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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what conditions are attached to (a) Government's, (b) the EU's and (c) the Stability Pact's aid for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. [153109] Mr. Vaz: HMG provides technical assistance to support the commitment by the FRY authorities to pluralist democracy and a market economy. We also assist civil society on the understanding that it contributes to service delivery and democracy. Following the fall of Milosevic, the EU provided 200m euro in emergency humanitarian aid to the FRY for fuel, emergency food supplies and medicine and a further 240m euro distributed via the European Reconstruction Agency. No specific conditionality was attached to this aid. The swift EU response was in support of the new democratic government of President Kostunica. FRY will also be eligible for EU aid under the new regional programme CARDS, subject to it meeting the following conditions: respect for democracy, the rule of law, human and minority rights, fundamental freedoms and principles of international law. The Stability Pact co-ordinates aid with a regional dimension in south-east Europe. Broadly, such aid should contribute to the stability of the region, but it is for the donor states and funding institutions to decide whether to attach any conditions to disbursement, including to the FRY. Stability Pact funding via CARDS will therefore be subject to the same EU criteria as outlined.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

153109; 364 c398W

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Democracy International assistance Humanitarian aid Serbia EU aid Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk