The Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett), led a troika to Algeria and, over the past week, we have been working hard to ensure that Europe is in the lead in response to the current Crisis in Kosovo.
With permission, Madam Speaker, I will make a statement on the Crisis in Kosovo.
and what discussions he (a) has had and (b) has planned with his counterparts in Macedonia and Albania in respect of the Crisis in Kosovo.
The Crisis in Kosovo is of increasing concern.
President Milosevic must bear personal responsibility for the Crisis in Kosovo.
On Monday, I chaired the preparatory meeting for Cardiff of Foreign Ministers, at which our discussion on the Crisis in Kosovo was the most grave and sombre of our presidency.
Mention was made of the Crisis in Kosovo.
I think that that lesson has been learnt and I cannot commend too highly the resolute position that the British Government are adopting on the current Crisis in Kosovo.
Does the Prime Minister agree that the Crisis in Kosovo has deepened dangerously in the past few days and now threatens to widen?
It strongly encouraged the Government of Prime Minister Nano to follow a policy of restraint and moderation in the Kosovo Crisis, which is now more necessary than ever.
When, as at present, geopolitics is dominated by events outside Europe, and when European security is dominated by the Crisis in Kosovo, it is probably not surprising that the Prime Minister is not focused on the evolution of European defence.
Can the right hon. Gentleman give the House an assurance that his final warning to Iraq will be more effective than his final warning to President Milosevic during the Kosovo Crisis in the summer?
The Government spoke about their leadership in respect of the Crisis in Kosovo.
The Kosovo Liberation Army continues to use violence and terror against the people of Kosovo, but the primary responsibility for the Crisis in Kosovo clearly lies with President Milosevic.
Doubtless, the Crisis in Kosovo will create more genuine refugees, but it will create also a new wave of fraudulent applicants.
He has been a valuable and supportive critic of Belgrade's role in so many of the actions that have led to the present Crisis in Kosovo and elsewhere.
Mr. Tony Lloyd: The United Kingdom has played a leading role in international efforts, including in the UN, in NATO, in the EU, in the Contact Group—particularly as co-chairman of the talks which began in Rambouillet in February—and on the ground, to promote a peaceful settlement of the Crisis in Kosovo and persuade the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and representatives of the Kosovar Albanians to comply with their obligations to the people of Kosovo and to the international community, including those set out in successive UN Security Council resolutions.
As to the number of troops potentially committed to the operation in Kosovo, the House may wish to note that the Government have decided to make HMs Splendid - the Royal Navy's first submarine to be equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles - available for operations in connection with the Kosovo Crisis.
Is the Prime Minister aware that there is absolute unanimity in the House and the country about the scale of the humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo?
If the House is no longer to address the Access to Justice Bill tomorrow, what more important issue could the House address than the Crisis in Kosovo?
I would remind the House that the decision to initiate air strikes was taken last night only after it became clear that the final diplomatic effort in Belgrade had not met with success and that all efforts to achieve a negotiated political solution to the Kosovo Crisis had failed.
I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for responding to our request to change today's business, so that the House can debate the Crisis in Kosovo.
The best way in which President Milosevic can halt further attacks on Serbia and on his forces is by halting the humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo for which he is responsible.
In his explanation of Government policy, the Prime Minister has made a great deal of the humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo, and it is true that it is awful: the pictures that we see are appalling and distressing, and make us all want to do something about the situation.
Is there a danger of the Crisis in Kosovo leading to a wider war?
Mr. Tony Lloyd: As fellow members of the Contact Group, we have remained in close touch with the Russians throughout the Kosovo Crisis.
Mr. George Robertson: We assess that there is no substantial threat to shipping in the Adriatic as a result of the Current Kosovo Crisis.
It may cheer the Secretary of State to learn that the first words that I have written on my notes are to congratulate her and her Department on their speedy response to the humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo.
However, the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr. Dafis) was right - if the Crisis in Kosovo continues and costs more, we shall have to consider where we will get the resources from.
Does the Minister agree that the humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo has highlighted the need for co-ordination at international level and that the European Union is the ideal vehicle for that?
I can assure the hon. Gentleman that my right hon. Friend and I and our excellent officials - who have been doing terrific work, day and night, on the Kosovo Crisis, and will continue to do so - will ensure that all the money, not only that of the European Union, is spent effectively.
Britain has sponsored three resolutions at the United Nations on the Kosovo Crisis.
That development must not cease when the immediate Crisis in Kosovo ends.
The bombing campaign is now the central challenge to us all in seeking a just and effective solution to the Kosovo Crisis.
