EU Foreign Ministers to discuss the Western Balkans and Middle East
Government Information Unit
Press release 247/2006
14.7.2006
The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will meet for the first time during Finland's EU Presidency on Monday, 17 July, in Brussels. The Council will be chaired by the Finnish Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja. During Finland’s EU Presidency, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Paula Lehtomäki, will represent Finland at the GAERC meetings.
The Ministers will discuss the Western Balkans and, in particular, in relation to Kosovo, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The UN Special Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, will attend the meeting and inform the Council on the progress achieved in the talks to determine the future status of Kosovo. The intention is to confirm the Union's support to the UN led negotiations as they are to enter a phase of direct high-level political negotiations. High Representative Javier Solana and Commissioner Olli Rehn will present their second joint report on the matter outlining the Union’s future role in Kosovo after the question of Kosovo’s status has been settled. The Ministers will also discuss the situation in Serbia and in particular the troika meeting to be held with Serbia which will focus on Serbia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague. There will also be a troika meeting with representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in connection with the Council meeting.
The Council agenda will also include the recently deteriorated situation in the Middle East. The captures of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon, the attacks by Hezbollah on Israel and Israel’s military operations in Palestinian Territories and Lebanon have aggravated the crisis. The weakening humanitarian situation in the region gives particular reason for concern. The settlement of the crisis calls for the reopening of negotiations between all parties.
The Foreign Ministers will also discuss issues relating to Iran's nuclear programme and the human rights situation in the country. On 6 June, High Representative Solana delivered to Iran in Tehran a cooperation initiative, which had been agreed on by the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Iran has not as yet responded to the proposals. The issue is to be discussed also at the G8 Summit in St Petersburg.
The Council will discuss the critical stage of the WTO negotiation round. The aim remains to achieve concrete results by the end of July which would enable to conclude the negotiations by the end of the ongoing year.
The Ministers will also address problems relating to migration, the resolution of which must, in the long term, be sought through of a common EU policy. The policy must be based on a broad-based approach with the aim of tackling the reasons behind migration. Consistency with the EU’s external relations policy, geographical balance and respect of human rights are essential principles of the cooperation in this field. The Council will discuss the results of the Rabat Conference on Migration, which the (POIS: Finnish) Foreign Minister Tuomioja attended at the beginning of July, and the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development to be organised in connection with the UN General Assembly on 14-15 September.
The EU's policy in relation to Sudan, the situation of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the continuation of EU’s support to the African Union’s AMIS operation will also be discussed. The Ministers will also discuss the elections to be held in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The EU will assist the UN in the election process by crisis management and police operations. The European Union will deploy its largest ever EU Election Observation Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo. A total of 1,500 international observers, 250 of which from the EU, will follow the elections.
EU Foreign Ministers will sign an agreement on the 10th European Development Fund at the GAERC meeting. The 10th European Development Fund has been allocated EUR 22.7 billion for the period of 2008-2013 to finance EU development cooperation in the ACP countries. Finland’s share of the Development Fund payment is 1.47 %, some EUR 333 million.
In addition to the troika meetings with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, there will also be the meetings of EU-Kazakhstan and EU-Kyrgyzstan Cooperation Councils.
The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will also discuss, in an open session, the priorities for Finland’s EU Presidency. A webcast of the open session can be viewed on the EU Presidency web service at www.eu2006.fi/webcasts(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window) and on the Council Secretariat’s website at www.consilium.europa.eu/videostreaming(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window).
Further information: Anne Huhtamäki, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Division for European Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6097