Asselborn calls for vigilance on referenda

Date: 02/12/04

Luxembourg will have to remain vigilant during the referenda on the EU constitution, which could upset its EU presidency agenda next year, Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said yesterday (1 December).

Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg are scheduled to seek their electorates' verdict on the constitution during the first half of 2005, with the Netherlands also considering a possible referendum in that period.

While Asselborn is optimistic that all will be carried, he said that the polls would make matters complicated for his country's six-month stint at the EU's helm. “We will have to keep a cool head,” he told European Voice, speaking before yesterday's internal ballot on the constitution by France's Socialist party. “We will have to be vigilant in case there is a small accident here or there.”

Asselborn identified the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact and the spending plans for 2007-13 as other key challenges for the presidency.

Luxembourg is hoping that it can clinch an agreement on the spending plans - or financial perspectives. Because the future of the UK budget rebate - won by Margaret Thatcher in 1984 - is one of the most pressing topics in this dossier, many member states are eager that a deal is finalized before the UK assumes the EU presidency in July.

The western Balkans would be a key priority in foreign policy, Asselborn explained. Giving a green light to EU entry talks for Croatia will depend on Zagreb cooperating in efforts to hand over war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, he added.

In Kosovo, efforts must be concentrated on “avoiding a new crisis”, as well as evaluating whether it complies with UN benchmarks on political, economic and social reforms, he added.

The minister also said that the EU will have to liaise closely with the US and Arab countries on the Middle East peace process. Although the Union is the main provider of aid to the Palestinian Authority, he believes that a “fair balance” will have to be found in meeting its financial needs. “What the Palestinians lack most is money. But they can find money not only in Europe, they can also find it in Arab countries,” he said.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn on 1 December 2004 outlined the priorities of his country's Presidency of the Council in the first half of 2005.