Foreign Minister Tuomioja presents the objectives of Finland’s EU Presidency to the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs

Press release 232/2006
11 July, 2006

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will present the foreign policy priorities of Finland’s EU Presidency to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels on 12 July. Following the minister’s presentation there will be roughly an hour of general discussion where Committee members will question the minister about the Presidency’s priorities with regard to external relations and other topical external relation issues.

Of the European Parliament’s various committees, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its two subcommittees, the  Subcommittee on Security and Defence and the Subcommittee on Human Rights, handle matters pertaining to the common foreign and security policy. With its nearly 100 members, the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) is the European Parliament’s largest. Its field of responsibility entails not only the common foreign and security policy –– including Europe’s security and defence policy –– but also relations with other European Union institutions and bodies, the United Nations and other international organisations as well as interparliamentary assemblies for matters within its mandate. The Committee is also responsible for the strengthening of political relations with third countries, particularly those in the immediate vicinity of the Union, by means of major cooperation and assistance programmes or international agreements such as association and partnership agreements. Also within the sphere of the Committee’s responsibilities are the opening, monitoring and concluding of negotiations concerning the accession of European States to the Union and issues concerning human rights, the protection of minorities and the promotion of democratic values in third countries.

Article 21 of the Treaty on the European Union states that the Presidency shall hear the European Parliament with regard to the common foreign and security policy and shall ensure that the European Parliament is kept regularly informed.  In accordance with the established practice, each minister of the Member State holding the Presidency appears before the committee in his or her respective field of responsibility at the beginning of the Presidency and, if need be, during the Presidency as well. The Committee on Foreign Affairs is regularly notified of the results of meetings of the General Affairs and External Relations Council.

Additional information: First Secretary Stefan Lee, tel. +358 9 1605 5438, Unit for General EU Affairs and Coordination of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and First Secretary Keijo Norvanto, tel. +358 9 1605 5332