Aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FR Yugoslavia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia FYROM

In adopting the report by Mr Konrad SCHWAIGER (EPP, D) on aid to the former Yugoslavia, Parliament considered that the amendments proposed by the Commission were along the right lines but it deplored the gap which still remained between the amount of appropriations made available to the various republics derived from that country and the inadequacy of implementation. It considered that the lack of success of this programme was due to the legislative framework, which it considered to be inadequate, and a lack of visibility for the Union as donor. It therefore called for a marked improvement in the coordination of aid, proposing that: - the management committee should be involved in financing decisions only for projects with funding of ECU 10 million and not ECU 5 million; - Commission staff in Sarajevo should be increased; - 10% of funding should be earmarked for providing adequate staffing; - the implementation, management and coordination of all projects supported by the Commission in collaboration with the Member States in Bosnia-Herzegovina should be entrusted to a special delegate of the Union. This person would have special powers and would assume responsibility locally for all EU activities, would enjoy largely autonomous powers to act and take decisions and would be assisted by a strong management and monitoring team (technical assistance unit). In Bosnia, Parliament also considered that schemes put forward by the municipalities should be decided on with the High Representative of this region when he performed Central Government functions. The Commission should provide information regularly (at a monthly Conference) to the representatives of the Member States on all proposed projects in that country costed at between ECU 2 and 10 million. �