Brussels, 21/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has criticised the announcement by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he would not attend the upcoming summit between the EU and Africa in Lisbon (Portugal) on 8-9 December if the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, went there. In the 20 September issue of The Independent, Gordon Brown explained that the presence of Robert Mugabe, who is covered by an EU travel ban, would undermine the summit and turn attention away from the real issues, and therefore Brown said that it would not be appropriate for the British prime minister to attend. This was Brown's first statement on Zimbabwe since taking over as prime minister in June. The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, does not share his views. On Friday, a spokesperson for Barroso said that there were vital issues on the agenda for the summit like energy, climate change, peace and stability, development policy, governance, migration, etc, which had to be discussed with all African countries. He added that EU-African relations could not be held for ransom by a specific situation in one country. The situation in Zimbabwe is extremely concerning, he said, but it cannot be an obstacle to dialogue with an entire continent. (hb)