Brussels, 10/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is preparing further sanctions against the Iranian regime and its nuclear programme but these are not expected to be ready for the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday 14 November, European diplomatic sources said on Thursday 10 November. France and the United Kingdom called for new sanctions after a report was published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showing that Iran has worked on perfecting the technology needed to produce an atomic bomb. According to diplomats, work on measures to be taken has begun at the level of member state experts, this point being on the agenda of another meeting on Thursday 10 November.
According to another European source, an informal exchange of views on Iran will be held on Monday during the Council, but member states will wait for the result of deliberation by the IAEA governing board on 17 November before taking a decision. In the conclusions of the European Council of 23 October, the heads of state and/or government invited their foreign ministers to take new restrictive measures, specifying that these would be adopted at the “appropriate” time, the same source told Agence Europe.
New sanctions could thus be adopted during the Foreign Affairs Council on 1 December. However, one diplomat says: “If they are ready before that date, they may be adopted more rapidly by other procedures”. The new sanctions may affect the Iranian central bank or the country's oil revenue.
The Foreign Affairs Council on 14 November will discuss recent events in Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, the situation in Serbia and Kosovo, questions relating to the Horn of Africa and the international conference on Afghanistan scheduled for 5 December in Bonn. Lunch will be devoted to issues relating to common security and defence policy. (CG/transl.jl)