A balanced examination of the way in which the Government have handled the Kosovo Crisis can conclude only that we are witnessing a fiasco on a scale that this country has not seen for generations.
The Crisis in Kosovo raises a number of profound questions.
Mr. Tony Lloyd: Foreign Office Ministers and officials have remained in close contact with the Department for International Development and other Government Departments since the Crisis in Kosovo began last year.
Clare Short: The British Government have committed an additional £20 million since 24 March for humanitarian action in response to the current Crisis in Kosovo.
As has so often been the case in recent weeks, the lead story was about the Crisis in Kosovo.
The valid question of the Yugoslav citizenship of the children involved in the Kosovo Crisis, and what attitude the Belgrade Government would take towards them, has been mentioned.
Mr. George Robertson: It is for the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague to seek indictments against individuals she believes have been responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law during the Kosovo Crisis.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the countries which have received refugees as a result of the Kosovo Crisis.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what admittance criteria are applied to those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom as result of the Kosovo Crisis.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the United Kingdom has placed a limit on the number of refugees it is prepared to accept as a result of the Kosovo Crisis.
The summit had an important agenda before it-quite apart from the Kosovo Crisis.
The Opposition always welcome the opportunity to debate defence issues on the Floor of the House, although I dare say that the timing oftoday's debate - in the midst of the Kosovo Crisis - was as unexpected for Ministers as it was for the rest of us.
I dare say that the Ministry of Defence would not have wished today's debate to take place in the midst of the Kosovo Crisis.
I end as I began, by talking about the people and about my hope - which is shared by other hon. Members - commitment and determination that the defence equipment that is currently being used to deal with the Kosovo Crisis will, first, ultimately achieve an end to the brutal butchery of Milosevic's regime; secondly, ensure that more than 1 million refugees can return to live, without fear, in their own country; and finally, and very importantly, enable all our service men and women and those of our NATO allies to return to their own homes and families in safety.
As we have seen in the Kosovo Crisis, the ability swiftly to deploy forces into theatre with their combat equipment and munitions is at a premium.
Will my right hon. Friend do everything that he can to promote the Geneva conventions, both in seeking a solution to the Kosovo Crisis and in the future?
Sir Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures he has taken to ensure that the Serbian population is informed of Nato's action relating to the Crisis in Kosovo.
nor did we enter it without 28 exploring every other possible way of resolving the Crisis in Kosovo.
I point out to my hon. Friend that none of us entered this conflict lightly; nor did we enter it withoutexploring every other possible way of resolving the Crisis in Kosovo.
We continue to support the economic reform efforts in Romania and Bulgaria and take account of the effects of the Kosovo Crisis.
I accept that hon. Members have strongly held and differing views on matters as important as the Crisis in Kosovo, but I have to ask the Conservatives what their official position is.
Mr. George Robertson: As at the end of April, £37 million of additional expenditure has fallen to my Department as a direct consequence of the UK's military response to the Kosovo Crisis.
Mr. Tony Lloyd: We are in frequent contact with NATO counterparts about finding a peaceful solution to the Kosovo Crisis on the basis of the G8 principles.
We are determined that the Kosovo Crisis must be a turning point for the region, but there will be no stability and no fresh start for the Balkans if we do not first defeat the ethnic cleansing of Milosevic, which belongs to the fascism of yesterday and not to the Europe of today.
Milosevic has been given every opportunity to resolve the Kosovo Crisis peacefully, but has refused to take any of them.
I pay tribute to the British people for the way in which they have responded to the Crisis in Kosovo - I hope that my right hon. Friend the Minister will make reference to that.
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what provision he has made to provide advice and guidance to UK-based relatives of persons involved in the Kosovo Crisis who wish to bring their families to the United Kingdom.
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Advice and guidance for United Kingdom-based relatives of persons involved in the Kosovo Crisis has been drawn up by the Home Office in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the British Red Cross and the Refugee Council.
This is in response to the urgent humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo and to assist charities with their emergency fund-raising appeals.
Very few people witnessing the European contribution to the Crisis in Kosovo would deny that there is much scope for closer co-operation among the European members of NATO in relation to defence.
The hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell), who uncharacteristically is not in his place, talked about the Kosovo Crisis.
Two months into NATO's campaign, I think that it is appropriate that I should report to the House, before it rises for the recess, on the Kosovo Crisis.
A large part of the European Council was taken up with the Crisis in Kosovo.
Mr. Solana is a friend of Britain, and a highly capable operator, as we have seen during the Kosovo Crisis.
