General Affairs Council (Hansard, 4 May 1999)

§ Ms Quin

I attended the General Affairs Council on 26 April and the Association Councils on 27 April, in Luxembourg. The Council adopted the A points listed in document 7517/99 and noted the resolutions, decisions and opinions adopted by the European Parliament in its sessions of 22–23 March, listed in document 6450/99, and 12–16 April. Copies of the documents listing the A points and resolutions will be placed in the House Libraries as soon as they become available.

Western Balkans

The Council expressed its strong and continuing support for maximum pressure on Milosevic's regime to accept the international community's five demands and stop the brutal campaign of torture, forced deportation and murder in Kosovo. It reaffirmed the EU's commitment to contributed fully to the humanitarian effort to relieve the plight of the refugees displaced by Milosevic's policy.

Following the adoption of a Common Position for an EU oil embargo against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) on 23 April, the Council agreed to extend the existing EU sanctions regime in the following ways: a travel ban on Milosevic, his government, senior officials and their families, and on other persons close to the regime; extension of the scope of the freeze of funds; prohibition on private sector provision of export finance in addition to the existing ban on government financed export credit support; extension of the investment ban; widening the scope of the prohibition on the export of equipment for internal repression, and its extension to include goods, services, technology and equipment for the purpose of restoring/repairing assets damaged in the air strikes; discouragement of Member States and sporting organisations from organising sporting events with the FRY; and imposition of a comprehensive flight ban between the EU and the FRY.

The Council also reiterated its strong support for Montenegro, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). It welcomed the intention of the European Commission to examine urgently the upgrading of relations between the EU and Albania and the EU and FYROM towards an Association Agreement.

The Council adopted a separate declaration in support of Romania and Bulgaria and agreed to continue work on a possible stability pact for South Eastern Europe.

East Timor

The Portuguese Foreign Minister briefed the Council on the latest round of tripartite talks on East Timor in New York (22–23 April) which concluded that the East Timorese would be consulted on their future status on 8 August. The Irish Foreign Minister also briefed the Council on his recent visit to East Timor.

The Council reiterated its concern at the continuing violence in East Timor and reminded the Indonesian Government of its obligation to maintain security in the territory. The Council asked its relevant bodies and the Commission to consider urgently possible measures 336W to support the consultation process, provide humanitarian assistance, and develop economic and social programmes for the East Timorese.

Niger

The Council agreed that the assassination of President Bare of Niger on 9 April constituted a breach of the essential elements of the Lomé Convention, and that Article 366a procedure should be set in motion. This may lead to the full or partial suspension of co-operation with Niger under the Lomé Convention.

Statute for Members of the European Parliament

The Council reached agreement on a Statute for MEPs. The main elements of the package are: a monthly gross salary of 5,677.22 euro for all MEPs paid by the Community and annually updated in line with inflation; salary to be subject to Community taxation, with an option for Member States to impose an additional top-up national tax; reimbursement of expenses actually incurred in the performance of Parliamentary duties, duly justified by the presentation of invoices; new Community pension scheme; social security provision; and a publicly available Register of MEP's interests.

The text will now be transmitted to the European Parliament for approval. We hope the Statute can enter into force on 20 July, when the new European Parliament meets.

Implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty

The Presidency presented a paper on work in progress to prepare for entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty. There was some discussion on ECJ preparations for the new Treaty and Commission plans to implement the new data protection and transparency provisions.

Implementation of the Schengen Protocol

The Council gave political agreement to the draft decisions defining and determining a legal base for the Schengen acquis, subject to any technical amendments necessary as a result of the Schengen Executive Committee meeting on 28 April. The Council also approved the draft Schengen/Norway and Iceland agreement, the draft rules of procedure of the Norway/ Iceland Mixed Committee and the draft decision on arrangements for implementing the Norway/Iceland agreement.

Russia: Common Strategy

The Council considered preparation of the EU Common Strategy on Russia and welcomed the progress made. It agreed to take work forward so that the Common Strategy could be adopted at the Cologne European Council on 3–4 June.

EU/US Relations

There was discussion of current EU/US trade disputes. Sir Leon Brittan reported on his discussions in Washington on the bananas, hormones and hushkits disputes. On bananas, the Council welcomed the WTO's decision considerably to reduce US sanctions against the EU, and underlined the importance of fully respecting the WTO's rulings without delay. The Council invited the Commission to submit proposals for amending the banana regime by the end of May. On hormones, the Council urged the Commission to intensify its negotiations with the US and Canada with a view to reaching agreement on a compensation package and future possible options for the labelling of meat from hormone-treated cattle. On 337W hushkits, the Council underlined the importance of quickly reaching a mutually satisfactory solution with the US on this issue.

Burma

The Council renewed the Common Position on Burma for a further six months, expressing its deep concern at continuing human rights violations and repression of the democratic opposition in Burma. It called again on the Burmese regime to take early and concrete steps towards democracy, respect for human rights, and national reconciliation.

Co-operation Council with Ukraine

The Ukrainians described recent developments in the economic situation and noted the need for suitable arrangements for Ukraine's free trade arrangements with Poland and Estonia post enlargement. There was also discussion about the closure of Chernobyl, Justice and Home Affairs issues and Kosovo.

Association Councils

Following the GAC there were successful meetings of the Association Councils with Slovakia, Romania and Estonia on 27 April. They took stock of the preparations for EU membership, and considered the operation of the Europe Agreements. Over lunch the participants discussed Kosovo, Russia and relations with neighbouring countries, including regional co-operation—this included Black Sea Economic Co-operation, Moldova and the Northern dimension.

South Africa

The Commission expects to have its proposal to allow signature of the EU/South Africa Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement ready in May. The Commission noted that the majority of Member States want a mixed Agreement.

Twinning

The Commission announced that internal problems which have caused delays in paying pre-accession advisers funded under the EU twinning programme with candidate countries in Central Europe have been solved. The Commission anticipate that 80 to 100 advisers will be in place in the candidate countries by the end of the year.