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Foreign Affairs and Defence

I am delighted to participate in the debate, and I have heard some excellent speeches. In particular, my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) made an admirable maiden speech. We heard much in the Queen’s Speech about the forthcoming presidency of the EU. As I am sure many hon. Members know, I take a great interest in the region of the Balkans. I want to ensure that the Government realise that that part of the world must be taken seriously in the coming months and during the presidency. Let me start by considering the position with regard to Serbia. I might find myself a little lonely in this Parliament, having lost a good ally in the former Member for Halifax, Mrs. Alice Mahon. Although we were diametrically opposed on many issues, we both found ourselves speaking up for that part of the world. I ask any new Members who are interested to put their applications on a postcard to me. We are always keen to have new members of the all-party groups on those areas. The problem with Serbia is that it has largely been ignored. After the bombing, we left the area and hoped that it would get better on its own. Unfortunately, that does not happen unless the EU puts action in place of words. There are many things that we can do, but the most important is to help the economy. The economy in Serbia is in a pretty poor state. Bad economic conditions inevitably lead to problems with dissatisfied populations. Over the past few years we have seen increasing radicalism and national identities coming to the fore, not necessarily in the most positive way. Unemployment is very high, too. Ministers and Conservative spokesmen on international development have talked a lot about helping other countries, mainly with regard to Africa and Asia—but, incredibly, there are very serious problems in our own continent of Europe. In Serbia and elsewhere in the region, there are refugee camps for internally displaced people, which I have visited. That fact has been largely forgotten. We should bear in mind the fact that in years to come, it will be the EU that helps to solve the problems and heal the scars in that area—but that is some way off. There are defence experts present who will probably be able to enlighten me about the current situation in Kosovo in their winding-up speeches, but from what I understand, it is far from good. A great deal of effort has been made, but it seems that there is an independent state—whether run by the EU or by NATO. It is because the solution to the problem is so difficult to find that nobody really wants to address the matter. I cannot say that I blame the Government; it is a huge problem—but it must be solved. Some of us said at the time of the intervention that the current situation was inevitable. Everybody recognised at the time that what was done in Kosovo and Serbia—Yugoslavia, as it then was—was contrary to international law, but nobody kicked up too much of a fuss. In the light of the latter deployment in Iraq, I find it ironic that the Liberal Democrats, who have been keen on saying how they opposed war in Iraq—and they certainly did—were at the forefront of wanting to bomb the hell out of Serbia.