- Title: MACEDONIA: BALKAN LEADERS MEET WITH E.U. OFFICIALS IN SKOPJE.
- Date: 23rd February 2001
- Summary: SKOPJE, MACEDONIA (FEBRUARY 23, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/GV: HOTEL ALEXANDAR PALACE, WHERE THE BALKAN SUMMIT IS TAKING PLACE/ SECURITY IN FRONT OF THE HOTEL (2 SHOTS) 0.08 2. MCU: SOUNDBITE (English) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF, JAVIER SOLANA, SPEAKING SAYING: "Nato is going to have a meeting on Tuesday (February 27). The European Union is going to have a meeting on Monday (February 26). We will tackle the question of the Presevo Valley. We are working on it and NATO will take some decision at the beginning of the week. So, I think that we will be able to tackle the situation, to move it into the right direction. But, those episodes should not make us forget that the situation in the region is without any doubt moving. It is moving, it is moving positively, and it is moving in the right direction." 0.50 3. MV: SOLANA WITH INTERVIEWER 0.54 4. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) THE EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF, JAVIER SOLANA, SPEAKING SAYING: "The plan has been presented by the Serbian Government is the plan that we have supported and we are trying to contribute to implement it. Implement it from the point of view of security and implement it from the point of view of the economic aid. That part of Presevo Valley needs help and that kind of help is going to be provided not only by us, but for us by us also." 1.25 5. GV/PAN: SUMMIT 1.33 6. GV: MACEDONIAN DELEGATION AT THE SUMMIT (2 SHOTS) 1.33 7. GV: GREEK AND BOSNIAN DELEGATION AT THE SUMMIT 1.38 9. MV: THE GREEK DELEGATION 1.45 8. GV/PAN: PAN SHOT OF THE ROMANIAN, BULGARIAN AND ALBANIAN DELEGATION 1.54 9. CU: THE ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ION ILIESCU 1.59 10. MV: YUGOSLAV DELEGATION 2.04 11. MV/PAN: JQAVIER SOLANA 2.11 12. MV: YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT VOJISLAV KOSTUNICA (WEARING RED TIE) AND YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER GORAN SVILANOVIC 2.18 13. CU/MV: BOARD READING: SKOPJE SUMMIT/ JOURNALISTS LEAVING THE HALL (2 SHOTS) 2.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th March 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SKOPJE, MACEDONIA
- Country: Macedonia
- Reuters ID: LVA5SU7C3LYC9QFTOIG0R3J2OIX1
- Story Text: Balkan leaders and top European Union officials held a
summit in Skopje, Macedonia on Friday (February 23) to discuss
fresh violence which has rocked Europe's most troubled region
and threatens to spread.
The summit brings together the leaders of Albania,
Bulgaria, Bosnia, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and
Romania with European Union foreign policy chief Javier
Solana, Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten and
Balkan Stability Pact coordinator Bodo Hombach to discuss
violence in Yugoslavia, among other issues.
A spate of killings in Kosovo and armed clashes in
southern Serbia have dented hopes for a quick economic
recovery after a decade of wars, and participants are expected
to urge the West to act more resolutely to stop the violence.
About 30 people have died in violent incidents dating back
more than a year in the Presevo Valley region, where ethnic
Albanian rebels and Serb security forces have repeatedly
clashed.
Ethnic Albanian UCPMBI (Liberation Army of Presevo,
Medvedja and Bujanovac) rebels in Serbia's Presevo Valley say
they are fighting Serbian repression and have so far ignored
appeals from NATO to lay down their arms.
In Skopje on Friday, European Union foreign policy chief
Javier Solana said Nato and the European Union would be
holding meetings to "tackle the question of the Presevo
Valley". He stressed that the incidence of violence "should
not make us forget that the situation in the region is without
any doubt moving. It is moving, it is moving positively and it
is moving in the right direction."
EU foreign ministers are due to meet on Monday and NATO
foreign ministers, including new U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell, on Tuesday to discuss a wide range of issues.
Greece, the only member of both the EU and NATO in the
region, is to present a plan calling for a stronger presence
of the EU's Monitoring Mission in the Presevo Valley.
Solana also reiterated the EU and NATO support for a plan
presented by the Serbian government to put an end to ethnic
violence in the Presevo Valley. "We are trying to contribute
to implement this plan," he said.
On Thursday (February 22), Yugoslavia's new reformist
leadership said it would draft its own plan to bring peace to
the troubled province of Kosovo.
The government's statement, quoted by the Tanjug state
news agency, described as "inefficient" the NATO-led KFOR
peacekeeping force and the U.N. Mission in Kosovo running the
province under a U.N. resolution that ended NATO's 1999
bombing and Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority.
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