Foreign Affairs Council and General Affairs Council

Thursday 10th March 2016 Written Statements

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs will attend the Foreign Affairs Council on 14 March and I will attend the General Affairs Council on 15 March. 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 Dutch presidency. The meetings will be held in Brussels.

Foreign Affairs Council

The agenda for the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) is expected to include Libya, Russia, Iran and the middle east peace process.

Libya

The FAC will take stock of the latest developments in the UN-led political process and assess where the EU can provide support. The UK and international partners continue to urge swift Libyan endorsement of the Government of national accord (GNA). We will highlight the need for the EU’s support package to take migration activity into account and encourage planning to be co-ordinated with the UN.

Russia

Ministers will discuss the EU’s relationship with Russia, both in the immediate and longer term. We expect ministers to underline the importance of continued EU unity.

Iran

Ministers are expected to exchange views on Iran following implementation day of the nuclear deal and the lifting of nuclear-related economic sanctions. We also expect Ministers to discuss the EU’s developing bilateral relationship with Iran and the opportunities and challenges this will bring.

Middle east peace process

Ministers are expected to discuss what more the EU can do to encourage progress in the middle east peace process.

General Affairs Council

The General Affairs Council (GAC) on 15 March is expected to focus on European Council follow up, preparation of the 17-18 March European Council, European semester, the inter-institutional agreement on better regulation and cohesion policy.

European Council follow up

The GAC will discuss the implementation of conclusions adopted at previous European Councils.

Preparation of the March European Council

The GAC will prepare the draft conclusions for the 17-18 March European Council, which the Prime Minister will attend. The March European Council agenda covers migration and will discuss priorities for the 2016 European semester.

European semester

There will be a short debate on the priorities for the 2016 European semester, which will focus on the country reports published by the Commission on 26 February. The UK report, which is overall positive, includes analysis of the economic situation, Government policies, macro-economic imbalances and wider structural issues. There may also be a discussion on steps taken under the excessive deficit procedure and macroeconomic imbalance procedure.

Inter-institutional agreement on better regulation (IIA)

The GAC will vote to adopt the IIA and will also discuss the implementation of the legislative programming element of the IIA.

Cohesion policy

At the end of 2015, the Commission published a report setting out how member states had agreed to spend the European structural and investment funds allocated to them, as required under article 16 of the common provisions regulation (EU 1303/2013). The EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, will formally present the article 16 report and the Council conclusions will be adopted.

[HCWS604]