26 October General Affairs Council

Date: 29/10/1998

DEVELOPMENT Commissioner João de Deus Pinheiro told foreign ministers that, following a meeting with South Africa's Trade Minister Alec Erwin over the weekend, the European Commission expected to present South Africa with a new compromise offer in the second half of November. Pinheiro said the Commission hoped to have a new agreement ready for ministers to consider at their scheduled meeting on 7 December. Despite a commitment by EU leaders at the Cardiff summit in June to reach an agreement with Pretoria by this autumn, talks with South Africa broke down last month after the two sides reached a stalemate on drinks labelling and farm trade concessions.

THE EU is still aiming to reach a deal before the end of 1999 because of fears that elections in South Africa in April could hold up progress on negotiations. South Africa is insisting that the EU must improve its offer on trade concessions for farm goods such as fruit, vegetables and canned fruit juice. The EU, under pressure from Portugal and Spain, is demanding that South Africa should stop using the terms sherry and port to describe locally produced fortified wines.

UNION foreign ministers agreed to step up sanctions on Rangoon's regime in response to the deteriorating situation in Burma. Ministers decided to widen the visa ban to include transit visas and to cover Burmese authorities in the tourism industry. It was also agreed that because sanctions had been tightened on Burma, ministers could agree to allow Rangoon to be present at the next joint committee meeting under the EU-ASEAN agreement.

MINISTERS urged Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to meet the terms of the agreement with NATO, especially by ending attacks on civilians and engaging in political negotiations with representatives of the Kosovo Albanian population. Full support was given to the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM), which will place 2,000 unarmed observers on the ground in Kosovo, including substantial numbers from EU member states. Foreign ministers welcomed plans by the European Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM) to increase its presence in Kosovo in order to bring forward the start of the KVM and requested that the ECMM maintain contact with the mission so that reports could be transmitted back.

FOREIGN ministers also committed their governments to increasing financial aid to Kosovo to encourage refugees to return to their homes, to provide shelter during the winter months and to rebuild houses and villages destroyed by fighting. Specialists groups working on humanitarian problems in Belgrade and Geneva will draw up an action plan to tackle these issues.

THE deal struck between Israel and Palestine following the Wye Plantation negotiations last week was welcomed by ministers. They pledged that the EU would continue to provide technical and economic assistance to the Palestinians given the importance of economic stability. They also called on Israel to meet its responsibilities in promoting conditions for economic growth.