In a joint statement adopted in Luxembourg on Monday 12 October, the EU foreign affairs ministers called for the agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme still to be upheld.
On Friday 13 October, US President Donald Trump refused to recertify the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), sending the ball back to the US Congress – which must decide on the follow-up to be given to this non-recertification (see EUROPE 11883).
“The EU encourages the US to maintain its commitment to the JCPOA and to consider the implications for the security of the US, its partners and the region before taking further steps”, the EU ministers state, saying that the EU “is committed to the continued full and effective implementation of all parts of the JCPOA”.
“We must do our utmost to continue the agreement, not to return to confrontation and military dangers”, Germany’s foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, stated on arriving at the Council. According to France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, if the agreement is not upheld, there is a “risk of relaunching the nuclear arms race”. “This agreement is very important and it would be a big mistake if one of our partners went in another direction”, said Dutch minister, Bert Koenders, adding that he would like the US Congress to make the right decision.
Several ministers called for pressure to be put on the US Congress. “We would really like the EU to put pressure on Congress not to challenge this agreement”, Le Drian stated, adding that an "act to break it would be extremely damaging". “It’s important to try and persuade Washington. We’re going to work on this jointly, at the US administration and Congress. We will continue to call for the US to participate in this international logic”, his Belgian counterpart, Didier Reynders, stated, adding that he would go to the US in “a few weeks”.
Mogherini in Washington in early November. When questioned by EUROPE. High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced that she would go to Washington “in early November” to discuss this issue, amongst others, “in the next three weeks”.
In their statement, the EU ministers also underlined their concerns about the ballistic missiles and growing tension in the region. But in their view, these issues must be handled “outside the JCPOA, within the appropriate formations and fora”. Mogherini nevertheless said that the international community would in no way be in a better position to discuss these issues without the nuclear programme agreement being in place.
Impact on agenda to fight proliferation. The ministers furthermore stated that the JCPOA was “a key pillar of the international non-proliferation architecture”. Several said that questioning the agreement was a bad example for North Korea (see other article), where the international community would like to discuss putting an end to the North Korean nuclear and ballistic missiles programmes.
“The ministers are concerned that messages on the JCPOA might negatively affect the possibility of negotiating, and even of opening the area for negotiating with North Korea”, Mogherini said. Earlier in the day, she had stated that any measure that made the global architecture of nuclear non-proliferation more fragile, wherever it might be, would make work on North Korea more difficult.
"If this commitment (with Iran) is no longer upheld, how do you want to persuade North Korea to negotiate?", Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, asked. In Reynders' view, "we have to respect the agreements that have been concluded if one day we want (...) to open a dialogue with North Korea". "It is important to demonstrate that, when an agreement is concluded, we respect it (...) if we want to gain the trust of our partners in the future", he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)