Yugoslavia study given ministerial approval

Date: 05/10/1995

EU foreign ministers traded ideas for the post-war reconstruction of the former Yugoslavia, but made no progress this week other than to give the official go-ahead to member states and the European Commission to study reconstruction plans.

The issues still to be resolved include who will control and finance the programme, who will receive funds and how much, if anything, should be given to Croatia and Serbia and how the operation will be coordinated with NATO.

Ministers held back from drawing any firm conclusions, simply declaring themselves ready “to play an important role in the international effort which will be needed to achieve reconstruction”. They hinted that their caution was motivated in part by a desire to see whether the fragile peace currently being negotiated would hold before going further. “The Council esteems that in any case much needs to be done and the priority is still to accomplish a cease-fire for all Bosnia-Herzegovina,” they said in a statement this week.

The EU's mediator in Bosnia Carl Bildt is asking for a single policy for the region between Slovenia and Greece. But Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek says he envisages tailor-made policies for each of the former Yugoslav states.

Van Den Broek is hoping EU governments will reach agreement on how to proceed by late October so a reconstruction plan can be ready if peace is assured.

He has also repeated earlier pleas for help in funding the programme, saying: “The European Union cannot carry that on its own.” The US, Japan, Russia and Arab states must help, he said. He also called for assistance from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.