Row delays Kosovo rebuild

Exclusive by Michael Gordon



UK firms looking for work in Kosovo will have a lengthy wait because of the inability of European Union foreign ministers to agree where the agency that will co-ordinate reconstruction should be based.

Greece had been promised that the agency would be based in Thessaloniki, rather than in the Kosovan capital of Pristina. Greece argued that the agency should be based outside Kosovo as a signal that the rebuilding would embrace the wider Balkans, including Serbia when President Slobodan Milosevic leaves office.

That deal provoked outrage as European Commissioners objected to the waste of money involved in siting an agency 200km from the area of construction.

A compromise was then struck whereby a "general services administration" will be set up in Thessaloniki, and an "operational centre" will be set up in Pristina.

A spokesman for the European Commission told CJ: "Any decision to extend the agencies activities to parts of the former Yugoslav republic other than Kosovo will be taken by the council on proposals from the commission. The agency may establish other operational systems.

"The council has urged the European Parliament to give its opinion in a session between 13-17 September. But, these agencies certainly want be operational before the autumn."

A further dispute has broken out over a summit, due to take place in Sarajevo this Friday (30 July) and designed to launch reconstruction efforts. Finland, which has taken over the EU presidency, has refused to foot the bill for the meeting, arguing that its predecessors, the Germans, bequeathed it.