EU Foreign Ministers to prepare the EU-Russia Summit and the crisis management operation in Chad and the Central African Republic
Government Communications Unit
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Press release 281/2007
12.10.2007
The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will meet on Monday, 15 October in Luxembourg. Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva and Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors will attend the Council meeting. The main themes of the meeting will be the EU-Russia Summit to be organised in late October and the planned crisis management operation in Chad and the Central African Republic. The meeting of the Foreign Ministers will be paralleled with a session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).
The Ministers will prepare the EU-Russia Summit that will take place in Mafra, Portugal, on 26 October. The Summit will discuss relations between the EU and Russia and key international issues. With regard to the EU-Russia relations, the discussion will focus on the four common spaces: economic matters; freedom, security and justice; external security; and research and education. In its preparations for the meeting, Finland has paid particular attention to environmental issues, cross-border project cooperation, export duties on timber set by Russia, and strengthening of the norms that form the foundation for EU-Russia relations.
The Foreign Ministers will discuss the EU’s military crisis management operation in Chad and the Central African Republic, areas where the Darfur crisis casts its shadow in the form of massive refugee flows and insecurity. The operation is based on a UN Security Council Resolution that calls on the EU to help improve the security situation in the area, to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid and to support the work of UN and Chad police forces in refugee camps. The EUFOR Tchad/RCA operation scheduled to begin in November would deploy a maximum of 4,000 peacekeeping officers and it would last one year. Questions relating to funding, for example, still remain unsolved. Finland is planning to participate in the operation.
As regards the Western Balkans, discussion will focus on questions relating to Kosovo’s status and Serbia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The next negotiation round to determine the status of Kosovo will be organised in Brussels on Sunday, 14 October. Finland’s aim is that the EU lends its undivided support to the Kosovo status process. In connection with the Council meeting, ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte will give a preliminary assessment on Serbia’s ICTY cooperation.
The foreign ministers will also consider the situation in Burma/Myanmar. Finland stresses the importance of determined condemnation of violence and human rights violations against peaceful demonstrators. The Council is to set further sanctions against Burma/Myanmar and Finland intends to support such sanctions.
The Ministers will discuss development of the Union’s disaster response. This will be on the agenda on a Greek initiative. Greece will present an assessment of the forest fires that occurred during the summer and a proposal to enhance EU capacity and provision for natural disasters. A Commission Communication on provision for situations similar to forest fires is expected to be presented by the end of the year.
A session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) will be held in connection with the Council meeting. The discussion will be based on the proposal for the EU Reform Treaty that has been finalised by a group of IGC’s legal experts. Finland will support the proposal prepared by the working group. The proposal conforms to the mandate given by the June European Council. In Finland’s view, the proposal is a satisfactory compromise that should not be re-opened for negotiation.
In the context of external relations, the Council will discuss Iran, Iraq, Middle East, Libya, the People’s Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP countries.
Further information: Helena Tuuri, 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 or +358 40 546 0456