General Affairs and External Relations Council

This session enabled significant results to be achieved with regard to several foreign policy issues.

- Piracy: To combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, in their meeting with the defence ministers on 10 November, the foreign affairs ministers decided to launch the EU’s first naval security operation, dubbed ‘Atalanta’. This operation is in support of Resolutions 1814, 1816 and 1838 of the United Nations Security Council. Its mandate is to provide protection for vessels chartered under the World Food Programme shipping aid to the displaced populations of Somalia, to protect merchant vessels in the area where it is deployed, to monitor the areas along the coast of Somalia presenting risks for maritime activities, and to take the necessary measures to discourage and prevent acts of piracy and armed robberies along the Somali coast.

- Relations between the European Union and Russia: In view of an in-depth evaluation of EU-Russia relations conducted by the Commission and the Council Secretariat, these discussions enabled preparations for the Nice Summit to be finalised.

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union recalled that EU-Russia relations are subject to ongoing evaluation, which should continue after the Nice Summit in light of Russia’s behaviour. This evaluation will be taken into account in the pursuit of negotiations for a new EU-Russia agreement. For the EU, dialogue and negotiation are the best way of pursuing its objectives, promoting its principles and values and firmly defending its interest in a united manner, without this legitimising the status quo in Georgia or Russia’s behaviour when it is contrary to our values and our principles.

- Western Balkans – Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Council recalled that the signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) represented an important stage in EU-Bosnia-Herzegovina relations. However, the ministers nonetheless expressed their great concern at the recent developments in the political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and by the statements and unilateral acts that compromise the reforms necessary for the country’s future. The Council called on the Bosnian authorities to assume their responsibilities and renew their efforts to adopt and implement the necessary reforms for Bosnia-Herzegovina to progress on the path towards rapprochement with the European Union.
 
2/ The defence ministers of the 27 EU Member States will attend a meeting chaired by Hervé Morin, the French defence minister, at 10:00 on Monday 10 November.
 
3/ The European ministers for development, meeting in the General Affairs and External Relations Council session presided over by Alain Joyandet, the French Minister of State for Cooperation with the Francophonie, adopted an EU statement on the Conference on Financing for Development taking place in Doha from 29 November to 2 December next.

They recalled, as had the Heads of State and Government on 7 November, that the EU and the Member States should add the reform of the international financial system to the set of challenges that the European Union and its Member States are determined to overcome, in particular, food security, climate change and the fight against poverty.

The European Union will ensure that developing countries are fully involved in this process.

The Conference on Financing for Development in Doha (29 November – 2 December 2008) will be a key opportunity for the EU, conscious of the major impact of the food, climate and financial crises on the most vulnerable countries, to reiterate its commitments in terms of official development aid.

The European Union is also committed to working with its partners to explore new ways to contribute to financing sustainable economic, social and environmental development, promoting the implementation of innovative mechanisms to mobilise the additional resources and making policies more coherent.

 
The following meetings took place on the sidelines of the Council:

• Steering board of the European Defence Agency (Monday 10 November at 9:00)
• EU-Tunisia Association Council (Tuesday 11 November at 17:45)
• EU-Jordan Association Council (Monday 10 November at 17:45)
• EU-SADC Troika Meeting (Tuesday 11 November at 14:30)
• EU-ECCAS Troika Meeting (Monday10 November at 14:30)
• Troika meeting of the defence ministers with the European members of NATO that do not belong to the European Union and with the other EU candidate countries (Monday 10 November at 16:00)

• Updated: 29.12.2008

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