Summary: December 13, 2002: Presidency press briefing on Middle East, Iraq and Wider Europe at the European Council in Copenhagen on Friday, 13 December at 15:30 (Brussels)
At the press briefing, Minister for Foreign Affairs Per Stig Møller said:
The Council has sent some strong and clear messages on the Middle East: We are alarmed by the situation and deplore the almost daily loss of lives. We strongly condemn terrorism in all its manifestations and excessive use of force. We call on the Israeli authorities to implement a freeze on the continuing settlement activities in the Occupied Territories.
The settlement expansion has become a major flashpoint for violent confrontation and threatens to make the vision of a Palestinian state impossible to implement by cutting off large parts of the Palestinian population from the rest of the West Bank.
The parties need a political perspective. As a result, it is vitally important that the Quartet at its meeting on 20 December in Washington approves the common road map for the establishment of a Palestinian state in three years. We must not lose momentum. Everybody - including the parties - agrees on the end result: Two states, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security. The road map which was initiated during the Danish Presidency is the way to translate this vision into
reality.
We look forward to the Quartet meeting next week where High Representative Javier Solana, Commissioner Patten and I are determined to bring the process forward and still hope that it will be possible to decide on a common road map.
On Iraq, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Per Stig Møller, said that the EU remains determined to see that Iraq fully abides by the terms of Security Council Resolution 1441 concerning the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Iraq must now seize this final opportunity for a peaceful settlement to its dispute with the international community. During our discussions, we took note of the fact that Iraq has accepted resolution 1441 and has submitted the required declaration on its
weapons of mass destruction and related material.
It is now up to the UN weapons inspectors to assess the Iraqi information. The EU has full confidence in their competence to carry out this very important task. They should be allowed to proceed with their important task without interference, using the full range of tools available to them under the Resolution.
At our first meeting during the Danish Presidency in Elsinore 6 months ago, we clearly stated that the UN Security Council was the appropriate forum for dealing with the Iraqi issue and that the UN track should be vigorously pursued. In the past months, we managed to convince all our friends and partners that this was indeed the right path to take. Looking back, I think this was actually a quite significant achievement for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Regarding the neighbours of the enlarged Union, the Minister said that the EU on the verge of the biggest and most wide ranging enlargement agreed on the importance of not letting this lead to new dividing lines or the creation of a "silver curtain" through Europe. The Danish Presidency Programme is named "One Europe" for a reason. Enlargement must not lead to separation in Europe. The enlarged Union is open to cooperation with all its new neighbours.
We already have a close cooperation with most of our neighbours. The Presidency has launched a special initiative - the so-called New Neighbours Initiative with a special focus on Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. This does not mean that we forget the rest. But with these three countries we need to strengthen and deepen our relations.
Russia remains a very important neighbour and partner. We will continue to develop our strategic partnership with Russia.
In the Balkans, the EU is the most important international contributor to stability and development. The progress achieved within the last few years is remarkable and a result of their European perspective which the European Council today reaffirmed. Javier Solana has done a fantastic job in support of this process.
We also agreed on the need to inject new vitality into the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.
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