HC Deb 21 February 2000 vol 344 cc837-8W
Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what factors underlay his proposal for a temporary suspension of the ban on flights by European carriers into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. [110491]

Mr. Vaz

The General Affairs Council of 14 February agreed to suspend the EU ban on flights between EU and Serbian destinations for a period of six months (Montenegro and Kosovo are already exempt from the ban). The UK supported this decision as a positive response to the requests of the democratic Serb opposition, and as part of the package which included the significant tightening of sanctions targeted on the Milosevic regime such as the visa ban list and financial sanctions.

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his assessment of the impact that the Energy for Democracy scheme has had upon the Belgrade regime; and what plans he has to broaden the initiative to other Serbian towns. [110492]

Mr. Vaz

The initial response of the Serbian government to the Energy for Democracy scheme was to block the first consignment of heating oil at the FRY/ Macedonian border. They were forced to let the consignment through after public protests in the towns of Nis and Pirot. The scheme has helped to refute one of Milosevic's main propaganda lies, that the West is anti-Serb. The EU has now agreed to consider the expansion of the scheme to a further five towns: Novi Sad, Subotica, Sombor, Kraljevo and Kragujevac.

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