Brussels, 12/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The foreign affairs ministers of the EU will be meeting in Luxembourg on 15 October for a General Affairs of External Relations Council with a particularly packed agenda. Beforehand, meeting for the intergovernmental conference (IGC), they will carry out an initial political assessment of the text of the future treaty, as drafted by the legal experts (see other article and EUROPE 9514).
General Affairs. The Council will discuss the rapid response mechanism for deployment in case of natural disasters. After the fires which hit the country this summer, Greece will present a number of guidelines to improve the current mechanisms, by such means as reinforcing EU action.
Russia. The ministers will prepare for the summit to be held on 26 October in Mafra (Portugal), on the basis of a working note prepared by the Council Secretariat. This note stresses the need for Russia to respect democratic principles and fundamental freedoms, particularly in the run-up to the parliamentary elections (December) and the presidential elections (March 2008). In Mafra, the EU will voice its “concerns” at the situation regarding human rights and respect for the freedom of expression, press and assembly in Russia. The EU will also make it clear to President Vladimir Putin that all of the political parties must be able to participate freely in the electoral process, the note adds. The agenda of the summit includes points such as the implementation of the four common areas, future energy cooperation, the prospects for the opening of negotiations on a new partnership agreement, Russia's accession to the WTO, the future status of Kosovo, the Iranian nuclear programme, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Moldova and Central Asia.
Chad. The Council will adopt conclusions stressing the regional dimension of the conflict in Darfur and welcoming the nomination of the commander of the EU military force in Chad and in the Central African Republic. It will also adopt the common action laying down the details of this ESDP mission. The financial aspects of the Chad/RCA EUFOR mission, which will be deployed from November for a period of one year, were decided upon by Coreper on Thursday 11 October. €99.2 million will be made available from common costs contributed by all of the member states on the basis of a clear division using the GNP key, with the majority of the funding to be borne by the participant member states.
Myanmar. The ministers will adopt critical conclusions on the situation in Burma, announcing their intention to bring in extended sanctions at European level, whilst firmly supporting the mission of the special envoy of the UN, Ibrahim Gambari. The text, which has still to be finalised, will call for the end of violent repression by the military junta and pave the way for a new package of sanctions against Rangoon. This package aims to scale up existing sanctions (adding new names to the list of people hit by a visa ban) and will provide for commercial sanctions (restrictions on imports and exports, particularly of wood, precious stones and, possibly, gas).
Iran. In its conclusions, the Council will reaffirm its support for the double approach (negotiations and possibility of sanctions). In parallel to efforts carried out by the UN and the forthcoming discussions of the Security Council in November on a possible third resolution against Iran, the ministers will call on the experts to see which additional measures could be taken at European level, if needs be.
Montenegro. It had originally been planned that the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) negotiated with Montenegro would be signed on Monday. On Friday afternoon, however, there was still uncertainty hanging over signature, due to a linguistic problem brought up by Bulgaria. Sofia is calling for the Bulgarian language version of the SAA with Montenegro to include the term “Euro” written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The other member countries have refused to allow this, as the word “Euro” is transcribed with a “v” rather than a “u” in the Cyrillic alphabet: “Evro” rather than “Euro”. However, the European Council of Madrid in 1995 had decided that the word “Euro” must be the same in all of the official languages of the EU, taking account of the different alphabets (Latin, Greek and Cyrillic). The Portuguese presidency acknowledges that the Bulgarian demand is not without foundation, given that the accession Treaty of Bulgaria, in the Bulgarian language, spells Euro per Cyrillic way: “Evro”. “We let this error go” when the text was translated in 2006, a high-ranking diplomat admits. However, in the view of the presidency, this “horizontal problem”, which has nothing to do with Montenegro, could be resolved “easily”, possibly by means of a Bulgarian decoration stating that the SAA is without prejudice to the solution which will have to be found in the future. “But it is by no means justified to take Montenegro hostage”, stresses the presidency, which has left it until Friday evening for the Bulgarians to lift their veto, otherwise Monday's signature ceremony must be cancelled.
Serbia. The ministers will hold an exchange of views with the prosecutor general of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, who will give her assessment of the level of cooperation of the Serbian authorities with the Tribunal in searching for the last fugitives accused of war crimes still at large. On the basis of Ms del Ponte's report, the EU27 must decide - most likely at the forthcoming Council in November - whether Belgrade has fulfilled the criterion of “full cooperation”, allowing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the text of which has been ready for several weeks, to be signed.
Bosnia-Herzegovina. In their conclusions, the ministers regret the fact that police reform has still not been carried out due to a “lack of determination” on the part of various leaders of the country. Whilst reiterating the European perspectives of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the draft conclusions also stipulate that negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) remain suspended, pending an agreement on police reform in line with the principles laid down by the EU.
Kosovo. The ministers will take stock of the results of the meeting of the international troika (EU, Russia, United States) and of direct talks between the Serbs and the Albanian Kosovars, which will be held in Brussels on Sunday 14 October. The Council is to adopt conclusions on this subject.
Uzbekistan. The Council is to adopt conclusions recommending that the regime sanction against Uzbekistan be extended for one year, but that the visa ban be suspended temporarily. In May 2007, the Council extended the visa ban by six months, but removed four names from the list of people affected, which now stands at eight (EUROPE 9426). On Monday, the Council is set to decide to extend for 12 months both the embargo on weapons, provided for in the common position of November 2006 (EUROPE 9305), and the visa ban, the application of which will nonetheless be relaxed. In order to take account of various signs of openness on the part of the Uzbek authorities, and to encourage them to improve the human rights situation in the country, these restrictions will not be implemented immediately. The EU27 are planning a further examination, within the next six months, and will decide to apply sanctions on visas, if the Uzbek authorities fail to respect certain specific criteria relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms, and also the rule of law and the work of NGOs. Before it can be approved by the ministers, this text has still to be discussed by the Political and Security Committee and by Coreper on Monday morning.
The Council will also adopt a range of conclusions on the peace process in the Middle East, Lebanon, Iraq and Libya (EUROPE 9521). Discussions are also planned on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and on Zimbabwe, further to the visit to South Africa of the Portuguese Foreign Affairs Minister, Luis Amado. Lastly, the Commission will report back to the ministers on the state of play with negotiations concerning the economic partnership agreements (EPA) with the ACP countries (EUROPE 9521). On the sidelines of the Council, on Tuesday 16 October, three Cooperation Councils will be held with countries of the Southern Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). (ab/hb)