The EU Foreign Ministers to prepare the European Council meeting and discuss Kosovo

Government Communications Unit
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Press release 372/2007
5.12.2007

The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will meet on 10 December in Brussels. Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva and Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors will attend the Council meeting.

The Ministers will prepare for the European Council meeting to be held in Brussels on 14 December. The Chairman will present a draft for the conclusions of the European Council meeting and Member States will have a possibility to comment the proposal. The main themes of the European Council will be immigration, preparations for the next three-year period of the Lisbon Strategy and energy and climate policy with particular focus on the Bali climate conference which started on 3 December. Maritime policy and sustainable development will also be on the agenda. In addition, the European Council is likely to issue a separate declaration on globalisation.

The European Council will also consider the setting up of a group of wise men to discuss the future of the European Union. Finland is in favour of setting up the group and deems that it must be provided with a broad mandate. In Finland’s opinion, the group should examine the Union’s challenges and the content of its action over the next twenty-year period and present a report on the issue by the end of 2009 at the earliest.

The Kosovo status process will be one of the Council’s main external relations themes. The objective is to establish a common EU position on the continuation of the status process and prepare for related discussions at the European Council. A troika meeting, comprising the representatives of the EU, Russia and the US, was held at the end of November without a successful breakthrough. The troika’s report will be presented to the UN Secretary General after which the matter will be referred to the UN Security Council as a last attempt to resolve the status question within the United Nations. Finland would welcome a new Security Council resolution and a rapid resolution of the status process. The EU must, however, prepare for various kinds of solution proposals and aim at a coordinated and coherent action.

The Foreign Ministers will also discuss the Middle East Peace Process in the aftermath of the Annapolis Peace Conference which took place in 27 and 28 November. The EU is ready to support the process started in Annapolis and work actively towards the promotion of the peace negotiations and monitoring of concrete progress. A donor conference is to be organised in Paris on 17 December to increase economic support for the Palestinian region.

The Council will also discuss Iran's nuclear programme and possible further EU sanctions. The EU will consider the kind of further measures it can initiate to support the UN Security Council’s demands for Iran. The Council will also discuss progress in the European Neighbourhood Policy, the situation in Sudan, the EU’s military crisis management operation in the Central African Republic under preparation, the situation in Burma/Myanmar and the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP countries.

Further information: Jari Luoto, State Secretary for EU Affairs, Government Secretariat for EU Affairs, tel. +358 9 1602 2180 and Anne Huhtamäki, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6097 or +358 40 546 0456