EC/developing countries: rehabilitation and reconstruction operations in developing countries

The co-rapporteur, Mrs BALDI (UPE, I), stressed that it was important to pay special attention to rehabilitation and reconstruction operations in southern Africa; she also referred to the three axes on which the medium and long term development actions had to be based, namely mine clearance and the return of refugees and displaced persons; the promotion of local resources by way of training programmes; and the coordination and assessment of the rehabilitation projects. Mrs Bonino stated that the Commission could accept those amendments that related to aid for displaced persons and comitology, apart from those measures that were aimed at publicising the work of the committee, which came under interinstitutional relations. However, the Commissioner could not accept the amendments on southern Africa, since references to a single region could not be justified in regulations of a general nature. Nor could she accept those amendments that made excessive demands on the human and financial resources available to the Commission, nor those that were already an integral part of the common position.