Brussels, 22/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - As briefly reported in yesterday's Europe (page 3), Luxembourg's foreign minister Jean Asselborn and his deputy, Nicolas Schmit, outlined the Luxembourg Presidency's work programme to journalists on Wednesday for the first half of 2005 (the eleventh Luxembourg Presidency). An outline of the main priorities (details will follow over the next few weeks):
2007-2013 Financial Perspectives. The Luxembourg Presidency wants 'political agreement' to be reached in June 2005, said Asselborn, in order to allow the adoption of the various necessary items of legislation at the end of 2005 and the necessary preparatory work to be completed in 2006 for the new generation of EU programmes to start in 2007 (see Juncker's statements in yesterday's Europe, p.3). Asselborn hoped the UK elections, the date of which has not yet been set, will take place earlier in the year, perhaps in March, which would give more time for the negotiations. It is clear that it will be very difficult to reach agreement on the Financial Perspectives, noted Asselborn, if the UK elections are not held until May 2005. The Commission's proposals are the basic reference point, for all the negotiations under the Luxembourg Presidency, said deputy foreign minister Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg's erstwhile Permanent Representative to the EU - the current Permanent Representative is Martine Schommer). The Commission's proposals allow full, rich, discussion, he said. The general correction mechanism suggested by the Commission and favoured by the biggest net contributors will also be on the table. Schmit said that there was no reason, a priori, to challenge the mechanism. Without some kind of correction mechanism, incorporating or gradually replacing the existing correction mechanism (the British refund),it will be impossible to strike agreement. The negotiations will focus on the type of correction mechanism to be introduced and here, we will simply have to wait and see what the negotiations come up with, commented Schmit. He admitted that it would be difficult, but not impossible, to get overall agreement on the Financial Perspectives by the end of June 2005. The Luxembourg Presidency will take over from the work done by the Dutch Presidency to prepare the negotiations, but intends to quickly move beyond the Dutch Presidency's building blocks approach and get down to the real negotiations, to be launched at the General Affairs Council on 31 January. Schmit said the way the German Presidency had managed the negotiations over the current Financial Perspectives (2000-2006) was a good example, and Luxembourg would be using a very similar method, using negotiating boxes.
Mid-term review of the Lisbon Process. The March 2005 European Council will make a mid-term review of the Lisbon Process based on a policy report by the European Commission, to be published at the beginning of February. The Luxembourg Presidency hopes to assess the strategy and refocus priorities, improve governance and implementation of the strategy and introduced a targetted communication strategy. It wants to encourage greater synergy between the three pillars (which should be retained) of the economy, social affairs and the environment. Luxembourg suggests the 2010 deadline should be retained.
Stability and Growth Pact. Based on guidelines drafted by the Dutch Presidency and the ECOFIN Council for strengthening economic governance of the EMU and clarifying how the Stability Pact is implemented, Luxembourg wants agreement to be reached on revising the Pact at the Spring 2005 Summit. Asselborn said this should take the form of a European Council resolution in his view.
Bulgaria/Romania. The joint Accession Treaty for Bulgaria and Romania will be signed on the fringes of the General Affairs Council of 25/26 April 2005, assuming the European Parliament gives its final opinion on accession in time (the EP is expected to vote on it in April). If the EP vote gives the expected result for both countries together, it is virtually certain the agreement can be signed on 25/ April, said Asselborn. He added that the Luxembourg Presidency would try to ensure the liberation of the Bulgarian nursing staff and the Palestinian doctor imprisoned in Libya, noting that financial measures to help Bulgaria.
Croatia. In order for Croatia to start accession negotiations on 17 March 2005, as decided at last week's Summit. Asselborn said Croatia had to 'fully cooperate' with the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and fully means 100%. The Croatian prime minister's appeal to former General Ante Gotovina to hand himself in 'is not enough', said Asselborn. The Luxembourg Presidency will be contacting Carla del Ponte (probably in January) to see whether the Croatian government is really cooperating one hundred percent, and would then brief the General Affairs Council, which in turn will decide whether to launch negotiations, said Asselborn.
USA. The Luxembourg presidency will essentially be marked by the visit of president Bush on 22 February. Mr Asselborn (who was in Washington this week where he met Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice) explained that Mr Bush would first go to NATO in the morning and then to the Council and European Commission in the afternoon. He added that, "In my opinion, a meeting with the Heads of State and government of the Twenty-five will take place early afternoon, followed by a bilateral meeting with the presidency. We will do all we can to get a meeting between EU Heads and Mr Bush".
Turkey. The Luxembourg presidency will begin preparatory work on opening negotiations on 3 October 2005, but Mr Asselborn indicated on Wednesday that setting out a detailed negotiations framework would probably take place in the second half of 2005. Asked about his declarations criticising the Turkish delegation's attitude in the final negotiations at last week's summit (according to some articles, Mr Asselborn described Turkish negotiators, including Mr Erdogan as "carpet salesmen"), the minister replied that the had always very clearly defended, as had all of the Luxembourg government, opening negotiations with Turkey. He added that at the end of the European Council and after the champagne, he had met Turkish leaders who where questioning everything again and aggressively and inadmissibly speaking about Cyprus. This was his first European Council and Mr Asselborn did not consider that this way the correct manner to proceed and had therefore spoken out.
EU's linguistic system. During the "General Affairs" Council on 13 December, Spain formally submitted a request at the Council to amend the regulation on the EU's language system in order to obtain special status for certain regional languages (such as Catalan), for example, in the translation of the constitutional Treaty. Mr Asselborn said that, "the Council has convened, and I entirely agree with this position, that it will be necessary to reflect on this subject before taking steps in the wrong direction. We are going to try and get the formula right and go in the right decision".
Appointments /HQ. The presidency will also strive to settle the problem of appointing a director of Europol, "but for that, we will need the unanimous agreement of the Twenty-five", explained Mr Schmit. In order for Europol to function efficiently, it is important to chose this person soon, he said. The presidency also hopes to be able to obtain agreement in the next few months on location of the location of the HQ of the Border Agency but the agency is still expected to begin work in Brussels on 1 May 2005, even if the issue of where its HQ is located is not settled, explained Mr Schmit: "There are precedents for this".