Brussels, 03/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the informal Council that will take place this weekend in Nykoping in Sweden (see EUROPE of 30 April and 1 May, p.4), the European Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten described in a letter to the Member States the broad themes of the Communication on human rights that should be adopted by the Commission next week. According to the Commissioner, it is time to move from words to actions and use the instruments already available to the Community. He questions in particular the use that was made until now of the "human rights clause", included since 1992 in all the agreements between the EU and third countries. He notes that it has only been used to suspend an agreement in seven cases of small and far off countries (Niger, Comores, Ivory Coast, Tonga, Guinea Bissau, Fiji and Haiti) and suggested other countries against which it could have been invoked, notably Russia. He also proposes to create a joint working group with the seven Mediterranean countries, to establish common criteria allowing rendering the clause operational. Commissioner Patten proposed, among others, to establish, on a more systematic basis, a political dialogue on human rights with third countries, to better use the "human rights" budget and to eventually tie the size of aids granted to a third countries with its respect for human rights.