Financing of enlargement, Middle East, Balkans and Zimbabwe high on Monday's agenda

Brussels, 15/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The fifteen European Union foreign ministers will be meeting in Brussels on Monday for a new General Affairs Council meeting under the chairmanship of Spaniard Josep Pique. After discussing horizontal meetings in the morning and a lunch over which they will discuss the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan (with the Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah who is due to arrive at the time the ministers are having coffee), the ministers in the afternoon will discuss the effectiveness of the EU's external action and the situation in the Balkans and Zimbabwe (see next article). The meeting will be followed on Tuesday morning by a Troika breakfast meeting with Croatia and meetings of the Association Councils of the three Baltic states. The detailed agenda is as follows:

Barcelona European Council. The ministers will exchange views on preparing for the spring Summit before they look in more detail at the March General Affairs Council. Discussions are expected to focus on candidate countries' investment in the Lisbon process. The Presidency is expected to send a formal invitation to the candidate countries at the end of February or the beginning of March. It has also scheduled a Social Summit on 14 March with the prime ministers and social affairs ministers of Spain, Denmark and Greece.

Enlargement. The ministers will consider the financial framework for enlargement that was discussed at their meeting in Caceres (see EUROPE of 11 February, p.13).

Cohesion. Commissioner Michel Barnier will outline the second cohesion report to the Council which also includes prospects for changing cohesion policy after 2006 (see EUROPE of 31 January, p.11).

Effectiveness of EU's external action. With Commissioner Chris Patten, the Council will examine various aspects of the effectiveness of external action - assessing the reform of the external services; regional breakdown of EU funding and whether rebalancing is required; autonomy and integration of development co-operation in CFSP (requested by Spanish Presidency);

permanent arrangements to render the policy aimed at eradicating poverty more operational; - better co-ordination between the Commission and Member States; - emergency procedure..

Monterrey Conference: the Council will have a brief exchange of views on preparations for the United Nations Conference on financing development, and should back a rapid examination of the Commission's report on the subject (see EUROPE of 14 February, p.5).

Terrorism: the Council will discuss ongoing work aimed at re-appraising relations with third countries in the light of their co-operation in the struggle against terrorism. They have also to examine the possibility of the introduction, the form and implementing arrangements of a "terrorism" clause in agreements with third countries. Another aspect concerns whether or not to provide for technical assistance to help these countries combat terrorism. At this stage, it is still only a question of a policy debate.

Middle East: ministers will return to this issue in the light of the latest developments and the Presidency paper that draws up a list of initiatives suggested by different Member States (see EUROPE of 11 February, p.6).

Western Balkans: the Council will discuss the situation in Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, notably in the light of the visit by the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana who should brief ministers on the reply President Djukanovic will have given him on whether or not to pursue with Montenegro's independence process. You may recall that the EU is trying to convince the two sides of the need to negotiate constitutional and technical solutions in view of preserving the integrity of Yugoslavia. In that context, Solana could again go back next week. The Council has also to examine the EU's taking over from the UN International Police Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1 January 2003. The Council should finalise talks on several aspects, except the funding for the period 2003-2006: 38 million euro are necessary and only 10 are available in the CFSP budget: Member States' taking on the cost of the personnel they place at the disposal of this force should cover 18 million, but they still need a solution to find the rest. These 10 million could be found by calling on the key-distribution of GNP provided for in Article 28 of the EU Treaty but that would require unanimity and Germany has already expressed strong reservations. The EU police force should comprise 500 high level officers (instead of the current 1,700) who will be deployed in sensitive areas and responsible for advising the Bosnian police in the framework of the adoption and implementation of European standards. The EU approach is also different to the UN's in that this police mission will have to be consistent with the association and stabilisation process. The leadership of this police force could be handed to Denmark's Svend Frederiksen (who had already participated in the mission in Kosovo), whereas Paddy Ashdown has been mentioned a possible successor to Mr. Petritsch as High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, but these nominations are not scheduled for Monday. The Council has also to renew the mandate of the Special Representative in Macedonia, Alain Le Roy, to 30 June, and praise, on the basis of a report from the Court of Auditors, the effectiveness of the European Agency for Reconstruction in Kosovo.

Defence: the Spanish Presidency is proposing the creation of a General Affairs Council of Defence, which would enable defence ministers to meet alone on issues linked to the capabilities management, crisis management as such remaining within the remit of the foreign ministers. The Presidency is considering using this formula at the meeting of 13 and 14 March.