Good and Bad Signs

I have no personal experiences from the period you are talking about, although I heard about all of it and read reports in Paris. From France's standpoint, it was a period of extreme nationalism. Since I came to Belgrade a year ago, the attitude toward France has eased. There were no incidents, although we have been through some difficult times, the NATO shelling of your relatives across the Drina. I think the language has changed and that the public has matured. This can be seen in the press, on television. There are encouraging signs which show that nationalism is no longer on the agenda.

What is the first condition that the Yugoslavs should fulfill if they want the French public opinion to get a different picture about the people living here?

The first condition was fulfilled by the signing of the peace agreement and the beginning of its implementation. This began to change the public opinion. I shall tell you what steps should be taken in order to continue the trend. You will need to normalize the relations with your neighbours, "anchor" the country in Europe on the economic, political and institutional levels. The government has already announced some of the reforms. It will be necessary to split with the past, when the tension has eased to think about what has happened, to realize what has happened, to establish responsibility.

At a recent panel discussion organized by New Democracy, your British colleague said that it was premature to discuss the possibility of Yugoslavia joining the Partnership for Peace. What is your opinion?

Mr. Ivor Roberts probably meant it was too early to talk about Yugoslavia formally joining the Partnership for Peace. But both of us think that the steps in the direction of adopting the principles of the Partnership for Peace are welcome. The first condition to join in is life in complete peace with your neighbours, that is, the settling of the dispute with Croatia and improvement of relations with other neighbours with whom the relations are tense. It is necessary to sign an agreement with Macedonia and then to recognize the other former Yugoslav republics, solve the problem of succession. The general conditions are to be followed by military ones...

A few days ago you assessed that many foreign factors might influence the developments in Kosovo and initiate new conflicts unless the authorities and the representatives of ethnic Albanians in the province found a solution. Could you specify the dangers and say what exactly the West expects Yugoslavia to do in Kosovo?

First of all, the West expects negotiations without prior conditions. It is not up to the international community to say that the solution should be such and such, but it must think about the stability of the region, because we are speaking about the Balkans, which is historically an unstable region. The solution must respect human rights and the population's wish to exercise a certain degree of autonomy.

When you ask me about the destabilizing factors, don't expect me to point my finger to the malicious ones, but it is a natural thing that other countries should enquire about what is happening in Kosovo. The citizens of Kosovo have their cultural relatives in Albania, Macedonia and, naturally, there is an interest in these relatives. Others, living a little further away, share the same faith and the entire international community is interested in Kosovo because risks exist. I could reduce the opinion of the international community to the formula: neither interference nor indifference.

You visited Kosovo recently. Did you get the impression that the two sides which have been very far apart now want to negotiate?

I hear people say that they want to negotiate, but in the stands which they express before the negotiations I don't see real readiness to seek a solution which would satisfy everyone. I hope I am wrong and that this is only the usual taking of positions far apart which allow a lot of manoeuvring space during talks. France maintains that this is an internal issue, but an internal issue which must be solved.

Do you expect the Kosovo issue to be resolved in accordance with a Western plan, similar to the Dayton agreement, which would regulate all the aspects of life in Kosovo?

No. That would be the worst scenario of all. The Dayton agreement was preceded by a long war.

Will you, as the first Western European ambassador to Yugoslavia after the war and sanctions, promote Western values in Yugoslavia and in which ways?

Yes, of course. Since not only the authorities but also the society expressed the wish to return to the international community, it is our task to help them. What Western values? I shall mention them: democracy, independence of legislative, judiciary and executive authorities, multi-party system which already exists, freedom of information, i.e. access to information, freedom to choose the way of informing oneself, observance of human rights, minority rights, equality of citizens before the law, economic liberalism, encouragement of private initiative, free trade... But my role, the role of the international community is not to say - do so and so. If I think that the Western values should be promoted, I do not mean they should be imposed. But when a country says it wants to come closer to Western Europe, we must tell it, as friends - this is a good sign and this is a bad one. This is not interference, it is an offer for you to join us. A bad sign is - and I am not the only one who thinks so, the whole international community has noticed - what has been done with Studio B and Soros. We are being told it is in accordance with the law. I don't want to dispute it, I only say it makes a bad picture and takes the country away from what the government and the officials said they opted for. However, what is done in one direction can be done in the other, which we are hoping for. Instead of being afraid that other independent media will have similar experiences, we would prefer to see the freedom of Studio B maintained or restored.

Do you think that the promotion of the Western values includes greater pressures by the West on the authorities in order to preserve the freedom of independent media?

I don't like the word pressure. We want to help - if that's your aim, here is a way to accomplish it. We want to cooperate with everyone. France cooperates with Radio-Television Serbia and it cooperated with Studio B. It is no secret that the European Union gives certain aid to media. But the aid remains limited. It does not enable the media to lower the price and become competitive.

Certain circles in Belgrade believe that President Milosevic has got the permission to strangle democracy in his country as much as he likes, as long as he does not violate the provisions of the Dayton agreement. Do you share this opinion?

No. The role of the international community is not to run the internal affairs of a country. Each country chooses its system and the citizens elect the persons in the leading positions. No foreign country has ever decided on who would be in power, except in the Bosnian Serb Republic because of the clear accusations of the international tribunal in The Hague. Elections in your country are scheduled for this and the next year and it will be up to the population to choose freely and openly whoever they find suitable.

The French cultural centre in Belgrade worked during the sanctions and you once mentioned intensification of cultural ties. Could you tell us more about it?

France will double the means for cultural cooperation in 1996. This means there will be more concerts, exhibitions, there is also a French learning project. We assist the teaching of French in secondary schools and colleges. We are having talks with the Education Ministry about the possibility for the French cultural centre to organize French courses.

We are identifying new fields of cooperation in the scientific and technical sectors and further in the fields of law and economy. The Yugoslav economy will adapt to the European norms and we have the lawyers that could help, we have good experience with privatization which might be helpful. We want the cooperation to be decentralized and flexible, unlike earlier cooperation which existed only in the form of mixed teams: I think the former system was too stiff. There are many open possibilities, more than can be financed.