WRITTEN QUESTION No. 432/98 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Commission. Guarantees in the Serbian Basic Law concerning the rights of minorities in Kosovo
C 223/172 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 98 Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (26 March 1998) The Commission can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the press releases to which the Honourable Members refer. The respect of human rights and the assurance of fundamental freedoms within their justice system is a matter of national competence for each Member State. The Commission does not have the competence to judge whether measures arising from a criminal investigation taken by a Member State are justified or commensurate with the suspected offence. (98/C 223/224) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0432/98 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Commission (24 February 1998) Subject: Guarantees in the Serbian Basic Law concerning the rights of minorities in Kosovo The situation in the Serbian province of Kosovo, where the majority of the people are ethnic Albanians, is rapidly deteriorating. Hardly a day goes by without someone being killed or injured on both sides. The gulf between Serbiaís political leaders, who regard Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia, and the leaders of the Albanian population, who want to make Kosovo an independent republic, seems unbridgeable. Like the other actors on the international scene, the Commission has several times stated that a solution to the problem must be sought within the borders of Serbia or Yugoslavia, even if it means conferring a great measure of autonomy on the Albanians. The Serbian authorities state that the Serbian Basic Law grants all minorities, including the Albanians, a measure of autonomy which meets all internationally accepted standards on the position of minorities. Can the Commission state to what extent the guarantees offered by the Serbian Basic Law do in fact meet international standards? If these guarantees do not meet international standards, can the Commission state which points of the Serbian Basic Law need to be adapted? If they do, can the Commission state to what extent the basic law is being implemented by the Serbian authorities? Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (25 March 1998) The concept of autonomy under the 1990 constitution of the Republic of Serbia is very limited, in particular as all economic decisions are centralised. Kosovo Albanians have lost all of the legislative and executive authority which they had gained under the 1974 federal construction. Human and minority rights in Kosovo, as elsewhere in Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, are in theory guaranteed to a high level by the 1990 constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the 1992 constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Furthermore, Article 16 of the 1992 constitution obliges the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to comply with the various international treaties and conventions to which it is party (including most of the relevant international covenants on human rights). These rights are not, however, implemented by the Serbian authorities. One example would be the law on special property transactions, which prevents Kosovo Albanians from purchasing real estate from Serbian owners › in contradiction with the right to inviolable property and the decrees on the equality of social and private property