Development Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs and General Affairs Councils

Thursday 11th December 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development will attend the Development Foreign Affairs Council on 12 December, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs will attend the Foreign Affairs Council on 15 December, and I will attend the General Affairs Council on 16 December. The Development Foreign Affairs Council and the Foreign Affairs Council will be chaired by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and the General Affairs Council will be chaired by the Italian presidency. The meetings will be held in Brussels.

Development Foreign Affairs Council

Post-2015 agenda

The UK remains at the forefront of the post-2015 discussions, building on the Prime Minister’s co-chairing of the UN high-level panel. Ministers will discuss the EU’s approach to intergovernmental negotiations on post-2015, including agreeing Council conclusions, and reflect on the UN Secretary-General’s synthesis report. The UK will use this discussion to make the case for a more simple, inspiring and relevant set of goals and targets.

Gender

The UK is an international leader on this agenda, as demonstrated by hosting the highly successful Girl summit last summer. In response to the UK’s call for the EU to show greater ambition on women and girls, the Commission will update Ministers on progress on the current EU action plan on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and set out a vision for its successor. The UK will urge the new Development Commissioner to take political leadership and deliver an ambitious gender action plan 2016-20.

Ebola from the development perspective

The Commission and European External Action Service will update Ministers on the latest developments. The UK will reiterate the urgent need to maintain momentum in tackling the immediate crisis, and focus on the social and economic impact of Ebola and on regional preparedness. Ministers will also reflect on what could be done in the medium to long term to support health systems and prevent future outbreaks.

Migration, refugees and development

Ministers will discuss the inter-linkages between migration and development, and will agree Council conclusions. The debate will inform a Commission communication due next year. The UK will be underlining the need for a communication based on sound evidence and analysis.

Foreign Affairs Council

Syria

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Steffan De Mistura, will brief Ministers on the Syria conflict and his plans to de-escalate violence. The EU continues to support Mr De Mistura. Ministers will agree conclusions that condemn the awful human rights abuses being perpetrated by Assad, the instability that violence is creating in the region and the dire humanitarian situation. The UK will argue for the EU to continue to support the moderate opposition in their fight against both ISIL and Assad, calling for Assad to allow the free flowing of aid to all who need it, and reiterating that Assad cannot morally or practically be a partner in the fight against ISIL.

Iraq/ISIL

The priority of this discussion will be the EU strategy on ISIL which is being developed following the August conclusions of the European Council meeting. Ministers will discuss the strategy and their support for it. The UK hopes the EU strategy will help the EU focus on areas where it can bring additional value to the coalition efforts and that it will ensure EU activity is fully co-ordinated and aligned with other coalition efforts. There is also likely to be an assessment of the situation in Erbil and the EU response to the foreign fighter threat.

Ebola

Ministers will take stock of the EU’s response to the Ebola crisis. The EU’s Ebola Coordinator and Humanitarian Commissioner, Christos Stylianides, will present a progress report. The UK will reiterate the importance of member states delivering the funds and staff that they have pledged. Ministers will also discuss how the EU might respond to Ebola over the medium and longer term, drawing on an EEAS-Commission paper. The UK will welcome the proposals for the EU to help rebuild countries affected by Ebola, but will stress that this must not detract from the current crisis response and that the EU’s long-term efforts must be co-ordinated with wider initiatives to improve the global response to health crises.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The High Representative is likely to brief Ministers on her joint visit with Commissioner Hahn to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 5 December, and on progress of a new EU approach to inject momentum into Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession process. We want conclusions to endorse the EU initiative, mandate Mogherini to negotiate the written commitment and that once the written commitment is signed, the stabilisation and association agreement will come into force. We also want to see GAC conclusions that refer to the annual enlargement package and endorse the FAC’s decision on the EU’s approach to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

General Affairs Council

Enlargement and stabilisation and association process

The General Affairs Council will discuss the Commission’s annual enlargement package (AEP), published on 8 October, and agree conclusions on the enlargement strategy and the western Balkans countries, Turkey and Iceland. The December GAC is the annual opportunity for the Council to take stock and give direction to the EU’s enlargement strategy and pre-accession reform priorities for individual countries. The Government’s views on the package were set out in my explanatory memorandum of 20 October 2014. We will broadly welcome the Commission’s approach in this year’s package, reiterating our continued firm support for future EU enlargement on the basis of strict but fair conditionality, with countries moving forward on merit as they meet the conditions. We will also take the opportunity to reiterate the importance of maintaining the credibility of the enlargement process, including addressing the concerns of many EU citizens around the impact of migration. We welcome recognition of this issue in the package.

Rule of law

Following an initial exchange of views at the November General Affairs Council and further discussions in COREPER, Ministers will consider the presidency’s latest proposals to strengthen adherence to the rule of law within the EU. The Italian presidency intends to focus discussion on the role of the member states, and in particular how to establish further dialogue within the Council to address emerging threats.

Strengthening inter-institutional annual and multi-annual programming

The Commission’s 2015 Work Programme is tabled for discussion at the General Affairs Council. The Italian presidency has also indicated its intention to agree a high-level political declaration on the Council’s intention to work with the Commission and European Parliament on legislative programming in future years. They are yet to confirm whether a draft text will be issued in advance of discussions at the General Affairs Council.

Friends of the presidency on improving the functioning of the EU

Following the final meeting of the friends of the presidency group on improving the functioning of the EU, the presidency will present its report and the GAC will hold a discussion on the recommendations.

Composition of the Committee of the Regions

The GAC will consider the current impasse on the Commission’s proposal of June 2014 to bring the composition of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) back in line with the Lisbon treaty which capped membership at 350. This was temporarily increased to 353 when Croatia acceded to the EU in July 2013. The UK strongly supports efforts to improve proportionality within the Committee of the Regions with a view to reflecting the demographic reality of member states. We will encourage the presidency to urgently facilitate agreement on a proposal that will allow the Committee’s mandate to be renewed in time and includes a commitment for a full review of the composition of the CoR during its next mandate period.

Preparation of the December European Council

The GAC will prepare the 18 and 19 December European Council, which the Prime Minister will attend. The December European Council agenda is expected to include strengthening growth, jobs and competitiveness and investment, and external relations issues—likely to include Ukraine and Ebola.

European semester and Europe 2020 mid-term review

The GAC will discuss the annual growth survey (AGS), which marks the beginning of the European semester process of social and economic co-ordination. The AGS is published alongside the alert mechanism report (AMR), the joint employment report (JER) and the Commission draft budgetary opinions on Eurozone member states. It sets out broad EU level economic and social objectives for the year ahead.

Europe 2020 is the European Union’s 10-year strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. A mid-term review of the strategy was launched with a public consultation in 2014 which ended on 31 October. The mid-term review is due to be discussed in each Council formation before being summarised and presented at the December GAC, ahead of the final presentation to the December European Council.

Follow-up to the June European Council

Ministers will have a thematic debate on the EU’s strategic agenda, focused on the subject: “The EU as a strong global actor”. I will set out the UK’s support for the strategic agenda as set out in the June European Council, and highlight the role of member states in setting EU foreign policy and the need for the EU to play an influential role in world.