Auditors cast doubt on aid for Kosovo

Date: 15/11/01

By David Cronin

THE European Court of Auditors has questioned whether EU investments in Kosovo could be deemed sustainable, given the lack of a long-term strategy for assisting the war-ravaged province.

A new report from the auditors expresses satisfaction with how the Greek-based European Agency for Reconstruction had managed a budget for Kosovo worth €266 million last year. But it said the agency - founded after the 1999 NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia - needed to "reorient its efforts from emergency aid towards normal development aid".

Questions such as whether Kosovo's energy sector will one day be able to function without donor assistance, and how newly constructed roads will be maintained need to be addressed, the EU's financial watchdog declared.

A spokesman for the European Agency said: "Most of the things we've done in Kosovo and Serbia have been of an emergency nature and there couldn't be a long-term plan in an emergency situation. You've got to get the electricity supply reconnected and deliver clean water. That's been job number one."

The European Court of Auditors has questioned whether EU investments in Kosovo could be deemed sustainable, given the lack of a long-term strategy for assisting the war-ravaged province.