Foreign Affairs Council (Hansard, 17 December 1993)

§ Mr. Hurd

I attended the Foreign Affairs Council on 6 and 7 December. My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs also attended.

The Council agreed the text of a joint declaration to be made on the occasion of President Yeltsin's visit to Brussels on 8 and 9 December, and the Commission reported on progress in negotiations for a participation and co-operation agreement between the European Community and Russia.

The Council agreed a code of conduct governing public access to documents held by the Council and the Commission, in accordance with a commitment entered into at Maastricht.

Following the Council's agreement on 4 October on a procedure for the publication of formal Council votes, the Council unanimously agreed a more automatic procedure for publishing votes on legislative acts, and a code of conduct for handling this in the Council.

The Council agreed new rules of procedure for its activities. Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands voted against. The rules have been revised to take account of the Maastricht treaty, the December 1992 Edinburgh European Council's commitment to greater openness, new procedures on CFSP and justice/home affairs, and a number of other minor editorial changes.

The Council agreed a directive which lays down detailed arrangements allowing citizens of the union residing in a member state of which they are not nationals to vote and stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament.

Mr. Delors presented the Commission's report on subsidiarity. This was welcomed by the Council. There was some discussion of presidency proposals on the institutional changes required for accession of the EFTA countries to the union.

Mr. Delors introduced the Commission White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment which had been commissioned at the Copenhagen European Council. He stressed that the document was not aimed at increasing the powers of the Community or Commission. I and others regretted the absence of a full and substantive presentation to the Economic and Finance Council on the previous day.

The Council approved reports on the European Union's initiative to launch a pact on stability in Europe, which was subsequently confirmed at the Brussels European Council.

Ministers discussed with Lord Owen latest developments in the search for a negotiated settlement in the 965W former Yugoslavia and the implementation of the Council's joint action on facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to Bosnia.

The Council adopted the text for a joint action by the European Union to prepare for and monitor the elections in South Africa on 27 April next year. The Council also agreed to consider soon the future relations of a democratic South Africa with the Union.

The Council received a report from the Commission on the recent EC/US GATT Uruguay round negotiations. There was broad agreement that significant progress had been made, although it was noted that it had not been possible to reach agreement on treatment of the audio-visual sector. The Council agreed that the Commission should pursue negotiations with other parties in Geneva on the basis of the understandings reached with the United States. It was agreed that the Council should meet again as necessary in the light of developments.

The Council approved a mandate for the Commission to start talks with Morocco on an updated agreement between the European Union and Morocco. The United Kingdom underlined Gibraltar's particular interest in this agreement and that this would need to be taken into account as negotiations proceed. The Commission also presented to the Council draft negotiating mandate for updated agreements between the EU and Israel and the EU and Tunisia. The United Kingdom urged that the mandate for Israel should be agreed at the 20 December FAC; the Council agreed with this objective.

The Council agreed a text to implement a language regime for the Community Trade Mark Office.