Events 2008

Ministerial meetings
Bernard Kouchner’s bilateral meetings in New York

The President of the European Council, Nicolas Sarkozy, gave the opening address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on behalf of the European Union on Tuesday 23 September.

• Read the speech by President Sarkozy (New York, 23 September 2008)

The European Council President, the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and the Commissioner for External Relations represented the EU at several meetings held in the margins of the UNGA, such as the Middle East Quartet meeting on Friday 26 September.

The EU Council President also addressed, on behalf of the European Union, the High-level Meeting on Africa’s Development Needs on Monday 22 September.

• Read the speech delivered by President Sarkozy et the High-level Meeting on Africa’s Development Needs (New York, September 22, 2008)

The ministerial week, which is attended by a number of ministers, is traditionally an opportunity for a large number of meetings to be held between the European Union and Third States.

The 27 EU foreign affairs ministers, the High Representative for CFSP, and the Commissioner for External Relations thus met with the Russian and American foreign affairs ministers on 23 and 24 September respectively. Both meetings touched on the Middle East (Middle East Peace Process and Iran) and Georgia in particular.

Ministerial meetings also took place between the EU Troika - comprising the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the High Representative for CFSP and the European Commission -, the Czech Republic (next to hold the Presidency of the EU Council) and the following countries: the Cooperation Council of Arab Gulf States (Tuesday, 23 September); Pakistan, Iraq and the Palestinian Authority (Thursday, 25 September); the Organisation of The Islamic Conference, the Rio Group and the Non-Aligned Movement (Friday, 26 September); Bosnia-Herzegovina (Monday, 29 September). Troika meetings also took place between the EU and the UN Secretary-General (Saturday, 27 September), Japan and China.

• Security Council Meeting On The Situation In Chad, The Central African Republic And The Subregion (September 24, 2008)

Bernard Kouchner took part in yesterday’s UN Security Council meeting on “the situation in Chad, the Central African Republic and the subregion (EUFOR and MINURCAT).”

After applauding the cooperation of the Chadian authorities, the minister said that the deployment of EUFOR in eastern Chad and the north-eastern Central African Republic was the largest autonomous military operation deployed by the European Union to date and was emblematic of Europe’s contribution to the action of the United Nations.

However the minister said that in spite of the successes to its credit, underscored recently in a report by the NGO Oxfam, EUFOR had not been as effective as had been expected owing to the absence of a lasting political solution and the delay in deploying the African Union-UN hybrid force in Darfur. So the minister insisted on the importance of the action on the ground of MINURCAT and the Chadian Integrated Security Detachment, the DIS, provided for in resolution 1778 for improving security for civilians.

Bernard Kouchner also recalled that in accordance with the guidelines given in resolution 1778, the Europeans were in favor of replacing EUFOR with a UN force in March 2009 and called for the transfer of authority between the two forces to be handled under optimum conditions.

• Meeting in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (September 24, 2008)

Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Secretary Rama Yade represented the French presidency of the European Union at the meeting in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), held in New York yesterday at the initiative of Australia, Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan and the Netherlands.

She conveyed the EU’s full support for the ministerial statement issued at that time and recalled that the EU, most of whose member states have ratified the Test Ban Treaty, attaches the utmost importance to the universality of the treaty and its entry into force as soon as possible.

The minister took part on September 25 in the General Assembly plenary session on the Millennium Development Goals.

The minister represented the EU presidency in the troika with China at which his Chinese counterpart was present. Several regional crises were discussed: the Iranian question, Darfur, Burma and global topics like climate change and the international financial crisis. The minister ended with a dinner with the secretary-general at which they talked about climate change.

• Seminar on cooperation between the UN and the European Union on crisis and management and security (September 26, 2008)

On Friday, 26 September, a seminar on cooperation between the UN and the European Union on crisis and management and security brought together the foreign affairs ministers of the 27 EU Member States, the High Representative for CFSP, the European Commission, the UN Secretary-General and civil society representatives (academics, journalists, members of think tanks). 

That day, Bernard Kouchner also took part in a meeting called by Greece on the protection of journalists.

There was an EU/UN luncheon, then in the afternoon a Quartet meeting on the Middle East and a meeting of the Group of Friends of Pakistan. The purpose of the Quartet meeting was to reaffirm the international mobilization to help reach a peace settlement in the Middle East, invite the parties to make every effort to achieve a settlement in accordance with the commitments they made at Annapolis, call on the parties to do what is necessary in terms of security, to fight terrorism, lift the roadblocks and obstacles to free movement and access. There was supposed to be a freeze on settlement activity.

  On September 24, 2008:

• Egypt

Bernard Kouchner met with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, with whom he discussed bilateral relations, the Mideast peace process and the Union for the Mediterranean.

• The Arab League

The last-named topic was also discussed at a meeting with the Arab League secretary-general, Amr Moussa.

• The Palestinian Authority

The minister met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with whom he discussed in particular the upcoming meeting of the Quartet and the situation in the Palestinian Territories. He was particularly pleased that progress had been made on the ground regarding security in Jenin and Nablus.

• NATO

At a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Joop Scheffer, the minister discussed the situation in Afghanistan and raised the question of civilian deaths. The NATO secretary-general said that new operational directives had been adopted in order to take this concern fully into account.

  On September 25, 2008

• The United States

He had a bilateral luncheon with Condoleezza Rice during which three main subjects were discussed: the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Iranian nuclear issue.

Regarding the Middle East, they discussed the situation on the ground. There has been some progress in the Palestinian Authority taking charge of security in some cities, particularly Jenin. It’s a way for the Palestinian Authority to assert its authority, and it’s a positive development.

With regard to Afghanistan, the minister discussed the need for closer coordination in the civilian and military efforts being made by the international community, in line with the directions taken at the Paris conference. He also discussed the best ways to encourage and speed up “Afghanization,” that is, having the Afghan armed forces take over security in the country-the transfer of responsibilities. Both ministers reviewed the situation in the region and the need for cooperation among all the states concerned and involved in the fight against terrorism.

With regard to Iran, there is considerable unity in views. The minister and secretary of state reaffirmed the pertinence of the E3+3 format, as seen in the continuation of the work which took place in New York this week among the political directors and the prospect of a ministerial level meeting.

• Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

He also had a meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, then with the prime minister of Kuwait. With both of them he discussed relations between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council and also a number of regional crises, in particular the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Regarding the relations between the EU and GCC, a free trade agreement is being negociated between the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council. There are stumbling blocks but we’re working on both sides to remove these obstacles. Both parties, Prince Saud especially, want to conclude the negotiations during the French presidency, which is before the end of the year.

The second point concerned regional issues, especially the Middle East and Afghanistan, in the context of efforts being made by both parties to address these problems and arrive at solutions

More information on the 63 rd session of the UN General Assembly on:

  the French EU presidency website

  the UN website