I draw the House's attention in this context to the sterling contribution to resolving the Kosovo Crisis made by the President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari.
Another equally significant development during the Kosovo Crisis has been the articulation by the Government that we are moving into an era of humanitarian intervention.
The EU is reviewing its plans to take into account the consequences of the Kosovo Crisis.
Recent donor meetings have assessed the impact of the Kosovo Crisis on neighbouring countries and highlighted action needed to deal with the consequences.
We are concerned about the Russian situation, which has consumed a lot of time that we could have devoted to other parts of the Kosovo Crisis.
However, in response to the Crisis in Kosovo, special arrangements have been made to facilitate family reunion for Kosovans who have been evacuated from Macedonia under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Humanitarian Evacuation Programme.
In formal session again, the Commission said that publication of its report on the state of migrants' health in the Community would be delayed to include the health needs of refugees, in the light of the Kosovo Crisis.
The European Community Humanitarian Office - ECHO - has worked hard, under Emma Bonino, to make improvements, and has worked well to disburse funds during the Kosovo Crisis.
More detailed terms of reference for the Committee's initial interim inquiry will be published at the appropriate time, but the inquiry is likely to focus on the lessons of the Kosovo Crisis for NATO's force structure, decision-making processes and strategy development.
The Crisis in Kosovo must have placed an appalling burden on the right hon. Gentleman's shoulders, especially as it occurred at the same time as great difficulties in Northern Ireland.
The Kosovo Crisis raises important issues regarding each of those concerns.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the use by his Department of Antonov aircraft in the Kosovo Crisis.
Mr. George Robertson: During the course of operations in connection with the Crisis in Kosovo, the UK Ministry of Defence has, as of 11 June, chartered 32 Antonov 124 heavy lift aircraft.
Mr. George Robertson: As at the end of May, some £43 million of additional expenditure has fallen to my Department as a direct consequence of the UK's military response to the Kosovo Crisis.
Additional costs arising as a direct consequence of the United Kingdom's military contribution to the international response to the Kosovo Crisis are, however, being separately identified and will form the basis of a claim on the Government's contingency reserve.
Does my right hon. Friend agree not only that an enhanced European defence identity will strengthen NATO, but that, in the aftermath of the Kosovo Crisis, Britain and Her Majesty's Government should be taking a leading role in that new defence identity?
The Department for International Development has been active in this, and I pay tribute to the Department and to its permanent secretary for their work during the Kosovo Crisis.
Clare Short: Our humanitarian assistance during the Kosovo Crisis has included support for communities and families in the region who are hosting refugees in their own homes, with priority given to the poorest and most vulnerable.
The Kosovo Crisis has exposed the difficulties caused by the current manpower shortage.
Over 100 non-governmental organisations, including British based NGOs, have been active in Albania as a result of the Kosovo Crisis.
Clare Short: Requests for international assistance from countries affected by the Kosovo Crisis have been handled within the framework of Donor's Conferences.
Mr. Foulkes: The Government have already decided that £30 million of the £56 million cost incurred by DFID on the Kosovo Crisis between and including March and July should come from the Reserve.
Discussion focused on the Western Balkans, looking at the way forward and lessons to be learned from the Kosovo Crisis.
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made a visit in May this year during the Kosovo Crisis.
Since then the Kosovo Crisis has reaffirmed the need to make changes.
In an earlier debate on 6th May I expressed my doubts about the Government's handling of the Kosovo Crisis and, provoked by the extraordinarily complacent and misleading account of those events and their consequences given to the House last Thursday by the noble Baroness, Lady Symons of Vernham Dean, I would have been tempted to say far more today had it not been for the firm response of my noble friend Lord Moynihan.
Britain's role in the Kosovo Crisis, in maintaining the cohesion and resolve of the alliance, was possible only because of the trust and respect which we have built up on both sides of the Atlantic, which enables Britain to act as a natural bridge between them.
I want to discuss two areas of foreign and defence policy where the Government seek credit but deserve blame: enlargement of the European Union and the handling of the Kosovo Crisis.
I myself suspect that his triumph was only possible because it was considered essential to maintain French co-operation during the Kosovo Crisis and the NATO action against Serbia.
Mr. Vaz [holding answer 26 November 1999]: Throughout the Kosovo Crisis, the Government took legal advice in accordance with standing procedures.
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total replacement value of the ordnance expended by British forces during the Kosovo Crisis to the end of August.
Mr. Vaz: We warmly welcomed the support given by the Macedonian Government and people during the Kosovo Crisis, and we continue to work to strengthen our bilateral relations.
