(14 Oct 2000) English/Nat
XFA
The new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, has been meeting Western leaders for the first time since defeating Slobodan Milosevic.
On Saturday he arrived in the French resort of Biarritz, for a European Union leaders summit.
00.02 Stepping out onto the world stage.
Two months ago Vojislav Kostunica was simply head of one of Yugoslavia's many opposition parties.
00.12 Now, as the man who toppled Slobodan Milosevic, Western leaders are queuing up to meet him.
Hence his invitation to a summit meeting of the heads of the 15 European Union countries.
E-U leaders are anxious to help the new Yugoslav president consolidate power.
At the meeting he was promised a further one hundred and seventy five million dollars in aid.
And he wasn't pressed on his reluctance to give up Milosevic to the U-N war crimes tribunal.
Kostunica did promise, however, that the former president is a spent force.
00.42 SOUNDBITE: (English)
"(A) few days ago he still thought, or had ideas, of, maybe, having some political future but from day to day, from hour to hour even a person like Milosevic needs, or faces, the reality as it is. Actually he has no political future in Yugoslavia."
SUPER CAPTION: Vojislav Kostunica, Yugoslav President
01.02 Kostunica promised the aid would be used to ease Yugoslavia's most pressing needs.
The country's economy is in a deep slump following last year's NATO bombing campaign and long-running economic sanctions.
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