UNMIK/PR/440

PRESS RELEASE - 7 December 2000

Council of JIAS Co-heads Meets for the First Time

PRISTINA---Kosovo's Council of JIAS Co-heads held its first meeting today since being constituted two weeks ago.

As envisaged, the meeting was chaired by SRSG Dr. Bernard Kouchner and he briefed the Council, comprising Kosovo and international co-heads of the 20 JIAS departments about political developments in Kosovo and the region, in general. SRSG also briefed the Council about his visits to the conferences in Zagreb, Vienna and Athens in the past two weeks.

The Council will propose, direct and harmonize the development and implementation of policies of the interim administration. It will have a secretariat run by the office of DSRSG Civil Administration in consultation and cooperation with the office of DSRSG Economic Reconstruction. The Council will have three standing committees on economic affairs, general affairs and social affairs. It will also have some ad hoc committees as and when there is need to address particular issues.

The Council seeks to improve coordination and transparency between the departments. As Dr. Kouchner explained, the Council will move Kosovo's state of preparedness forward in anticipation of general elections and subsequent provisional self-government. The Council will meet every two weeks on Thursday.

SRSG expressed deep concern over the escalation of violence in Kosovo after the elections. He said four events---beginning with the murder of the four Ashkalia, the bombing of the house of the FRY representative, the murder of the LDK leader Mr. Xhmajl Mustafa and finally the upsurge of violence in the Presevo Valley---were clear messages to the international community and the moderate Kosovar leadership not to do certain things, for instance open talks with Belgrade. "Those orchestrating this violence were fighting winds of change and they don't understand that it will hurt Kosovo and the growth of democracy here". He also mentioned the march against violence that UNMIK is planning.

SRSG went on to say that the upsurge of violence in the Presevo Valley has the international community very worried, especially now with burgeoning democracy and President Vojislav Kostunica in power in FRY. But "if someone's calculation is that by escalating violence in Presevo, they can involve NATO in a confrontation with Serbia, they are wrong". The international community will not tolerate a revival of KLA style activity. Saying he recognized there were problems for the Albanians in that region, it must be solved politically. 

SRSG directed the departments of transport, health and youth to come up with a strategy within 15 days to reduce vehicular accidents and road deaths in Kosovo.

The council, which will act somewhat like a council of ministers, also had a lively discussion on Budget 2001, on which it was briefed by the co-heads of the Central Fiscal Authority, Mr. Ali Sadriu and Mr. Tony Preston-Stanley. They said some method needs to be devised for revenue sharing between the municipalities and the centre. One suggestion was to look at a traditional tax in the form of property tax. In the area of wages and salaries of public service, if any general increases have to be made, it must be paid for either by permanent increases in taxation, by reducing in the level of staffing or by permanent reduction in other areas of budget. Some co-heads, especially from labour and employment, raised the issue of inadequate allocation for their departments.

Dr. Hannu Vuori, co-head, JIAS Department of Health, briefed the Council about the challenges faced by his department, including in areas such a minorities, size of work force, improvement in physical infrastructure and resource allocation. He said the winterisation of most health care facilities had been completed. The department was trying to create a food safety authority, strengthening water control measures and had last week established a Kosovo HIV Aids committee. The Drug Regulatory Agency would soon start checking which pharmacies can exist and which cannot in Kosovo, he said.