Brussels, 28/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Danish Minister Per Stig Moeller, who from 1 July will chair the EU Council, told the press in Brussels on Friday, in answer to questions, that on 3 July he would set out his ideas before Secretary of State Colin Powell on the possibility of convening a Peace Conference for the Middle East. The Conference will probably take place in July, but as future President of the Council I must look at all possibilities, and I have been in contact with other ministers, he said in answer to a question. The General Affairs Council of 22 July will broach the issue, he announced. To a question on Yasser Arafat, Mr. Moeller simply replied: whoever is elected by the Palestinians is the one we shall negotiate with.
Mr. Moeller presented the programme of the Danish Presidency for the next semester to the press (we shall return to the scheduling in detail) that bears the slogan "One Europe", slogan that illustrates will the priority this presidency gives to enlargement, but without neglecting other priorities, like an area of justice, freedom and security, economic growth compatible with environmental protection, a "food policy for the long-term" and the EU's role in the world. The pat of the programme devoted to defence has been written by Greece, the minister points out (consequence of the Danish "opt-out"). Along the lines put forward by Prime Minister Rasmussen (see yesterday's EUROPE page 5), Mr. Moeller repeated that accession negotiations had to be completed at the Copenhagen Summit, and tat the EU must submit the final common positions to the candidates early-November. "We cannot postpone this deadline", he confirmed. He then said he hoped to settle all "non budgetary" chapters as soon as possible, "preferably in July, otherwise September". To a journalist who noted that the Polish Foreign Minister had just said that "the train need no necessarily leave at 19.10 hrs., but could leave at 19.30, if the conditions for Poland were better", Mr. Moeller said: I saw your minister yesterday, and his message then was that "it is important to finalise negotiations in Copenhagen". He then hammered home: we shall not be able to settle three months later what we were unable to settle in Copenhagen, we must "grasp this historic moment", otherwise it will disappear. And if Poland is prepared to wait until March, maybe another candidate will say "why not July", to have "a better deal", but if we miss this "window of opportunity", there "may be no deal at all", he warned. Asked about Turkey, Moeller noted that it was a candidate country, and that they would make a "constructive effort", but that they could not accept a country that did not meet the Copenhagen criteria. Will the Presidency's attitude towards Ankara depend on Cyprus? I believe that we "must stay aside" and let the UN play its role, answered Mr. Moeller to the question.
In addition, questioned about the Denmark's reputation as "xenophobic country" since the last elections, Mr. Moeller replied: "that's a little exaggerated, we have adopted a certain number of restrictive measures which correspond to what other countries are doing and what was decided in Seville".