Brussels, 08/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - EU foreign ministers have followed the line set out by the European Council of 1 September and all backed the visit to Moscow and Tbilisi by the European side (see related article). At their informal meeting in Avignon, they reiterated “the EU's determination to continue to assume its responsibilities in this crisis, and also to take on other preventive responsibilities” (particularly in Ukraine), said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday 6 September. These responsibilities included aid for the reconstruction of Georgia, a European presence on the ground and also dialogue with Moscow, he added.
Kouchner also said that the ministers had called for an international investigation into the Georgian conflict to be opened “as quickly as possible”. The task could be given to an international organisation, a non-governmental organisation or the United Nations, he went on, noting that it was the intention of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to send a “fact-finding mission” to Georgia and South Ossetia in the near future. The idea had been put forward the previous day by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and immediately supported by his UK counterpart David Miliband, who said that it was vital that any allegation, whether of human rights violations, cluster bombs or anything else, had to be investigated fully and independently. Spanish minister Miguel Angel Moratinos also gave his support to the proposal, as did Jean Asselborn from Luxembourg, who wanted to find out more “to be able to determine who was responsible for the outbreak of the conflict”. He said that ministers were unanimous on the merits of launching such an investigation.
However, ahead of Monday's visit to Moscow and Tbilisi by the European side, the message consisted principally of underlining the importance of the 12 August agreement. “We expect the Russians to abide by the commitment they made” in implementing the 6-point plan, i.e. the withdrawal of Russian troops and maintaining dialogue with the EU. Kouchner said that, hitherto, the Russians had shown their willingness to maintain dialogue. “We are ready to develop our relations (with Russia), but let's first respect what we have signed up to,” he went on. What patience will the EU have? “We are ready to wait till Monday at least. We will see after that,” he said, not wanting to move too quickly. “Sanction isn't our word. We must come to an understanding … a common language,” added Kouchner, who is not keen on demonstrations of strength in the Black Sea, where US naval vessels are sailing, because “this problem can only be settled by political means, not by warships”.
The autonomous EU civil ESDP mission, agreed at the European Council, is beginning to take shape, although Kouchner did not give much away, indicating that it would it would initially merge with the OSCE and UN missions. Current head of the OSCE, Finnish Minister Alexander Stubb said he thought that this would be possible. “I believe that this mission should be under EU command, but the OSCE has good infrastructure on the ground,” he said, indicating that he would be happy to consider “the OSCE in the short term and the EU in the medium to long term”. He noted encouraging developments on the ground. “We have enjoyed good access. We will continue to work and, I believe, the Russians are gradually opening up,” he said, indicating that OSCE observers were able to move around “quite freely” in Georgia, including in the Russian controlled buffer zones near South Ossetia.
EU High Representative for the CFSP Javier Solana said that the determination shown by everyone to be able to get into Georgia had won the day. Speaking to press, he said that ministers were now in a position to be able to agree, at the forthcoming External Relations Council on 15 September, on the joint action to be taken so that an observation mission could be launched. The detail of the deployment was still somewhat vague, however, before the outcome of Monday's meeting. It could begin at the start of October, across all or part of Georgia (there is still a question mark over the buffer zones, without mentioning the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia), with full deployment over a number of stages still being planned. There is talk of 150 to 200 experts (police officers, experts in the rule of law and crisis management, magistrates, etc), although this kind of mission usually has between 200 and 250 personnel. Noting that the aim of Monday's meeting was the withdrawal of Russian troops, Solana said that, if there was agreement, things would follow their course, but “if there is no agreement, we will enter a phase where there will be many difficulties”. (A.B./transl.rt)