Brussels, 27/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - While the sanctions decided against the Zimbabwean leaders are to expire on 18 February and should therefore be renewed, several EU Member States hope to review arrangements for application of the visa refusal that affects Mr Mugabe, members of his family, his government and the leaders of ZANU-PF. France, first of all, invited Robert Mugabe to the Franco-African Summit to be held on 20 February in Paris, and Portugal is to host the EU-Africa Summit on 5 April in Lisbon. These countries fear that the refusal to invite Zimbabwe could entail a lower participation on the part of African partners.
In accordance with European sanctions, France had given notification of its intention to invite Mr Mugabe, but the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany called for this to be discussed, which was done on Monday at the lunch of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers. Ministers did not, however, come to an agreement and decided to refer the matter to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), that must now find a solution. France and Portugal, with the support of Belgiulm and Spain, weere seeking the end to the current veto that allows a single Member State to oppos a derogation that enables someone subject to sanctions to take part in an international meeting on EU territory. The solution that could ensure would be renewed sanctions, together with a meachanisam demanding majority qualified voting when oppoisng such a derogation.