THE EU warned rump Yugoslavia yesterday to respect human rights and build democracy or risk damaging its links with the European Union.
In a declaration issued at the summit in Amsterdam, the EU leaders said Belgrade also had to grant "a large degree of autonomy" to the ethnic Albanian region of Kosovo.
"The European Council shares the concern of the international community at the slow progress towards genuine democracy and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms," yesterday's declaration stated.
The leaders also warned Croatia that respect for human rights, including the return of displaced persons and refugees, was an essential ingredient in improving relations between the EU and Zagreb.
On Bosnia-Herzegovina, the summit leaders said they were concerned at the slow progress in the consolidation of the two entities into a single state as called for in the Dayton peace agreement.
In Luxembourg, the European Transport Commissioner, Mr Neil Kinnock, spoke out strongly when he hit out against the fees faced by European airlines overflying Siberia en route to north-east Asia, branding them illegal and unjustified.
"Clearly it's completely unjustified, clearly it's not within international law or common practice and clearly it cannot go on without much greater resistance," Mr Kinnock said.
He was speaking at a news conference after a meeting of EU transport ministers.
Mr Kinnock urged a three-pronged campaign to lower the fees, which the Association of European Airlines said in its 1997 report amounted to $225 million a year or an additional 6 per cent on operating costs for the route.
The commissioner said several ministers spoke out on the issue during yesterday's meeting and suggested airlines continue their campaign against the charges while the European Commission and member-states made their own representations to the Russians in all bilateral contacts.
Mr Kinnock said the President of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, would raise the issue with the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, when Mr Chernomyrdin visits Brussels on July 18th.
Back in Amsterdam, the EU also told the new government of the Democratic Republic of Congo" that international aid would depend on its respect for human rights and democracy.
In a statement drafted at the two-day summit, the EU told President Laurent Kabila: "An essential cornerstone for rebuilding the country and securing the acceptance and assistance of the international community, including the European Union, is respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as a genuine commitment to democracy.
The draft welcomed an agreement between Mr Kabila and the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, on investigating alleged massacres of refugees in the former Zaire and called for it to be implemented.
Mr Kabila's forces, which toppled the corrupt administration of President Mobutu Sese Seko last month, have so far prevented international organisations from probing reports of massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees in eastern Zaire.
Earlier this week, a senior aid official said in London: "There has been systematic widespread killing of refugees for several months. It's probably the largest loss of refugee life in recent times . . . the speculation is tens of thousands. No one knows how many tens of thousands."
The aid official said on Monday, "I've not had a report in the last three days but I think the killings are continuing."