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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 9197
THE DAY IN POLITICS / (eu) eu/iran

Permanent Security Council members seek compromise on basis of EU-3 package

Brussels, 22/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - On the basis of the package of incentives and sanctions proposals drawn up last week by the EU-3 (Germany, France and the United Kingdom), the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, will seek to finalise a common position during a meeting in London on 24 May with a view to a legally binding draft resolution against Iran, with a view to compelling it to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Regarding technological and nuclear cooperation, the new package of proposals for Iran, an improved version of the August 2005 package, provides assistance in the building of several light water reactors and the creation of a nuclear fuel bank - if Tehran stops uranium enrichment. It also integrates the Russian proposal regarding relocation of Iran's uranium enrichment activities to Russia. The new package also provides, in two other chapters, a matching series of commercial, technological, political and security items. According to Le Monde, the package confirms “Iran's undeniable right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes”, but stresses that Tehran must cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors and “suspend all activity related to enrichment and reprocessing” during negotiations on the nuclear programme. A new element compared to last August's European offer is that the EU-3 package of measures combines sanctions with incentives. As a concession by Russia to China, under the terms of Article 41 of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, it provides for the adoption of appropriate measures which do not involve the use of force. Six of these measures target nuclear and missile programmes and nine others are of a political and economic kind, such as the refusal to issue visas for well-known figures, the freeze on assets, the arms embargo and the embargo on exports, especially oil products.

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