Gothenburg, 15/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The dinner on Thursday evening - which the President of the European Council Goran Persson wanted to be highly informal - between President Bush, the EU Heads of State and Government and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, mainly covered climatic change and the Kyoto Protocol (and, in a more general manner, energy policy), the future WTO multilateral trade negotiations, relations with Russia, the situation in the Balkans and the Middle East - thus mainly the themes tackled during the meeting between Georges W. Bush and the EU Troika, on the same day. Certain European leaders, and notably the Finnish, particularly welcomed the importance that the American President intends to give to cooperation with Russia (Georges W. Bush must meet President Putin on Saturday in Slovenia). During dinner in Gothenburg, the issue of the planned American anti-missile defence (on which Mr Bush found, on Wednesday on Brussels, a more "receptive" response from his NATO colleagues) was not raised.
We are going to try to concentrate on "what unites us" rather than what divides, said the Secretary of State Lars Danielsson in Thursday evening to the press. Most of the participants in the dinner with George W. Bush - whose manners pleasantly surprised them - have insisted on the constructive tone of the meeting, but divergences over the Kyoto Protocol have been confirmed. Thus, Mr Larsson noted that President Bush had repeated "very eloquently" the explanations already given in Washington over the American Administrations attitude concerning the Kyoto Protocol, while the European leaders confirmed the "EU's united position" and their intention to stick to the Kyoto Protocol and to undertake its ratification, indicated Mr Danielsson (the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, after the indecision of his government over this issue before its formation, has aligned with this position saying, already in Brussels, that the "Pacts sunt servanda": see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5). We have examined ways to continue the dialogue and we have decided to establish a "high ranking group" of American and European representatives that will work until the COP6 meeting next July in Bonn, announced Mr Larsson. Questioned over the members of this high level group, Mr Larsson added that the Swedish Presidency wanted to speak with the Belgian Presidency, as the group would be formed with one representatives for the EU Council Presidency, one for the Commission and one for the United States. It is necessary for this kind of contact to take place as soon as possible, felt Mr Larsson. EUROPE believes that, during the more general debate on energy policy, President Bush underlined the need for nuclear energy, while Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel expressed serious reservations on this issue. As for the future WTO round, Mr Larsson said that the European and American leaders have wanted to send a strong political message showing that they wanted to avoid the Seattle fiasco.
The EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs, during their dinner with the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, had, according to indications from a source close to the Swedish Presidency, listened to the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, who informed then of his meetings, the same day in Skopje, (in the company of the NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson). Mr Solana gave some good news, some bad news over developments on the ground, and indications over the way in which the international community may contribute toward the consolidation of peace in the FYROM (arms collection, support for the extension of the cease fire…). The FYROM Prime Minister will be present at the General Affairs Council on 25 June in Luxembourg, and the EU hopes that the representatives from the various Macedonian political factions are also present, indicated the Swedish Presidency.
According to the same sources, the exchange of views with Colin Powell over the Middle East confirmed the EU's desire and that of the United States to act together in favour of peace: the only way to do this, it to stick to the Mitchell plan and the Tenet plan, asserted the American Secretary of State. Finally, Mr Powell took advantage of the opportunity to tell his European counterparts that it would be opportune for the United States to rejoin the UN Human Rights Commission (from which its was excluded, during a recent vote).