EU External Relations Council Conclusions

Summary: EU External Relations Council Conclusions (22 November 2005: Brussels)

PRESS RELEASE: 2691st Council Meeting, General Affairs and External Relations, External Relations Council Conclusions (Provisional), Brussels

* Some external relations items were adopted without debate at the 2690th meeting on General Affairs (14171/05 Presse 288).

Main Results of the Council

On the basis of the agreement on movement and access between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which it welcomed as a major breakthrough, the Council agreed that the EU should undertake the third party role proposed in the agreement and decided to launch, as a matter of urgency, an ESDP mission to monitor the operations of the Rafah border crossing point. The Council also endorsed the appointment of Major General Pietro Pistolese as head of mission, approved a Concept of Operations for this mission and looked forward to the early deployment of an initial team of monitors to allow operations at Rafah to begin as soon as possible.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dayton/Paris peace agreement, the Council warmly welcomed progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina and authorised the Commission to open negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement at the earliest opportunity.

The Council also:

agreed to establish a follow-on mission to the EU Police Mission in BiH (EUPM) with a mandate refocused on supporting the fight against organised crime in a more proactive way and implementation of police reform;
reviewed the EU military operation, Althea, on completion of its successful first year and approved Javier Solana's recommendation that force levels should remain broadly unchanged for the coming year;
agreed to strengthen the EUSR's role in co-ordinating all its instruments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ahead of the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference, the Council reconfirmed the objective of a comprehensive, balanced and ambitious agreement within and across all the main elements of the Doha Agenda and expressed its support for an ambitious development package at Hong Kong.

In its six-monthly review of developments in the European security and defence policy, in the presence of defence ministers, the Council noted progress in military capabilities, including on EU battlegroups. It welcomed the report submitted by the head of the European Defence Agency (EDA), High Representative Javier Solana, on its activities during the year.

In the margins of the Council:

The EDA steering board agreed a voluntary code of conduct for defence procurement in order to encourage competition in the European defence equipment market. The new regime would take effect from 1 July, 2006.
At a civilian capabilities improvement conference, ministers emphasised the growing role of civilian crisis-management in the EU's support for international peace and security

CONTENTS: ITEMS DEBATED

WESTERN BALKANS

- Council conclusions

- Bosnia and Herzegovina - Stabilisation and association agreement

- EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM)

EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY - Council conclusions

TRADE POLICY - DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA - Council conclusions

MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS - Council conclusions

IRAQ

IRAN

MIGRATION AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS - Council conclusions

OTHER BUSINESS

- ASEM

- Cyprus

- Bulgarian Nurses in Libya

IN THE MARGINS OF THE COUNCIL

See the complete External Relations Council Conclusions for detailed information.

Ref: CL05-306EN
EU source: Council
UN forum:
Date: 22/11/2005

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