Brussels, 29/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers, which is to begin on Friday and end on Saturday, will be essentially devoted, as we had earlier pointed out, to reflection on stages that should lead to the conclusion of accession negotiations with the first candidate countries as well as to the political perspectives opened by the reform process begun in the Palestinian territories in the Middle East (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.2, and 24 August, p.2). This was specified in Brussels on Thursday by Poul Skytte Christoffersen, Denmark's Permanent Representative for the EU, who stated that the Elsinore meeting will focus on future relations between the enlarged EU and its new neighbours, namely Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, as well as flooding in Central Europe, and developments in the political situation in Turkey and Iraq. The question of Kaliningrad could also be discussed following the recent measures taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin to prevent the dossier from remaining bogged down (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.2). No noteworthy move forward, however, is expected on this point, hinted Mr Christoffersen, in so far as the ministers should await the Commission report on the Russian enclave to be published mid-September. Finally, the Fifteen are to tackle the thorny issue of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Washington is currently conducting a campaign among the signatories of the Treaty establishing the ICC so that they sign bilateral agreements providing for US personnel not to be sent before the Court when indicted for alleged war crimes. Israel, East Timor and Romania have now concluded such agreements and, according to some European diplomats, teams under Tony Blair in the UK and Silvio Berlusconi in Italy may be led astray when beckoned by the Americans. In a recent opinion issued by its legal service, the Commission considers that the signatories of the ICC would be violating the treaty establishing the Court if they signed bilateral agreements providing for immunity for US personnel. Given the likely division that this may cause among the Fifteen, Ambassador Marie-Louise Overvad, COPS Representative, declared on Thursday that the Danish Presidency considers the "integrity of the ICC is essential". She said "We do not wish to conclude bilateral agreements which would undermine its credibility". She nonetheless specified that it would be necessary to find ways to preserve the Court's integrity by avoiding harming the quality of transatlantic relations. Mrs Overvad also confirmed that experts from Member States would be meeting on 4 September to discuss this issue.