Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
KOSOVO: EU AND STABILITY PACT
1. This memorandum responds to the questions
in Daniel Thornton's letter of 4 April.
LISBON EUROPEAN
COUNCIL
2. I enclose a copy of the final version
of the report by Javier Solana and Chris Patten to the Lisbon
European Council, along with a copy of the relevant section of
the Council's Conclusions.
STABILITY PACT
FINANCING CONFERENCE
3. The Committee asked for information on
the decisions taken at the Stability Pact Regional Funding Conference
in Brussels, on 29-30 March, including any new money pledged by
donors. I enclose a copy of the Chairmen's Conclusions.
4. The Regional Funding Conference had sought
1.8 billion euro in funding for a package of quick-start projects
under the Stability Pact. In the event, more than 2.4 billion
euro was pledged at the Conference. Keith Vaz announced that the
UK would be contributing over £100 million to the Balkans
over the next three years. The Pact Co-ordinator has not yet been
able to make available a detailed break-down of commitments,eg
identifying those which represent "new money".
5. Officials are taking forward analysis
of the project proposals. Donors' meetings were held on 18 and
19 April to discuss allocation of funds to particular "quick-start"
projects. The results of these meetings are being assessed by
the Co-ordinator's office. A further meeting is planned for early
May, at which we hope that the International Financial Institutions
and the countries of the region can agree on allocations of funding
to regional infrastructure projects.
EU AID TO
THE WESTERN
BALKANS
6. The Committee asked for details of the
Government's attitude towards Chris Patten's proposal for 5.5
billion euro in aid to the Western Balkans.
7. The Government agrees that reconstruction
in the countries of the Western Balkans represents a significant
challenge. The Government has broadly supported the proposal for
continuing EU assistance on a major scale for 2000-2006. We shall
obviously need more detail of the Commission's proposals for assistance
to the region and will examine them carefully. The Government
has made clear that there should be no question of breaching the
financial perspective for the EU set by the Berlin European Council,
but in our view there is adequate room for flexibility within
the present external spending of the EU to meet a substantial
programme of assistance for the Balkans.
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