----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 6:39 PM Subject: Euro diplomacy in the Balkans [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Dial 800-555-TELL. Instant updates - One free call. Sports, stocks, driving directions...& much more! http://on.linkexchange.com/?ATID=27&AID=2142 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Want to send this story to another AOL member? Click on the heart at the top of this window. INTERVIEW-EU plans $200 mln programme for Serbia in 2001 By Fredrik Dahl BELGRADE, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The European Commission is planning a 220 million euro ($206 million) programme in 2001 to support reform efforts in impoverished Serbia following the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic, a Balkan-based EU official said. Hugues Mingarelli, director of the European Agency for Reconstruction, said these budgeted funds were in addition to 200 million euros in emergency aid agreed by the European Union last year to help the country cope with the cold winter months. This year's programme of the EU's executive commission, not yet finalised, is expected to focus more on structural issues and to include assistance in areas such as the crucial energy and agriculture sectors, neglected during the Milosevic era. "A lot has to be done, obviously," Mingarelli, whose office will be implementing the programme, told Reuters in an interview this week in the agency's new Belgrade premises. "They (the Yugoslav authorities) have to reform their public administration, they have to create the condition for development of enterprises, they have to reform public utilities, some basic infrastructure has to be modernised." But Mingarelli also expressed optimism about the work ahead, stressing that Serbia had many assets, especially its people. "We are struck by the fact that we meet skilled people. Most of them are very well prepared, they are really willing to embark on a path of economic reform, so we have all reasons to be optimistic about our future cooperation with them," he said. The new Belgrade leadership has pledged to introduce speedy economic reforms, saying it needs international aid to succeed. SIX-YEAR PACKAGE In November the EU approved a package of financial aid for the western Balkans, including Yugoslavia, worth 4.6 billion euros over a six-year period in a bid to cement democracy in Europe's most turbulent region. Last year, the 15-nation Union expanded the mandate of the reconstruction agency, in charge of implementing EU-funded programmes in internationally-run Kosovo, to cover also Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia's two remaining republics. Like other international bodies and donors, it will seek to assist the country's new reformist rulers rebuild an economy shattered after a decade of Balkan wars, economic mismanagement and international isolation. The reconstruction agency is especially looking at the needs of assistance in the energy and farming sectors, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, in pharmaceutical production and in helping with policy advice. "In the energy sector a lot has to be done as a result of 10 years of isolation. The infrastructure in the energy sector has not been properly maintained, there has been very little investment," he said. 05:21 01-24-01 ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
