Foreign Affairs Council (Hansard, 27 October 1994)

§ Mr. Hurd

I attended the Foreign Affairs Council on 3 to 4 October. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boothferry (Mr. Davis), also attended.

The Council discussed Commission and presidency proposals for the development of relations with the associated countries of central and eastern Europe. Ministers endorsed the principle of regular ministerial meetings with the CEEs and invited the Commission to prepare a White Paper on the approximation of laws.

Lord Owen briefed Ministers on the deployment of the international conference on the former Yugoslavia monitoring mission. Ministers welcomed this development and discussed how to take forward the peace process, reaffirming the importance of the contact group.

Over lunch, Italy announced its intention to continue negotiations with Slovenia following the Slovene declaration of its decision to harmonise property purchasing legislation with that of the EU. The Committee of Permanent Representatives was invited to finalise the negotiating mandate.

Over lunch, Ministers also discussed the EU's aid package for Albania, but were not able to reach agreement on its release.

The Council asked the Commission to examine a proposal for a further aid package to help the middle east peace process, and invited the Commission to make further funds available for the Palestinian police force. The Council agreed on the importance of concluding negotiations with Morocco, Tunisia and Israel for new agreements by the end of the year.

Ministers approved a presidency strategy paper on Ukraine and instructed COREPER and the political committee to prepare a draft common position within the common foreign and security policy procedure.

The Council agreed to resume negotiations with Belarus on a partnership and co-operation agreement and to institute exploratory contacts with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ministers requested a report on human rights in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan before any opening of exploratory talks.

The Presidency gave an oral report of the EU/Association of South-East Asian Nations ministerial meeting in Karlsruhe.

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The Council agreed the text of a draft interim agreement between the European Community and South Africa.

My Irish colleague and I briefed the Council on developments in Northern Ireland. There was a general welcome for the progress achieved and for the idea of an EU support package for the peace process.

Ministers agreed the guidelines and annex for the conference on security and co-operation in Europe review conference in Budapest — 10 October to 3 December.

Ministers agreed arrangements for the production of a report on plutonium smuggling for the Foreign Affairs Council 28 and 29 November.

The presidency reported to the Council on its discussions with the European Parliament and the Commission to resolve outstanding inter-institutional issues resulting from the implementation of a number of Maastricht provisions. These include temporary committees of inquiries, comitology, keeping the EP informed of business in the second and third pillars and the appointment of the new Commission.

In the light of the failure to agree a new global regime for outward processing trade, OPT, the Council discussed the idea—which the United Kingdom supported—of separating from the Commission's proposal those provisions allowing for the immediate exemption from the duty of OPT conducted with the CEEs. This idea did not, however, command majority support. The Council therefore invited COREPER to prepare a global regime in time for the November Foreign Affairs Council.

The Commission reported to the Council on the conclusion of multilateral negotiations on an agreement to curb subsidies to the shipbuilding sector. The Commission will bring forward a proposal for the Community to approve the agreement. A number of member states, including the United Kingdom, welcome the outcome of the negotiations, but France made clear that it had serious difficulties with the agreement as negotiated.

The Council approved the text of a draft decision to ratify the Uruguay round agreements, and agreed to seek the assent of the European Parliament on the basis of this draft. The Economic and Social Committee will also be consulted. The European Court of Justice hopes to give its opinion on the Community's competence to conclude the Uruguay round agreements by 15 November, and the aim remains to complete their national ratification procedures by the same deadline. The proposal for a code of conduct governing Community participation in the World Trade Organisation will meanwhile be considered further in COREPER: a final decision on the proposal will be taken once the European Court of Justice has ruled.

The Council also asked the Commission to prepare a report on the compatibility of the US Uruguay round implementing legislation with the World Trade Organisation agreement.

The Council endorsed the recommendations emerging from the visit of the Development Ministers troika to Rwanda and neighbouring states. These recommendations will form the basis of a common position on policy towards Rwanda.

The own-resources decision was discussed over lunch. No agreement was reached.