Brussels, 14/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The last General Affairs Council presided by Spain will be held on 17 June in Luxembourg. It will devote a large part of its work to preparing the Seville Summit on 21 and 22 June. As usual, the GAC will be briefed on the state of progress of work in other Council formations (mainly on fisheries, the coal industry and justice and home affairs) and it will adopt without debate partnership negotiation mandates with the ACP countries and Switzerland.
Agreement with Switzerland: The Council will adopt the negotiating brief with Switzerland covering four sectors (Schengen Agreement, Dublin Convention, liberalisation of services and Swiss participation in the EU Media programmes). "This should speed up negotiations on taxation", said the Presidency.
Economic partnership agreements with ACP countries: The Council is to formally adopt the mandate authorising the Commission to negotiate economic partnership agreements (EPA) with integrated regional entities or individual ACP countries on the basis of negotiating directives presented in April (see EUROPE of 13 April, p.15). The aim is to enlarge the agreements with these countries to sectors such as services, and to encourage regional integration. The negotiating of these new trade agreements, compatible with WTO rules, is included in the Cotonou Agreement and aims to replace, in the medium term, the current system of unilateral trade preferences and to strengthen cooperation in all fields between the ACP countries and the Union. The opening of negotiations is foreseen for 27 September this year, on the occasion of a ministerial conference, so that the EPA may take effect on 1 January 2008 with the ACP countries that are ready.
Middle East: During lunch, Ministers will above all discuss the date of an international conference on peace. "The Commission hopes this conference will take place in coming weeks", Community circles say. Furthermore, the Council will discuss acceleration and consolidation of reform of the Palestinian Authority. "The Commission has been actively involved in this process for a very long time. Thanks to the Union's financial support, progress has already been made, such as increasing the personnel of the Authority, consolidation of its accounts and the implementation of the law on independence and judicial autonomy", it is said in the same circles. Furthermore, External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten will present to ministers the results of the analysis of evidence from the Israeli government concerning Israeli allegations that the Palestinian Authority used EU funds for financing terrorism. According to sources familiar with the issue, "not one of these pieces of evidence supports the allegations". Mr Patten will present the results to the budget and foreign affairs committees of the Parliament on Wednesday.
Relations with Iran: The Council will review the matter of the negotiating brief for a trade and cooperation agreement with Iran. During the last General Affairs Council on 13 May, there was broad consensus on the content of the agreement, leaving the question of the inclusion of the political clauses in doubt, however (see EUROPE of 13 and 14d May). "A majority of Member States agree with Mr Patten's proposal on a trade and cooperation agreement comprising an exchange of letters committing the two parties to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, and a joint declaration on political dialogue", remarks a Community source, adding that, at the present time, "only Germany and the Netherlands still want a joint agreement".
Preparation of the European Council of Seville: The Presidency will brief the Council on the themes to be discussed in Seville including, in particular: 1) illegal imilgration (see below); 2) Council reform with view to enlargement. The Council will examine the Presidency report to be presented in Seville, developed on the basis of the report presented by Javier Solana to the European Council of Barcelona in March (see our Special Edition of 17 March); 3) the Johannesburg Summit. The Council will be informed of a report on the strategy that the EU will be defending at the Summit on Sustainable Development and which should be adopted in Seville; 4) enlargement and mainly the situation in Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Turkey, as well as direct aid to farmers of candidate countries (see EUROPE of 10 and 11 June, p.8); 5) and progress made at the EU/Russia Summit on 29 May (see EUROPE of 30 May, p.3).
European Security and Defence policy and funding for EU military operations: The Council will take note of a report of the Presidency on the ESDP. This will be presented at Seville and review the progress achieved over the last six months, notably on crisis management, the development of EU capability, co-operation with NATO and conflict prevention. Under the Danish Presidency, meetings falling under the ESDP remit will be chaired by Greece. The Council is also expected to reach an agreement on a compromise established by the Presidency on funding EU military and defence operations. The Presidency stated that "We are approaching a solution". The compromise consists in establishing a list of so-called "joint" costs (communication between the military Headquarters) and other costs defined as national. However, certain costs will be decided case-by-case - sometimes "joint" and sometimes national. This last point was being debated at Coreper as we were going to press.
The Balkans: The Council will adopt conclusions on the political situation in the Balkan countries special attention will be given to Yugoslavia and Albania. Yugoslavia: The Council will examine the progress of the agreement between Serbia and Montenegro ("The 14 March Agreement" - see EUROPE 15 March). "The Commission will expect that the State be operational to present a mandate for negotiations in view of a co-operation and stabilisation agreement", indicated European sources, adding that this could be done in the autumn. Albania: The same source indicated that there wouldn't be adoption of a mandate for negotiations, by Monday. "Negotiations could begin under the Greek Presidency", he added. Most Member States, except for Italy and Greece, believe that Albania should continue its economic reforms and improve political stability before beginning negotiations.
The Council is expected to appoint the new Permanent Representative for the Union in Afghanistan. The only candidate to succeed Klaus-Peter Klaiber, whose mandate expired at the end of June, is the Spaniard, Frances Vendrelle. The Council will also discuss the situation in Zimbabwe (see EUROPE 13 June p3) and the crisis between India and Pakistan.