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1. EU COMMISSIONERS – FORTHCOMING EUROSTEP PAPER
Further to last week’s article (see PAF 141) on the lack of clarity on the designated responsibilities of the new Development Commissioner - Mr Poul Nielsen, the Eurostep Secretariat has gained further information in an EU document on the re-organisation of the Commission. It is still however unclear whether the Commissioner for Development will be responsible for all of the Community’s aid, i.e. ACP well as non-ACP (Latin America, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Asia). On paper Mr Nielsen is supposed to focus on development issues concerning ACP countries, while External Relations Commissioner, Chris Patton focuses on the other external regions (besides those involved in accession to the EU). Statements by the EU that Mr Nielsen will also deal with development issues in other regions do not match with what is officially being presented. You may recall that the policy side and implementation side of development co-operation has also been split between Mr Patton (implementation) and Mr Nielsen (policy). Oxfam GB is currently doing some research on the reorganisation of the Commission and Eurostep as a whole will release an analysis paper of the reorganisation of the Commission next week.
2. ACP-EU MINISTERIAL NEGOTIATIONS
NGOs and other civil society organisations will only be granted access to the press conference (30 July) following the forthcoming ACP-EU Ministerial negotiations in Brussels on 29-30 July. A letter addressed to the EU Liaison Committee, from the EU Presidency confirms this decision. The hope has however been held out that the Presidency will arrange the next negotiating meeting (November) in a way that at least allows a meeting with civil society in advance.
Reasons given unofficially by a well placed EU official for this by the EU include: the ACP’s apparent unwillingness to let civil society organisations gain access, and the need to tighten up security at the Conference following the Algerian terrorist GIA Group’s threat to make Belgium one of its targets. An ACP official however has argued that as the Ministerial Conference is being hosted in the EU, the ACP has very little say on this issue. He pointed out that when the ACP hosted the first ACP-EU Ministerial Negotiations Conference in February in Dakar, civil society organisations were granted observer status.
Organisations who want to take part in the press conference should contact the Liaison Committee by mid-day 27 July. Apparently only 50 persons from civil society organisations will be granted access.
3. EU BUDGET
The EU Budget Council that met on 16 July has largely confirmed the draft EU budget prepared by the Committee of EU Permanent Representatives. Concerning Kosovo, the EU ministers agreed with the proposal of earmarking € 500 million to a reserve under the external actions heading in the budget, and reducing the other lines under this heading by the same amount. Ministers explained that this option was adopted in order to comply with the financial perspectives of 2000-2006. On the resulting 19% reduction of credits for humanitarian aid, the President of the EU Council, Finnish Minister-Ms Siimes argued that the 500 million earmarked for Kosovo also encompass additional credits for humanitarian aid, as the border between reconstruction and humanitarian aid cannot be defined in a rigid manner. She added that, as this is only the first reading of the budget the situation might still change. The only difference from the budget proposed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives is the allocation of an additional € 7 million to the Common Foreign and Security Policy budget line under the external actions heading.
The draft budget will now be forwarded to the European Parliament (EP) for its first reading. The outgoing Chairman of the EP’s Committee of Budgets, Mr Detlev Samland MEP, has called for credits to Kosovo to be financed by the raising of the ceiling of external actions. He has said that the EP could only agree for money to be taken provisionally out of other budget lines on condition that it is decided beforehand that the financial perspectives of the external actions are revised.
4. EU GENERAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL
Among the topics debated at the EU General Affairs Council held on 19 July in Brussels were an open debate on EU external relations in the post Kosovo era, conclusions on East Timor, the WTO Round, and the IV ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Summit .
On the debate on EU external actions, the Finnish President in Office of the Council, Ms Tarja Halonen put a number of questions to EU Ministers concerning EU external relations in the post-Kosovo era. They included the following: a) What are the concrete, short-term measures the Council should take to improve the EU’s capacity in external action; b) How can the EU better forecast emerging crises; and c) How can the EU act promptly in crisis management. The Ministers in their response underlined the need for the EU to turn away from purely reactive operations and lay greater emphasis on conflict prevention. The ministers also stressed the need to enhance the effectiveness, consistency and coherence of the EU external relations, with a view to developing the EU’s capacity as a global player. This would be achieved by among other things, strengthening the co-ordinating role of the General Affairs Council and by improving its operations in decision making.
On East Timor the Council underlined its full support for the work of the UN in the area in pursuing elections, and welcomed the decision of the UN Secretary General to begin the registration of voters. The Council also adopted a common position concerning support for the popular consultation of East Timorese people.
On the WTO, the Council agreed to look further at the Commission’s communication on the WTO in order to take a decision in October on a comprehensive EU position on the preparations for the Seattle Conference. The Council also welcomed Denmark’s offer to host the ASEM IV Summit in the second half of 2002.
Among the issues approved without debate were a) conclusions on the banana trade regime; b) accession of China to the WTO; c) a report on conflict prevention and resolution in Africa; and d) the opening of consultations with Guinea-Bissau under the suspension clause of the Lomé Convention.
On the banana trade regime, the Council in the light of the discussions on the possible options put forward by the Commission for resolving the dispute, and taking into account the results of its contacts with all the interested parties, called on the Commission to submit in September 1999 a formal proposal for amending the banana regime. The Commission’s proposal must be WTO compatible and take in account the problems that American sanctions have caused for certain sectors of the Community.
The report on conflict prevention in Africa reviewed the activities undertaken by the EU in the past year in implementing its 1997 Common position on conflict prevention. It states that the EU will continue to pursue, inter alia, the following initiatives: 1) Take all necessary steps to facilitate a deepening of the political dialogue with the Organisation for African Unity and explore especially the possibilities of co-operation with its Conflict Management Centre. 2) Strengthen the dialogue with the South African Development Community on peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution take appropriate steps to intensify the political dialogue with the Economic Community of West African States, in particular with a view to encouraging its efforts aiming at sub-regional conflict prevention, management and resolution. 3) Further enhance the exchange of relevant information and analysis between the EU Member States and the Commission, including within the Community framework through the Electronic Bulletin Board.
5. IN BRIEF
French MEP Nicole Fontaine of the European People’s Party was elected President of the new European Parliament this week. In the press conference following her election, she counted the increasing of the EP’s international range, by involving it in stabilisation in the Balkans and the development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, as one of the EP’s priorities.
The Finnish Presidency on behalf of the EU
Council, in welcoming the cease fire agreement on the war in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, has stated that the respect of
the cease fire by all belligerent countries will be taken into
consideration with regard to the development of all aspects of EU
relations with the countries concerned.
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