Brussels, 19/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana, High Representative of the EU for CFSP, did not care to comment on the announcement that Spanish troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq. "The EU respects decisions when they are taken democratically. There is no doubt that this was a decision taken by a democratic government after an election. There is really nothing to be said", Javier Solana told the press on Monday, after a meeting between the Political and Security Committee of the EU (COPS) and the North Atlantic Council (NAC). However, Mr Solana stressed "the Spanish Prime Minister's undertaking to remain entirely committed in the fight against terrorism and for stability in Iraq". The Deputy Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, was even more succinct, indicating that NATO did not play a "direct role" in Iraq, and thus would not comment. For the time being, "there are no formal talks" about a direct role in Iraq for the organisation. "NATO's main priority is Afghanistan", he reiterated.
The EU's taking over of NATO's SFOR mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina was also the subject of a discussion attended by Admiral Feist, NATO's D-SACEUR, who was the commander in chief of the EU's Concordia military mission in Macedonia. Last week, Javier Solana presented COPS with his "general concept" of the EU's future mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This "general concept", which lays down the details of the future EU mission, is to be approved by the Council of the EU on 27 April, having been discussed by COPS this Tuesday and Friday. Once this concept is adopted, the EU will work on the planning and strategic preparations for its operation in Bosnia, pending a formal NATO decisions to end its mission on the ground. Once this decision is taken, in theory at the Istanbul Summit on 28 and 29 June, the Council may decide to launch the EU mission no later than the end of the year (see also EUROPE of 7 April, p.4).
During the discussions on Kosovo, Mr Solana reiterated the well-known position of the EU, which he also defended in Tullamore last Friday (see above): the policy of "standards before status", the respect by Kosovars of political and economic criteria before laying down a definitive status for Kosovo. Mr Solana also emphasised protection for Serbian minorities and the reconstruction of the province following the inter-ethnic violence of last March.
Plenary session of the European Parliament