My Lords, at the time of the Kosovo Crisis, we spoke on several occasions in your Lordships' House about the potential threat described by the noble Lord.
Work was disrupted by the Kosovo Crisis, during which we provided around £650,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance.
This company is a propaganda tool of the Milosevic regime and has been consistently used by the regime to defend and promote its repressive policies, most recently and noticeably during the Kosovo Crisis.
The Kosovo Crisis also underlined the need for European nations to make a greater contribution to their own security.
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that there was overwhelming public support for the military action that was taken during the Kosovo Crisis and that that remains the position as far as concerns this country?
It is true that last year in particular, because of the Kosovo Crisis, there was tremendous pressure from the large movement of people into western European countries.
In addition, in terms of bilateral aid, we gave over £90 million in response to the Kosovo Crisis in 1999: £40 million was spent during the refugee crisis; £50 million since the conflict ended has been spent on de-mining, budgetary support for the UN mission, emergency infrastructure, power, water repair, etc; and the UK has indicated that it is prepared to spend up to £30 million this year.
The Bulgarian Government has expressed understandable concern about the impact to their economy of the Kosovo Crisis, including sanctions against Yugoslavia and the closure of the Danube—in particular on their transport links through Serbia to Western European markets.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his assessment of the economic impact of the Kosovo Crisis on (a) Albania, (b) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (c) Bulgaria, (d) Croatia, (e) FYR Macedonia and (f) Romania.
The International Monetary Fund estimate the Kosovo Crisis might have reduced regional GDP by up to 2 per cent.
It was in constant use throughout the recent Crisis in Kosovo" - I shall say more of that in a moment.
We have seen from the Kosovo Crisis that the assumptions made in the SDR were true.
It was in constant use throughout the recent Crisis in Kosovo.
If he looks more closely at the statistics for 1999 published by the Home Office monthly, he will see that between April and July 1999, when the Kosovo Crisis was at its height, and before the United Nations suspended its evacuation programme in July and it became safe for people to begin to return home, there was indeed a very large influx to Britain and other western European countries of people from Kosovo who were fleeing ethnic cleansing there.
Of course no Conservative Member would be silly enough to blame the British Government for the Crisis in Kosovo, the actions of President Milosevic or the chaos in Somalia - although I find it interesting that, when an international crisis reaches a form of resolution, the Prime Minister usually tries to find some way of claiming credit for that success.
The Kosovo Crisis saw the largest and fastest movement of population in Europe since world war two.
The Kosovo Crisis threw into sharp relief the gaps in European capability and gave added impetus to NATO's defence capabilities initiative.
Around that time, many predicted that the celebration would become a funeral wake, and that the alliance would break apart under the pressures of the Kosovo Crisis.
That high honour was presented because of his heroic actions while serving with the French air force during the Kosovo Crisis last year.
As presaged in the review, we have taken the first steps to procure two new aircraft carriers and we are in the process of fitting all our attack submarines with the Tomahawk land attack missile, which was employed so successfully during the Kosovo Crisis last year.
The initiative has grown into the Helsinki European defence initiative--formed in recognition that Euro-sclerosis had hampered the urgent mobilisation of troops at the time of the Kosovo Crisis.
Mr. Spellar: The numbers of munitions used during Operation Allied Force were published by the Ministry of Defence last year, in my right hon. Friend, the then Secretary of State, Lord Robertson's account of the Kosovo Crisis.
There were attempts to balance the enormously restrained NATO military attacks in the Kosovo Crisis with the sheer barbarism in Chechnya.
Mr. Hoon: The Kosovo Crisis has shown that European nations need to be better able to deploy rapidly and sustain the right mix of armed forces for NATO or EU-led operations.
Turkey is also a NATO ally which provided vital support in the Gulf and in the Kosovo Crisis.
At the height of the Kosovo Crisis, our deployment of our Armed Forces was well over 40 per cent.
The Kosovo Crisis reinforced that requirement.
Given that a National Audit Office report found that stocks of laser-guided bombs ran critically low during the Kosovo Crisis, that morphine supplies were mismanaged and that tent accommodation was inadequate, will the right hon. Gentleman tell us what targets for improved services have been set for the Defence Logistics Organisation, and within what time scale does he expect those targets to be achieved?
The debate on European defence was washed over and postponed because of the Kosovo Crisis, which occurred in the midst of that conference.
Russia's role in Yugoslavia, and in the Kosovo Crisis, illustrates the need.
The Secretary of State has not been associated with the worst aspects of that practice, which occurred during the conduct of the Kosovo Crisis.
