Brdo, 28/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - The foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states are to discuss the situation in Tibet on Saturday 29 March at their meeting in Brdo, Slovenia. Carefully avoiding entering into the question of sanctions against China, ministers are expected to launch a further appeal for moderation and dialogue on the cultural rights being claimed by Tibetans. Their appeal should take the form of a declaration issued by the Slovenian EU Council Presidency.
The boycotting of the Olympic Games “is not an option”, said Janez Jansa the day before the informal meeting of foreign ministers. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Slovenian prime minister and current European Council president also considers that the leaders of EU member states are free to express their disapproval of the way in which the Tibetan question is being managed by the Chinese authorities. He says, however, that one should be wary of media epiphenomena that draw attention to Tibet during the opening of the Games, only to forget it afterwards. This feeling is shared by the former French foreign minister, Hubert Védrine, who called on Friday morning for multilateral dialogue with the Chinese authorities on this subject. The Chinese must understand that dialogue is necessary with the Dalaï Lama, who does not represent a threat for China and who is, himself, overtaken by events, explained the former minister on France 2.
Upon his arrival in Brdo, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister, said the minister for sport was not planning on attending and that, as far as he knew, he and the chancellor would not attend either. He intimated that this had nothing to do with Chinese repression in Tibet and added that there was therefore “no reason to cancel anything”. Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said he was opposed to a boycott of the opening ceremony.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on the other hand, as well as Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, have already announced that they will not be attending the ceremony to be held on 8 August. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will be taking over the rotating European Union presidency during the second half of this year, had on 25 March envisaged the possibility of not attending the opening ceremony, before recognising that he was to consult others on their positions first and reserves the right to say “whether I will attend the ceremony or not”. (O.J.)