Brussels, 17/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Foreign Affairs Council taking place in Luxembourg on 20 April will once again have a main theme, which will take the form of a “strategic discussion” in the morning about how to strengthen relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, in the light of recent developments - particularly in Cuba.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will report on her three visits to the region since the start of 2015 (the last in early April for the Americas summit - see EUROPE 11293).
The aim of this discussion, which will prepare the work for the EU-Latin America summit in Brussels on 10-11 June, will be to enable the ministers to express their vision on several areas: political relations, economic cooperation, and partnership on global challenges such as climate change. “Overall, the position is this: there hasn't been any discussion of substance at the Council for 7 or 8 years, but in this time the Latin American region has had some big developments in the political, economic and social domains”, a diplomat stated.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) would like to avoid a discussion on individual cases, but the delegations will find it difficult to do otherwise. The negotiations on signing the association and cooperation agreement with Cuba, which the EU would like to conclude in 2015, are much awaited (see EUROPE 11282). Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez is due to visit Brussels on Wednesday 22 April. The previous day an EU-Chile Association Council will be held in Brussels.
Mogherini is also due to put forward her proposals on EU support for Libya - should a national unity government come to light. The use of the common security and defence policy (CSDP) remains one of the options on the table after the ministers were asked to consider this in March. Mogherini previously raised the possibility of a mission to manage the ceasefire or to protect key infrastructure, and a control mission at the borders has not been ruled out either. “Unanimity is needed for deployment. We are not there, but we are providing for it, should it be necessary”, said a European source. In the view of another source, although Mogherini “is putting strong emphasis” on the CSDP option, some countries are rather reluctant because the launch of a CSDP mission requires many conditions - not to mention the difficulty of bringing enough capacity together in terms of personnel for some of the missions that are envisaged (such as border control or ceasefire management). Economic and technical aid is also being discussed. No decision is expected to be taken at this Council, but approaches could be set out in further detail.
Over lunch, Mogherini will inform the ministers about the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme, after the agreement on 2 April (see EUROPE 11289).
The ministers will also discuss the security and humanitarian situation in Yemen and the means the EU has available to encourage a de-escalation of the conflict. “The government and the president are legitimate. We support them and we call for the negotiations to be resumed as quickly as possible”, said a European source. The United Nations mediator, Jamal Benomar, resigned on 16 April and a new mediator could be appointed on 20 April. Conclusions could be adopted on Yemen, but their content was still under debate on Friday 17 April, especially on the Saudi air strikes against the Houthis, supported by Iran, as some member states want to make it clear that they do not support this.
Mogherini will take advantage of this Foreign Affairs Council to tell the ministers how she intends to revise the EU security strategy. The current document was adopted in 2003, then amended in 2013. The aim is to put forward to the Council in June an assessment of the changes in the security sphere, in order then to begin drafting a new strategy which could be put forward in the first half of 2016. One of the key issues is to know how the security and foreign policy aspects will be articulated.
The ministers will also adopt, without debate, conclusions on the European neighbourhood policy and on the EU's position on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The Council will be followed by an Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting, which will bring together the European ministers and their counterparts from the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine). They will discuss the preparation of the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on 21-22 May. (Mathieu Bion, Camille-Cerise Gessant, Jan Kordys)