14. We consider that the following raises
questions of political importance, but make no recommendation for
its further consideration:--
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(17550)
--
-- |
Commission proposal concerning the conclusion of a
partnership and co-operation agreement (PCA) with
Uzbekistan. |
| Legal base: |
Article 238 in conjunction with the second sentence of
Article 228 (2) and the second paragraph of Article 228 (3);
unanimity. The assent of the European Parliament is
required.
Article 101 EURATOM; qualified majority
voting.
Article 95 ECSC; unanimity. |
Background
14.1 We have previously reported that EC Foreign
Ministers had agreed that the Community should eventually
negotiate partnership and co-operation agreements with all twelve
non-Baltic states of the former Soviet Union. We reported on the
proposed PCA with Russia on 22 June 1994[28]. We recommended that it should be debated
in European Standing Committee B and suggested that other
proposed PCAs with Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus would
all be relevant to the debate. The debate took place in European
Standing Committee B on 28 February 1995.
14.2 On 21st May 1996 we reported[29] on the proposed PCAs with Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia.
The current proposal
14.3 In an Explanatory Memorandum dated 25
October, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs (Mr Davis) tells us that in the margins of the European
Council on 22 June 1996, EU Foreign Ministers signed the PCA
negotiated with Uzbekistan. The current proposal is for a Council
Decision to permit the conclusion of the Agreement. The Minister
tells us that, as with previous PCAs, the Uzbekistan Agreement
is tailored to individual circumstances and is intended to
replace (and supplement) the 1989 EC/USSR Trade and Co-operation
Agreement which was extended to the successor states of the USSR
after dissolution.
14.4 The scope of the Agreement is described in
the Minister's Explanatory Memorandum. It covers much of the
same ground as the agreements with other former USSR states which
we have described in earlier reports and which we do not propose
to describe in detail.
The Government's view
14.5 In his Memorandum, the Minister says that the
PCA recognises the European Union's desire to deepen its
partnership with Uzbekistan and that it provides a comprehensive
framework for political dialogue at all levels and for the
development of trade between the EU and Uzbekistan. The Minister
says that the Government supports closer links between the EU and
that country.
Conclusion
14.6 We have taken the view, as before, that
this proposal raises matters of political importance because it
represents a further step in the development of relations between
the EU and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in this
case Uzbekistan in particular. There was a debate on other
Agreements of this kind in European Standing Committee B in
February 1995. We do not think that the present proposal raises
new matters which would justify a further debate.
14.7 We are not normally prepared to clear any
document for which we do not have an official text. However, in
this case the proposal follows an established pattern and we have
the (more important) text of the Agreement to which it relates.
We therefore clear the document.
28.(15383)7988/94; see HC 48-xxii (1993-94),
paragraph 1 (22 June 1994). Back
29.(17133) 6486/96, (17134) 6509/96 and (17135)
6508/96; see HC 51-xx (1995-96), paragraph 8 (21 May 1996). Back
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