as for below proposal, surely its architects won't impose kinds of strings attached to original Marshall Plan - demand for balanced budgets, stable currency, high profit margins, low wages, inegalitarian tax structures in order to assist capitalist class that benefits from exploitative policies. ..and they certainly won't try to stimulate economic recovery at expense of working people in conjunction with forms of repression intended to reduce the power of working class organizations... Michael Hoover
> THE WORLD BANK GROUP A World Free of Poverty
> [INLINE] May 30, 1999
> This summary is prepared by the External Affairs Department of the
> World Bank. All material
> is taken directly from published and copyright wire service stories
> and newspaper articles.
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> EUROPE READIES MARSHALL PLAN FOR BALKANS
> Western countries yesterday began discussions on the embryo of a
> "Marshall Plan" to rebuild southeastern Europe after the Kosovo
> conflict, Reuters reports. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
> urged officials from some 30 countries and international organizations
> to work on "the ambitious project" of anchoring the Balkans in
> democracy and economic prosperity after the NATO bombing stops.
> Besides the EU, those represented at the meeting were NATO, the OSCE,
> the OECD, the EBRD, the Western European Union, the EIB, the World
> Bank, the IMF, Japan and Canada. Officials said the meeting was only a
> first step and that they were far from drawing up the details of a
> reconstruction plan along the lines of the US Marshall Plan for
> rebuilding Europe after 1945.
> Fischer said he hoped the one-day meeting would prepare the ground in
> time for ministers to meet to begin work on a so-called Stability Pact
> before the end of Germany's six-month presidency of the EU on June 30.
> He also wanted to call a donor conference for the Balkans.
> "We have to end this absurdity where it is easier to collect money for
> war than peace," Fischer added.
> Meanwhile, diplomats are quietly complaining that the international
> community, because it is preoccupied with the Kosovo crisis, is paying
> too little attention to conflicts in Angola, Ethiopia and elsewhere.
> UN humanitarian coordinator for Angola Francesco Strippoli said $110
> million in food and other assistance was desperately needed just to
> sustain the 1.6 million internally displaced Angolans.
> So far, says the Economist (p.45), the donors-rich countries'
> governments that are tired of pouring money into Angola-have come up
> with only $25 million. Even in the unlikely event of the donors
> responding [more] quickly, the situation will remain perilous, says
> the story.