Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann's Bookmarks tagged cfsp →  View Popular

Poland – one of the countries pushing for the suspension – hailed the final declaration as a victory and insisted its position was not isolated.

"We were not alone, we were acting within a group," including also the Czech Republic, the Baltic States - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, the UK and Sweden, Polish President Lech Kaczynski told journalists.

The talks on a new treaty defining the EU relations with Russia were scheduled to take place later this month, but pressed by the demand of several member states, it was decided this would be tied to Russian withdrawal from Georgia.

The postponement modifies a previously circulated draft version of the summit's conclusion that took a softer stance on the issue of talks.

The UN has begun the handover of office space and vehicles to the EU's "EULEX" police and civilian administration team in Kosovo, amid Serbian and Russian complaints that the move does not have a legal mandate.

"The technical agreement gives UNMIK [the United Nations Mission in Kosovo]...the green light for transferring assets to us," EULEX spokeswoman Karin Limdal told AFP, after the two sides signed a memorandum on the transfer on Monday (18 August).

"The European Union will want to consider how it proceeds with the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement," UK foreign minister, David Miliband, said. "The sight of Russian tanks in Gori, Russian tanks in Senaki, a Russian blockade of Poti, the Georgian port are a chilling reminder of times that I think we had hoped had gone by."

The Polish and Lithuanian ministers echoed the British position.

"Of course some consequences must appear of the aggression," Lithuanian foreign minister, Petras Vaitiekunas, said. "There was clearly disproportionate force used by the Russians," Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski added.

EU foreign ministers on Wednesday (13 August) agreed to send peacekeepers to help supervise the fragile Russia-Georgia ceasefire, putting off discussions on potential diplomatic sanctions against Russia until next month.

"The European Union must be prepared to commit itself, including on the ground," the EU joint statement said, asking EU top diplomat Javier Solana to draft more detailed proposals for the ministers' next meeting on 5 September.

The French EU presidency is expected to endorse the Russia-Georgia ceasefire, offer humanitarian aid and urge EU unity in a statement after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday (13 August), with Paris keen to avoid controversy on who to blame for the crisis.

Preparatory discussions by EU diplomats on Tuesday saw a group of former communist states speak in "sharp language" about Russia, but the tone was "less radical than they used for their domestic press," one diplomat who attended the debates told EUobserver.

But the situation for the new Kosovo passport holders remains less clear, as Slovakia, Malta, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece and Romania have not recognised the new state.

"We do not recognise an independent Kosovo, so we will also not recognise their documents. We will continue to recognise substitute passports issued by the UN administration and Serbian passports," a Slovak interior ministry spokesman told Slovak newspaper Sme earlier this month.

Mr Sarkozy said he wants to make defence and security policy an example of a "concrete Europe, of a Europe that responds to the needs of its citizens."

"I very much hope that the French presidency of the European Union (…) will be the first step in a veritable relaunch of European defence for the coming years," he said, according to AP.

While Kosovo is not on the foreign ministers' agenda, it is unlikely that they will be able to avoid the topic, after the fledgling state's constitution entered into force on Sunday. 

The EU is also poised to take over policing and justice tasks from the United Nations after the UN's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week put forward proposals to "reconfigure" the activities of the UN Mission UNMIK to allow the EU to deploy its contested EU-Lex police mission there (EurActiv 29/05/08). 

"It is my intention to reconfigure the structure and profile of the international civil presence [...] enabling the European Union to assume an enhanced operational role," said the secretary general in letters to Kosovo and Serbian leaders. 

But the handover, which is foreseen in Kosovo's constitution, remains strongly opposed by both Serbia and Russia, who insist that the EU mission is illegal because it has not been approved by the UN Security Council. 

A new UN resolution drafted in 2007 was to see UNMIK cede powers to the government of an independent Kosovo, supported by the 2,200-strong EULEX police and customs force and overseen by an EU special representative and his International Civilian Office.

Russia blocked the new UN resolution but Kosovo declared independence unilaterally on 17 February, creating the current situation in which just 20 of the 27 EU states have recognised Kosovo independence and just 300 EULEX officials have so far been deployed.

Nächste Schritte:

• 
  

  
  1. Juli 2008: Frankreich übernimmt die EU-Ratspräsidentschaft.

  
  


• 
  

  
  2. und 3. Oktober 2008: Informelles Treffen der Verteidigungsminister.

  
  


• 
  

  
  15. und 16. Oktober 2008:  EU-Gipfel.

  
  


• 
  

  
  10. November 2008: Treffen der Verteidigungsminister.

  
  


• 
  

  
  11. und 12. Dezember 2008: EU-Gipfel.

  
  

Links

Stärkung der zivilen und militärischen Kapazitäten

Eine der Prioritäten ist die Entwicklung einer europäischen „Carrier Task Force“, die auf britischen und französischen Flugzeugträgern und einer gemeinsamen Flotte aus A400M-Flugzeugen für strategischen Transport basiert. Es bestehen auch beträchtliche Kapazitätenmängel im Hinblick auf den Einsatz von Hubschraubern.

The report also calls for parliament to be given greater democratic oversight over the area, which to date has remained firmly the domain of member states.

It suggests that the foreign minister "regularly" appear before MEPs and that the parliament be "fully consulted" on who the foreign minister should be, as well as what the diplomatic service should look like.

The proposed new EU foreign minister and diplomatic service as well as the possibility for a group of member states to move ahead in defence cooperation mean foreign policy is "one of the most innovative parts of the treaty."

The fact that Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, will for the first time be present at the MEPs' annual debate on CFSP on Wednesday (4 June) is in itself a "turning point," said the Pole at a briefing on Tuesday.

Euro-deputies will today debate a report that sets out principles for the EU's foreign policy - such as respect for human rights - calls for certain issues to be prioritised and says that the CFSP budget from now until 2013 is "insufficient."

Under plans originally foreseen by the EU, the 2,200 strong EU-Lex mission would eventually replace UNMIK as the leading rule-of-law mission in the new-born state of Kosovo. 

But faced with rejection from Serbia and Russia, which have both challenged the mission's legal legitimacy, diplomats are now drawing up plans for the two missions to co-exist under joint command. 

The solution would provide the EU with a face-saving trick, according to diplomats who were speaking to EurActiv on condition of anonymity. This is because UNMIK has already been accepted by Serbia and Russia, which has a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. 

Background:

Links