Brussels, 12/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - The General Affairs/External Relations Council to meet on 15 May under the presidency of Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik will be of rather a special kind and will have a very full agenda. Although the subject of defence will be the focus of work during the morning (see related article), over lunch Foreign Ministers will discuss the Iranian nuclear issue and the future of European and international aid to Palestinians. No concrete decisions are, however, expected on either of these two dossiers. While their foreign affairs and defence colleagues are having their lunchtime discussion, the ministers for European affairs will be discussing proposals put forward by the Austrian Presidency to make decisions taken at the Council of Ministers more transparent. In “point A” (without debate), the Council will also formally approve the interinstitutional agreement concluded with the European Parliament (which is to give its stance next week in plenary) on the financial perspectives for 2007-2013.
On the fringe of the Council, several other meetings are also scheduled: - a ministerial Troika with a delegation from the OSCE; - a Troika with defence ministers from Norway, ,Iceland, Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM); - an EU/Gulf Cooperation Council (see related article); - and an EU/Algeria Association Council. The agenda of the Foreign Ministers' meeting is as follows:
Preparation of the European Council on 15 and 16 June. This will be the only point in the General Affairs part of Monday's Council. Ministers will discuss the draft agenda that the Austrian Presidency has prepared for the Summit but will not yet discuss the substance of these dossiers, a presidency diplomat said on Friday. The agenda annotated by the Presidency contains the following points: - the future of Europe (first of all it will be a question of drawing up the results reached during the reflection period decreed in June 2005 and of deciding on the next steps to be taken); - internal security; - crisis management; - effectiveness and coherency of the EU's external policy; - EU external relations in the field of energy; - institutional issues; - the “better regulation” initiative; - EU enlargement; - transparency, subsidiarity and comitology; - sustainable development; - the EU's social dimension; - and economic growth and employment. The European Council in June will also adopt conclusions on several international policy issues. Diplomatic sources commented on Friday that the Presidency's “somewhat confused” but very full draft agenda did cause some irritation this week at Coreper where the debate seems to have been “difficult, both on substance and on form”.
Transparency. During their separate lunch, the European affairs ministers will discuss proposals from the Austrian Presidency aimed at increasing the transparency of deliberation at the Council of Ministers. A Presidency note states that major measures have recently been taken to improve openness and transparency. However, taking the current political context into account, the European Council should make a decisive step forward and decide on a more effective policy when it comes to transparency in Council. Such a gesture, it goes on to say, would underline the EU's determination to make citizens more actively involved in its work and thus come closer to its citizens. In concrete terms, the Austrian presidency suggests that all Council deliberations covered by codecision should be open to the public, except in cases where the Council decides otherwise. The Council must also be able to decide to open deliberation on legislative texts that are not governed by codecision procedure, the Presidency suggests. Public debates should also be organised more regularly on important matters that are of direct interest to citizens, as well as during presentation of Council and Commission work programmes and the priorities of the successive presidencies. Finally, the EU should rapidly take measures to allow citizens to attend these different public deliberations in Council “live”, in particular via Internet “video-streaming”.
Aid to Palestinians. After the decision of principle by the Quartet in favour of creating a temporary mechanism that is entirely independent of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority for taking international aid direct to the Palestinian people (see EUROPE 9189), ministers will examine how such a mechanism can function, by what channels the money should travel, what exactly the aid should be used for and what donors may contribute to such aid. No decision on this will be taken on Monday, all the more as the Commission is currently still consulting donors and international institutions to finalise these very essential technical details. This work will no doubt take a few more weeks, Commission sources said on Friday.
Iran/nuclear. Ministers will above all discuss the proposed incentives and sanctions against Teheran that the EU-3 (Germany, France and the United Kingdom) has been tasked with developing since the meeting of foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (EUROPE 9189). Community sources state that no package of proposals being developed will be on the table Monday. The Council will therefore discuss the possibilities of fleshing out the package of economic cooperation, commercial and technological proposals tabled in August 2005 - and immediately rejected by Iran. The main aim is to achieve progress on the technological cooperation chapters for the development of a nuclear programme for civilian purposes and regional security. In this context, the Council is expected to adopt conclusions which - while noting Teheran's failure to comply with the demands of the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency and to suspend all its uranium-enrichment related activities - stress that “The EU hopes Iran will not fail to take up such an offer”.
Iraq. The Council will hold an exchange of views on the situation in Iraq, and above all progress made with a view to forming a national unity government. In their conclusions, ministers will welcome this progress and launch an appeal to all political formations to support the process so that the national unity government is formed “as soon as possible” (official deadline for formation of the government is 22 May). Ministers will also essentially underline the fact that the EU remains willing to pursue and reinforce political dialogue and to negotiate a trade and cooperation agreement with Iraq. Negotiations have not yet begun, pending the formation of the new Iraqi government. The EU is also ready to extend its EUJUST LEX mission (Integrated Rule of Law Mission) if the Iraqi authorities so request, ministers state in their draft conclusions.
Russia. Ministers are to prepare the EU/Russia Summit of 25 May. EUROPE will come back to this.
Africa. The Council will discuss the meeting of the EU/Africa ministerial Troika held this week in Vienna (see EUROPE 9188), the situation in Darfur (Sudan) and Chad. They are also expected to adopt conclusions on the Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda and the upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Western Balkans. In its conclusions on the Balkans, the Council is expected to give its support to the European Commission's decision concerning Serbia-Montenegro (EUROPE 9184). The Commission has announced its decision to call off the negotiating round on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) (normally scheduled for 11 May) due to the fact that Belgrade has not been fully cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Council is expected to reaffirm its support for resuming negotiations as soon as Belgrade has shown it is fully cooperating with the ICTY. It is adamant that the Serb authorities must transfer all indictees before the ICTY, including General Ratko Mladic. If such conditions are met, then negotiations may be concluded in keeping with the Commission timetable, namely by end 2006.
On the subject of Montenegro, the Council is expected to insist that there be a fair and orderly referendum process on independence or keeping the union with Serbia, scheduled for 21 May. This should take place in line with the rules in force in Montenegro. The Council is also expected to call on the parties to abstain from all unilateral action during the referendum process, to ensure that voters have the possibility of freely expressing their wishes without interference and, above all, that, if all these conditions are met, the result of the referendum be accepted, whatever the outcome.
Finally, the Council is expected to express disappointment that the House of Representatives of the Bosnian Parliament had not adopted the constitutional reform aimed at reforming the country's institutions. It should also encourage Bosnian authorities to continue the path of constitutional reforms, and indicated the Union's readiness to reinforce its engagement in BiH in the context of the envisaged closure of the OHR (Office of the High Representative). In this context, it calls on the EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, on the European Commission and on the Council Presidency to begin consultation with Christian Schwarz-Schilling (High Representative for the international community who is also Special EU Representative for Bosnia), the Bosnian authorities and the Steering Board of the PIC (Peace Implementation Council), set up after the Dayton Peace Agreements, and to present a joint assessment to the Council.
The Council is also expected to stress the importance of regional cooperation between the Western Balkan States.