The Minister for the Armed Forces referred to my intervention, and said that my behaviour at the beginning of the Kosovo Crisis, when I called for the resignation of the Chief of the Defence Staff, had been despicable.
Precision guided munitions, including the RAF's Laser Guided Bombs (Paveway II and Paveway III), achieved good results in the Kosovo Crisis.
] I notice that thehon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) is laughing, but he was in the forefront of previous attacks on the Chief of Defence Staff during the Kosovo Crisis.
When the Kosovo Crisis finally came, it was after a considerable build-up, but it could then have escalated in ways that we were fortunate to avoid.
UNEP announced its intention in September 2000 to conduct field studies of sites in Kosovo that were struck by ordnance containing depleted uranium during the Kosovo Crisis and undertook a field Mission during November 2000.
I am concerned that the term has already been degraded, most recently in the Kosovo Crisis.
The International Development Committee's recent assessment of our response to the Kosovo Crisis is an example of the thorough scrutiny of both indirectly and directly provided assistance.
We barely said "thank you" for the generous support that the Russians gave us at the end of the Kosovo Crisis in defusing what could have otherwise become a bloodthirsty war.
In its excellent report on the Kosovo Crisis, the Select Committee on Defence considered the use of cluster bombs and said: "At the very least, their reputation as an indiscriminate weapon risks international condemnation, undermining popular support for an action".
Publication Date Govt Reply 1 Inpatient Administration, Bed Management and Patient Discharge in NHS Acute Hospitals 135 25 January 2001 Cm 5127 2 Public Trust Office: Unclaimed Balances Held in Funds in Court and the Office's 1998–99 Accounts 142 31 January 2001 Cm 5127 3 Emergency Aid: The Kosovo Crisis 143 14 January 2001 Cm 5127 4 Grants made by the National Lottery Charities Board 168 16 February 2001 Cm 5127 5 The Draft Social Security (Inherited SERPS) Regulations 2001 243 18 February 2001 Cm 5127 6 Review of Audit and Accountability for Central Government 260 2 March 2001 Cm 5201 7 Excess Votes 1999–2000: Class X, Votes 2 and 3 284 9 March 2001 N/A 8 Maintaining the Royal Palaces 77 14 March 2001 Cm 5201 9 Managing Finances in English Further Education Colleges 283 21 March 2001 Cm 5201 10 Parole 349 29 March 2001 Cm 5201 11 The Housing Corporation: Overseeing Focus Housing Association 365 2 May 2001 Cm 5261 675 Reports Session 2000–01 Report No: Title HC No.
The right hon. Lady will remember that during the Kosovo Crisis the Treasury reserves contributed £68 million to the efforts of DFID.
During the Kosovo Crisis, the humanitarian evacuation programme brought people who had gone from Kosovo to Macedonia to the UK and other EU countries.
at the time of the Kosovo Crisis to 27 per cent today, with most units well within the tour intervals envisaged in the SDR.
During 1999–2000 the National Audit Office conducted a value for money audit of DFID's response to the Kosovo Crisis, this included the role played by the Crown Agents under the Humanitarian Services Contract.
The Churches Commission for Racial Justice notes: "While accommodation centres worked well in relation to those needing temporary protection following the Kosovo Crisis, the Refugee Council's experience in running such centres suggests that they should not exceed 100 beds.
how many call-out notices were sent to reservists and under what legal headings prior to and during (a) the Kosovo Crisis, (b) the first Gulf war and (c) operations in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement.
He performed badly in that role in the Kosovo Crisis and we had great difficulties with UNHCR's performance, as the Select Committee on International Development made clear at the time.
Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the excellent and rapid response of our armed forces, particularly in dealing with the latest Crisis in Kosovo?
The central role of economic revitalisation was recognised after the Kosovo Crisis.
There was an immediate humanitarian Crisis in Kosovo.
In our opinion, the only solution to the Crisis in Kosovo is the supervised independence plan proposed by Martti Ahtisaari.
When I was Chief of the Defence Staff in the Kosovo Crisis in 2005, it was very noticeable how the United Kingdom forces could be assembled and deployed quickly in circumstances in which other countries' forces could not respond because of their parliamentary procedures, which had to be observed.
We remember the extraordinary Chicago speech that the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, gave in the heat of the Kosovo Crisis.
While my noble friend is right to say that during the Kosovo Crisis, NATO forces provided reverse osmosis equipment for local water purification use, at this time we would look to the NGOs to take the lead on this.
It was put forward by the previous Government, by the then Minister, Clare Short, in relation to the Kosovo Crisis.