EU Foreign Ministers prepare the December European Council meeting
Government Information Unit
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Press release 397/2004
10 December, 2004
The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meets on 13 December in Brussels. The main themes of the meeting will be the preparation for the December European Council and the situation in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja and Minister of European Affairs Paula Lehtomäki will represent Finland at the GAERC meeting.
The Foreign Ministers will have final discussions on the agenda of the European Council meeting that will take place on 16 and 17 December. The main themes will include enlargement, fight against terrorism, Financial Framework, the new EU Drugs Strategy 2005-2012 in the field of Justice and Home Affairs. The agenda will also include key external affairs.
Finland supports the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey. The December European Council should agree on a definite date to begin the negotiations. The accession negotiations can be initiated after Turkey has brought to a successful conclusion the legislative processes defined in the Commission's proposal. According to Finland, there is no reason to postpone the negotiations after the year 2005.
Finland also supports the aim to finalise the accession negotiations with Romania and Bulgaria with a view to signing the Accession Treaties in early 2005. As regards Croatia, Finland supports the Presidency's proposal whereby the accession negotiations can be opened on a date to be decided later provided that full cooperation with ICTY has been confirmed by the Council.
Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, the countries holding the rotating EU Presidency in 2005, will present their proposition for a working programme to the Foreign Ministers. The priorities of the programme will include the Financial Framework 2007-2013, the Lisbon Strategy, the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice including the launching of the implementation of the Hague Programme, enlargement, the strengthening of global prosperity and stability, and the Constitutional Treaty. Finland welcomes the aforementioned priorities.
The Council will also discuss Ireland's proposition to amend the regulation on the EU's official languages so that Irish would be made an official language. The Ministers for European Affairs will, during their working lunch, continue discussion on the information campaign related to the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty.
The Foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Ukraine. The second round of the presidential election will reorganised on 26 December in line with the decision of the Ukraine's Supreme Court. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, has already begun preparations for the arrangement of election observation and the EU Member States are examining the possibility of providing a greater number of election observers than before. Finland hopes that a political solution respecting the Ukrainian constitution and acceptable to all parties, and in particular to the people of Ukraine, will be found as soon as possible to the crisis concerning the presidential election.
The Council is also to adopt several European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans which will include, in addition to Ukraine, programmes concerning Moldova, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The Action Plans would come into effect as of the beginning of 2005. As regards Ukraine, the Council may need to re-examine issues relating to the implementation of the Action Plan after the re-election.
In the context of external relations, the ministers will also discuss the Middle East Peace Process and the situations in Iran, Sudan and in the region of the Great Lakes in Africa.
Further information: Jari Luoto, State Under-Secretary for EU Affairs, Government Secretariat for EU Affairs, tel. +358 9 1602 2182 and Anne Huhtamäki, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6097