Unanimous EU support for US air strikes on Afghanistan

European Union foreign ministers meeting in the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, 8 October, declared their full support for the US and allied air strikes on Afghanistan.

The strikes were unanimously viewed as justified self-defence actions against terrorism and in conformity with the UN Charter. The GAC meeting also stated that the people of Afghanistan deserve a government that responds to their needs and aspirations.

"The Union is preparing for the situation where a new basis of government will have to be found in Afghanistan. The UN will have a central role to play at that stage", foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja told the Finnish news agency STT. Foreign trade minister Kimmo Sasi said that the spirit of the meeting was very united. "The American and British actions were supported and no criticism of any kind expressed in relation to them." Mr Sasi said that the large member states of Germany, France and Italy declared their readiness to take part in continuing military actions.

The foreign ministers stressed that the military actions were not directed against the people of Afghanistan nor Islam. This is why the EU is contributing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. So far the Union has given 314 million euros in humanitarian assistance. "The need for aid will grow even more as a result of the fighting", said Mr Tuomioja. "There are already five million refugees in the region."

The General Affairs Council also discussed the preparations for the unofficial European Council meeting of heads of state and government, which will be held in Gent, 19 October. The agenda of the Gent meeting will deal with the future of the EU and the preparations for the next inter-governmental conference (IGC) scheduled for 2004. It will also take up the enlargement of the Union, a Commission report on which was presented at the General Affairs Council.

The meeting also dealt with the preparation for a convention on the future of the EU, a broad negotiating body, which is to start work in the first half of next year and run until 2003. Mr Tuomioja told STT that the main points of disagreement at the GAC meeting on the convention concerned the participation of applicant countries in the negotiations. The starting point is that they are involved in the same manner as the member states. The foreign minister also said to STT that the no name had been put forward for president of the convention. The Belgian news agency Belgan has conjectured that Finland’s former President Martti Ahtisaari may be chosen to head the convention.