Brussels, 15/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - At the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, discussions will largely turn to the preparations for the European Council on 21-22 June and to the worrying developments in the Middle East, especially in Palestinian territories (see related article). From Sunday evening on, under the chairmanship of Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the EU27 will seek to move forward with a view to an agreement at the European Council on the main elements of the future EU treaty (see related article). On Monday, they will return to the other issues tackled in the conclusions by the heads of state and government (justice and home affairs, economic and social issues, external relations). On the fringe of the Council, two cooperation councils will be held: one on Monday evening with Ukraine, the other on Tuesday morning with Moldova. On Tuesday afternoon, a troika will be held between the EU and Albania.
On Monday, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson will take stock, with ministers, of the state of progress in discussions on the Doha Round, while a ministerial G4 meeting is foreseen for 19-22 June in Potsdam (EUROPE 9446). Without making any major changes, the Council should then approve the conclusions adopted last Tuesday at the JHA Council concerning a global approach to migration. With a view to the summit, the Council will also examine two priorities of the German presidency, which should not give rise to major discussion. It will thus adopt a report on progress made to strengthen European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), as well as the relevant conclusions, and will also endorse the draft EU strategy for Central Asia (EUROPE 9442).
The list of international issues to be discussed by ministers is long (with conclusions on Afghanistan, Uganda, small arms and light weapons, etc) but the situation in the Middle East will be the hottest subject. The Council will discuss the situation during lunch before a long awaited meeting in the afternoon with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. In conclusions still to be finalised, the Council will return to the way events are unfolding in Lebanon, but especially in Palestine. “The situation there is about as bad as it can get” and “the hope of creating a Palestinian state is almost reduced to nothing”, a senior European diplomat said on Friday, not ruling out the fact that the European Council may take a stance depending on how things develop in Palestine.
The Council will then discuss the best way to strengthen EU commitment in favour of a political solution to the crisis in Darfur. The most recent developments will serve as a backdrop to the debate. These are, in particular, Khartoum's refusal of the French invitation to attend the international conference on Darfur convened in Paris on 25 June, and the three-way consultations in Addis Ababa (11-12 June), after which the Sudanese government agreed that a UN/AU hybrid peacekeeping force should be deployed. The text of the conclusions to be adopted by the Council remains open, the content being for the most part subject to the visit to be made to Khartoum by the United Nations Security Council on 17 June.
Conclusions on the Western Balkans will be on Serbia, with which the EU has resumed talks with a view to a stabilisation and association agreement (EUROPE 94445), but also on visa facilitation and re-entry agreements with the countries of the region (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), as well as on Kosovo. The EU, which supports the efforts made by Martti Ahtisaari, takes the view that the status of Kosovo should be settled with a UN Security Council Resolution (EUROPE 9443).
Finally, the German presidency will submit a proposal to the Council on how, at the United Nations, to tackle the question of an international moratorium on capital punishment. Many, including the Commission, believe that such an initiative should be fine-tuned in order to ensure that it has a sufficient majority before it is presented to the UN General Assembly.
Over lunch, ministers will discuss their relations with the Arab League and the nuclear issue in Iran, which has made little headway since discussions between Javier Solana and Ali Larijani in Madrid at the end of May (EUROPE 9437). They will also evoke the fate of the Bulgarian medical personnel and the Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya, in whose favour sensitive negotiations have already begun (EUROPE 9443). (ab)