hk
Yoshie Furuhashi forwarded:
>>Berlin Faces Court Action Over NATO Bombing of
>>Yugoslavia
>>
>>June 20, 2001
>>Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
>>
>>Karsruhe -- The tremors from 1999 NATO bombing of
>>Yugoslavia continue to reverberate across the German
>>political landscape with Germany's reformed communist
>>party launching a constitutional court action against
>>the U.S. backed security alliance's raids.
>>
>>The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) believes that
>>the German government's agreement for the NATO's bombing
>>raids was unconstitutional because the nation's
>>parliament, the Bundestag, was not consulted.
>>
>>In the light of Germany's wartime past, military action
>>involving German troops remains a deeply sensitive issue
>>in the nation with the PDS having fiercely opposed the
>>NATO raids which followed Belgrade's aggressive moves in
>>the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo.
>>
>>As argument in the constitutional court commenced on
>>Tuesday, a PDS leader, Gregor Gysi claimed that NATO's
>>role had been extended by the bombing raids and as a
>>result the central part of the agreement with NATO had
>>been changed.
>>
>>Gysi insisted that bypassing the parliament not only
>>raised democratic issues but also questions about the
>>legal protection of the nation's soldiers.
>>
>>At the heart of the case is the German Federal
>>Government's endorsement in April 1999 of a so-called a
>>new strategic concept for NATO intervention.
>>
>>This was also agreed to by other members of the trans-
>>atlantic alliance and stressed that the transatlantic
>>security group faced new complex risks.
>>
>>Defending the German Government's action before the
>>constitutional court on Tuesday, the nation's Foreign
>>Minister, Joschka Fischer said that parliamentary
>>agreement for the concept was not necessary as it was
>>not a binding contract but a political document.
>>
>>But Fischer said that Berlin believed the case before
>>the constitutional court had "enormous political
>>significance."
>>
>>"It concerns the negotiating abilities of the government
>>in following its international responsibilities," he
>>said.
>>
>>As a measure of the tensions unleashed in Germany by the
>>NATO action, Fischer had paint thrown over him during a
>>rowdy meeting of his Green Party at the height of the
>>bombing raids.
>>
>>Also defending the government's support for the bombing
>>before the constitutional court on Tuesday was the
>>nation's Minister for Defense Rudolf Scharping who said
>>that the purpose of the alliance had changed as well as
>>the political circumstances.
>>
>>Representing the Parliament before the court, the
>>Christian Democrat parliamentarian Rupert Scholz said
>>that not every new concept was a new contract.