally. European defence is the best way to give the lie to the theories of those who want to condemn Europe to be forever weak. The biggest threat to the alliance is not the progress of European defence or, more generally, a strong, united Europe. What would really threaten its future would be a weak, divided Europe, abdicating its responsibilities.
The alliance rests on trust. Nato has survived the disappearance of the main cause for its creation - the Soviet threat - precisely because of a shared commitment on both sides of the Atlantic to maintain a strong link. None of the Europeans wants to jettison this commitment. They said as much by invoking, for the first time in Nato's history, the Treaty's mutual defence clause in support of the US after it was attacked on September 11 2001. All Europeans continue to see Nato as the foundation of our collective defence.
The tragedy of September 11 and the common threats that we all face should spur us to mobilise the vast reserves of solidarity between the two shores of the Atlantic and to build, at last, the enduring and balanced relationship between the US and Europe for which we have been striving for 50 years.
European defence will progress because it is a necessity for everyone who wants a strong Europe and a lasting alliance. All the allies should be able to rally round this objective.
In his book The Troubled Partnership, Henry Kissinger wrote: "What is needed is a recognition that it is in the long-term interest of the United States to share responsibilities even more than burdens . . . The assertions of European self-will which we find so irritating today can be the growing pains of a new and healthier relationship which ultimately is important for us as well." This was written 38 years ago. It is still valid.
The writer, France's ambassador to the UK, was a negotiator of the St Malo declaration