Brussels, 07/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - Monday's meeting of the General Affairs Council looks as though it will be very full on the eve of a European Council for which preparations are intensifying. It will also be marked by two separate meetings with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Minister for International Cooperation Nabil Chaath. These meetings should come before, and possibly after, the lunch that will be devoted to the situation in the Middle East but also in Afghanistan, after the conference of Bonn, and in the region, in the light of recent talks by the Belgian Presidency and the Commission in India and Pakistan. Accession conference meetings at ministerial level will be held on Tuesday, with Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, and, on Wednesday, with the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta and the three Baltic States.
Preparation of the European Council of Laeken. No substantive debate is expected but some ministers may take this opportunity to express their views on the subject after presentation of an agenda which is still provisional pending the end of the capital tour by Mr Verhofstadt. The Council will receive a list of reports and other documents likely to be submitted to the Summit, including an interim report by the Secretary General of the Council, Javier Solana, on the preparation of the Summit with a view to enlargement. The Laeken Summit will begin during Friday morning with a speech by the Parliament's President. The afternoon will be devoted to economic and monetary issues and the meeting will continue on Saturday and may last into the night. In addition to the declaration on the future of Europe and the launching of the Convention on institutional reform, which will not just be a formality (some observers see the Presidency's determination to reach a result allowing the EU to make a real qualitative leap as zealous excess that could block some partners such as Ireland or the United Kingdom), the agenda will include: the situation in Afghanistan, the Middle East and possibly Africa and relations with Russia; - defence; - enlargement (with possibly a discussion raised by the recent remarks of Mr Védrine on Romania and Bulgaria and no doubt also a new point on the development of Turkey's candidature and on the Cypriot issue); - justice and home affairs (with, depending on the latest Council results, the arrest warrant, immigration, external border controls and visas: see below); - changeover to the euro; - the social and economic aspects linked to the Lisbon strategy (including social indicators) and preparation of the Barcelona Summit; - the Community Patent (the Presidency hopes to set out the major lines of an agreement so that the Council may swiftly resolve technical matters. The agreement should mainly cover the role of the national offices and the linguistic question, by seeking a solution that is not too costly supported by the use of different languages for introducing a request, its review and publication of the patent); and the seats of the agencies: so that there is not too much jealousy, the list of decisions could comprise the allocation of eight to ten seats. These include: - the European Food Agency; - the European Aviation Safety Authority; - the European Maritime Safety Agency; - Eurojust; - the European Police College; - and the European Observatory for the Security of Information Technologies. One shrewd move will be the confirmation of seats for the EU Satellite Centre currently in Torrejón in Spain, and the Security Studies Institute in Paris. To this may possibly be added the seats of a future agency for railway safety, and perhaps also an agency for civil protection, for which no Commission proposals have yet been received.
Enlargement. The Council is to adopt conclusions and above all stress the importance of effective implementation of the acquis. Conclusions should also support efforts for a political settlement to the Cypriot question and welcome progress made by Turkey by encouraging it to continue its political, economic and administrative reforms.
EU actions further to attacks on the United States. The Council must take note of the report by the Presidency intended for the Laeken Summit and, if the preparatory work has results, it may reach a common position on the fight against terrorism, another common position on the freezing of assets as well as a political agreement (EP consultation would be necessary) on a regulation that takes up part of the Commission's proposals (accepted by the EP) to allow the EP to no longer depend on the decisions of the UN Sanctions Committee. Resumption of this issue is mainly linked to the difficulties encountered by some Member Sates for implementing Resolution 1373 of the Security Council, a Community regulation appearing faster than national legislative procedure.
GPS: the Council will examine the proposal of the Generalised Preferential Tariff Scheme (2002-2004). The adoption of this regulation is currently running up against two aspects: arrangements for the temporary withdrawal of preferences in case of serious violation of workers' rights or the harmful effects on the environment of products benefiting from it; - the addition of Pakistan to the list of beneficiaries of the "drugs" regime, so far applied to Latin American countries (this aspect poses a problem for Spain)
ESDP: the Council should endorse the Presidency report intended for the Laeken Summit. This report notably concerns the continued strengthening of capabilities, the EU's operationality and a mandate for the continuation of work under the Spanish Presidency. Over lunch, ministers will return to the prospects of a definitive agreement with NATO (see next article).
The Council should also adopt conclusions on the Balkans and Africa. In that context, it should decide to prolong by one year the remit of Aldo Ajello , and, possibly, choose a successor for Bodo Hombach for the Balkans among the two candidates: Denmark's Soeren Petersen and Austria's Erhard Busek.