9-10 March General Affairs Informal

Date: 14/03/1996

THE EU will continue its policy of “critical dialogue” with Tehran, despite pressure to abandon talks in the face of Iran's lack of remorse over the recent Hamas bombings in Israel. Although the US practises an isolation policy against Tehran, officials said they supported the Union's efforts. But EU ministers were not sure how long the dialogue policy would be continued, saying that more dead ends added to a history of meagre results might cause them to break off talks. EU member states condemned Iran and Libya for their stands on the bombings, but stopped short of threatening sanctions.

MINISTERS called on Israel's government to open barricades which have strangled commerce in the Palestinian territories since the bombings. They demanded that Israel not only allow EU humanitarian and reconstruction aid to pass through, but also let Palestinian agricultural produce out for sale. Authorities say producers are losing 600,000 ecu per day in sales. Residents are also suffering from a lack of flour and cement.

EXPRESSING grave doubts about the willingness of international donors to contribute to reconstruction needs in Bosnia, ministers said the EU would only hold the planned Bosnia donors' conference if they felt new pledges would be forthcoming. They agreed to send a delegation to the US, Japan and Islamic nations to promote fund-raising efforts there. If the results are satisfactory, the donors' meeting will convene on 12-13 April in Brussels. Commission President Jacques Santer said 1 billion ecu was still needed for Bosnia's needs in 1996.

MOSTAR should have an EU administrator for the rest of this year, ministers agreed. They decided to push back the termination date of EU guidance of the Muslim-Croat city in Bosnia from July to December. But they need a successor for Hans Koschnick, who wants to leave the job. Austria's former Vice-Chancellor Erhard Busek has said he would accept the job if he had an enlarged mandate and the confidence of both Muslims and Croats in the divided town. Italian Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli said she hoped to find someone with past experience as a mayor, and Spanish officials hinted at the former mayor of Valencia, Ricard Perez-Casado. Carl Bildt, the International High Representative to Bosnia, said he approved the extension of an EU presence in Mostar, but warned that it must not undermine Mostar's attempts to hold real and serious elections in June.

FOREIGN ministers agreed to invite their counterparts from Cyprus, Malta and the countries of Eastern Europe which have applied for EU membership to the launch of the Intergovernmental Conference in Turin on 29 March. Ministers from the 11 applicant countries will not attend the negotiating session, but will be invited to dine with EU ministers and will be briefed the following morning by Agnelli.

MINISTERS anxious to see the ground rules for the IGC were frustrated by Italy's insistence on keeping the so-called IGC mandate a secret until the eve of its opening. Italy has been negotiating the mandate - which includes details of who should attend, how often meetings should be held and how long the IGC should last - bilaterally with member state capitals, but none of them have seen the final draft.

ATTEMPTS to overcome British and French objections to the presence of MEPs at the IGC failed. An Italian presidency plan to invite parliamentary representatives to attend talks was challenged by a Anglo-French draft that omitted the invitation and limited MEPs' participation to an exchange of views with member state officials every two months and with EU ministers every six months. While Italy proposed that European Parliament President Klaus Hänsch should meet and discuss MEPs' ideas with EU heads of state, France and the UK said they would only accept a presentation from the assembly's president. Italian proposals to set up “interinstitutional conferences” at the Parliament's request were also omitted from the Franco-British proposal. Diplomats suggested that French objections to the presence of Euro MPs were prompted by President Jacques Chirac's continuing anger over the hostile reaction he received from the Parliament last

year after he resumed nuclear testing.