On Monday 28 May, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced the establishment of a network of contact points to coordinate European and national actions taken to enable the continuation of trade and economic activities with Iran.
"A number of member states have tabled concrete ideas on which they are working (...) to complete the concrete measures that the EU has begun to put in place. And one of the results is the decision to establish a sort of network of contact points of all member states that will help Brussels coordinate not only the European measures, but also the European measures together and in coordination with the measures that each member states establishes", Mogherini announced at the end of the Foreign Affairs Council.
She said the objective was to act "as quickly as possible" due to pressure in Iran, and also to bring certainty to European investors. "Serious measures in a complex and serious situation call for time", she nevertheless stated, mentioning the "coming weeks" as a time limit.
And although the ministers' discussion mainly focused on the measures to be taken to preserve the nuclear deal and economic commitments, Mogherini said that it was not about "economic interest, but a security interest for the EU". "Without the deal, we believe the security of the region and of Europe would be at stake", she said.
But Europe's goodwill does not hide the difficulty of taking effective measures, due to the extraterritoriality of the US sanctions. "It is very important to be able to prove our ability to implement the deal (...) It is not easy, because we know the situation with the extraterritoriality of the Americans, but we will try to work in good collaboration with Iran", Belgium's minister Didier Reynders stated. His counterpart from Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, summed the situation up to EUROPE as being "really complicated".
Continuing discussions with Iran
Meeting within the Joint Commission on Friday 25 May, the British, French, German, Chinese, Russian and Iranian representatives also discussed the consequences of the USA's unilateral withdrawal, especially sanctions. According to the press release from the European External Action Service, the participants discussed the joint efforts with a view to finding practical solutions on the different action areas agreed between the EU, France, Germany, the UK and Iran on 15 May (see EUROPE 12021). "These efforts are aimed at preserving the interests of businesses and investors engaged with Iran", the EEAS stated, adding: "economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran are acting in good faith based on commitments contained in the JCPOA" and endorsed unanimously by a UN Security Council Resolution.
The parties decided "to deepen their dialogue at all levels, including at the level of experts with a view to finding practical solutions" to address the extraterritoriality of the US measures, and to step up their ongoing work in the Joint Commission and all its bodies in the format of E3/EU (France, Germany, UK) +2 (China and Russia) and Iran, in particular the working group on the implementation of sanctions-lifting. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Aminata Niang)