Governments clinch deal with Parliament over aid to Serbia

Date: 26/10/00

By Simon Taylor

GOVERNMENTS and MEPs have settled their differences over how to fund aid for Serbia to support new President Vojislav Kostunica.

The breakthrough has dispelled fears that institutional power struggles could risk the chances of delivering emergency assistance to the population before the onset of winter.

MEPs from the Parlia-ment's powerful budget committee, officials from national finance ministry officials and European Commission representatives have agreed that 180 million euro of the 200 million euro needed to help the population through the winter months should come from an emergency reserve in the 2000 budget.

The EU's humanitarian aid programme ECHO will provide another 18 million euro, with the final 2 million euro coming from Union funds previously earmarked for the Balkans.

The money will be used to provide heating oil for the country, reconnect power supplies and repair the generators damaged by last year's NATO airstrikes, and buy medical supplies.

EU governments are expected to approve the aid formally by a special accelerated procedure this week, following Kostunica's warnings at the Biarritz summit that humanitarian aid was a "priority" to get his people through the winter.

MEPs and finance ministry officials have also agreed on how to provide longer-term reconstruction aid. The EU executive had indicated that Serbia will need 200-400 million euro in assistance next year and member states have agreed to abide recommendations made by World Bank and Commission experts.

German Socialist MEP Jutta Haug, the Parliament's rapporteur on the EU's 2001 budget, praised the approach as a marked improvement on member states' stance on aid to Kosovo, where they challenged experts' estimates.

She also highlighted the fact that member states had approved a request by the Parliament to set aside 60 million euro to promote democratisation projects in Serbia and welcomed the assembly budget committee's decision to reject calls for conditions to be attached to the aid deal. These included requiring Kostunica to hand over former leader Slobodan Milosevic to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. "We have to give the Serbs and Serbian democracy air to breathe," she said.

MEPs are maintaining pressure on governments to increase the overall external relations budget for 2001.

Governments and MEPs have settled their differences over how to fund aid for Serbia to support new President Vojislav Kostunica.