Brussels, 10/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 10 March, the External Relations Council held a detailed discussion on relations between the EU and Georgia. At the present time, contractual relations with this former USSR republic are governed by a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) which took effect on 1 July 1999. Georgia also comes under European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and, in November 2006, signed an action plan with the EU for implementation of this policy. During Monday's Council, foreign ministers of several member states (Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) took the view that these relations should be made more “dynamic”. Several avenues were discussed, ranging from visa facilitation procedures to the negotiation of a free trade area. In principle, on the first subject, the Council was in favour but stressed that a series of conditions and security criteria should be complied with before a visa facilitation agreement could be negotiated. The Commission was entrusted with the task of looking at how it could help Georgia to meet such criteria. On the subject of the free tax area, the PAC provides for both parties to envisage a long term possibility. A feasibility study is underway on this. The Council wants, moreover, to await the results of the study before contemplating additional steps in this direction. Ministers also discussed legislative elections scheduled for May 2008 and expressed the hope that the ballot would take place in better conditions than the presidential elections in January. The Council finally also discussed frozen conflicts especially in the separatist regions of Abkhazia, Adjara and South Ossetia. During the press conference after the Council, Council President Dimitrij Rupel expressed the EU's concern about the attempts made in these separatist regions and in Russia to “draw parallels with the case of Kosovo”. The EU has always stressed that Kosovo's independence was a unique case (sui generis), which could not be used as an example for other breakaway movements. (H.B.)