Brussels, 06/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is extremely concerned by the situation in the Solomon Islands and condemns the attempted coup d'état which endangers the democratically elected government of this ACP country. The spokesman for Commissioner Poul Nielson nonetheless added it would be "premature to envisage suspending Union cooperation with the Solomon Islands". The Commission will wait to know the outcome of the crisis, the developments of which it is following closely, as it considers it would not be appropriate to penalise a legitimate government threatened by armed militia. On the other hand, the perpetrators of the coup d'état must be aware of what they are exposing their country to if they persist in their attempt and achieve their ends.
The Lomé Convention, which links the Union to the ACP countries explicitly provides, in the event of violation of human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law in an ACP country, for consultations to be engaged between the European Union and the country concerned in order to remedy the situation. These consultations may, where necessary, and as a last resort, result in the partial if not total suspension of cooperation. The situation in the Solomon Islands does not, for now, justify the implementation of this article.
The amount of aid earmarked to the Solomon Islands under the European Development Fund (8th EDF) is EUR 65 million: EUR 19 million for the national indicative programme, EUR 42 million under STABEX (system for the stabilisation of export earnings) and 4 million in budgetary aid.