Brussels, 10/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - Like British Foreign Secretary William Hague, three other foreign affairs ministers - Laurent Fabius of France, Guido Westerwelle of Germany and Giulio Terzi of Italy - would call for sanctions to be strengthened against Iran if discussions on its nuclear programme do not make progress (see EUROPE 10684).
“We might have to rapidly decide on a new set of sanctions against Iran”, Westerwelle said in Paphos on Friday 7 September, on the sidelines of the Gymnich, and quoted by AFP. “We are not going to accept discussions and negotiations which serve only to win time”, he added. For his part, Fabius said that “as the negotiations drag on, France is in favour of strengthening sanctions”. In his opinion, these measures should focus on aspects of finance, trade and oil. He said that in the coming days he was going to work with Terzi on a proposal of new sanctions against Tehran.
Fabius added that the other ministers seemed to be of the same opinion. “Maybe there were colleagues who were of a different opinion, but all those who spoke said that (…) we are going to examine strengthening sanctions”, he said. A European diplomat told EUROPE that although some member states spoke of strengthening sanctions, they had not agreed on their nature. “It can't be said that there was a consensus”, he said, adding that if there was a proposal from the member states, the European External Action Service (EEAS) would work on strengthening sanctions (our translation throughout).
E3+3 meeting at end of September. High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said that the sanctions were reviewed regularly and that it was important to be absolutely sure that those already taken were being applied. At the Gymnich, Ashton also summarised for the ministers the discussions with the Iranians. She stated that she would meet the E3+3 ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York at the end of September. (CG/transl.fl)