MEPs this month called on the international community to send a multinational force to Kosovo with a view to halting further violence. The force would be put together by international organisations including the UN, the EU and the Western European Union. MEPs were appalled at the carnage; the action of the Serbian police was roundly condemned. Commission and Council were criticised for their slow response.
The EU did not even have a special envoy in the region, complained Johannes Swoboda (A, PES); in contrast, the USA was actively trying to defuse the crisis. Council President-in-Office Douglas Henderson said that British Minister Tony Lloyd was visiting the region; UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook had told Yugoslav leaders, including President Milosevic, of the EU's concern. Mr Henderson emphasised that the EU did not support independence for Kosovo, but rather regional autonomy.
Unfortunately, the recent crackdown by the Serbian police had undermined moderates on both sides. EU foreign ministers had already issued a statement calling on both sides to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the dispute. If this does not happen, they would come forward with other measures.
The Liberal Group Leader Gijs de Vries (Nl, ELDR) called for strong action, arguing that President Milosevic responded only to the threat of force. A military response was therefore needed. He has written to UK Foreign Minister Robin Cook, pointing out that in 1989 the constitutional rights of the Albanian majority in the province were abolished by the Yugoslav Government, and that since then the human rights of the bulk of the population have been increasingly denied.
MEPs were also worried that the conflict would spread and affect neighbouring countries in the Balkans. That is why they want the UN to maintain a military presence in Macedonia.
Parliament also wants the Yugoslav authorities to allow aid organisations and international observers to go to places where violence has occurred, to make a full investigation which could lead to action before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
In fact, the unfolding violence in Kosovo, following on from the civil war atrocities in Bosnia, led MEPs to call for a substantial increase in the powers of the International Criminal Court. Parliament wants the prosecutor to be able to initiate investigations with unhindered access to witnesses, and for the court's jurisdiction to be extended to cover genocide and war crimes. The role of the Court is at present under discussion in the United Nations.