EU'S PARTNERSHIP AND CO-OPERATION AGREEMENTS:
TAKING ACCOUNT OF EU ENLARGEMENT
Letter from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, Minister
for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Chairman
I am writing to inform you of a process underway
to sign, provisionally apply and conclude Protocols adapting the
EU's Partnership and Co-operation Agreements (PCA) with Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,
Ukraine and Uzbekistan to take account of EU enlargement to Romania
and Bulgaria.
The Protocols must provisionally enter into
force by the time EU enlargement takes place on 1 January.
The Commission has sent the Protocols to the
partner countries above. Once it has received confirmation from
all countries that they can agree to the draft Protocols, it will
draw up a Decision to put to Council sometime in December. The
Parliamentary recess means that the European Union Committee may
not have sufficient time to clear the texts once they do become
available. If this is the case, I hope you will understand if
I decide to agree to the proposal before scrutiny has been completed,
given the importance of each new Member State becoming a party
to the Protocols by 1 January. The extension of the existing PCAs
should be a straightforward technical matter, which will not change
the substance of the PCAs.
I will write again to inform you once the protocols
have been agreed.
30 November 2006
Letter from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP to the
Chairman
I wrote to you on 30 November to set out the
next steps on extending the EU's Partnership and Co-operation
Agreements (PCAs) with third countries to include Romania and
Bulgaria (I enclose a copy of that letter). The process for extending
PCAs is usually straightforward, with the EU and third countries
agreeing a technical protocol extending the PCAs.
Since I wrote, Russia has asked that the protocol
extending the EU-Russia PCA be accompanied by a Joint Statement
highlighting issues previously covered by the respective bilateral
relationships but which Russia feels are now absorbed into an
EU framework. The issues Russia wishes to highlight relate mainly
to trade, and to application of the EURATOM Treaty to nuclear
fuel services.
Russia's wish to have a text may prolong the
time it takes for the EU-Russia PCA protocol to be formally extended.
There is some potential for difference between the EU and Russia
over whether we have a text at all; how any text should be described;
and the language any text might contain. The UK's position is
to support the rights of Romania and Bulgaria throughout any discussions.
The German Presidency has agreed to allow the Commission to discuss
language for a possible text for now, but without prejudice to
the EU's right to decide whether or not it wants to have a text
at all. I shall keep you informed of developments.
2 February 2007
Letter from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP to the
Chairman
I wrote to you about this on 2 February 2007.
My letter explained that the Russian government was seeking to
agree a text with the EU to mark the extension of the EU-Russia
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to Romania and Bulgaria.
I promised to keep you informed of developments.
In early March Russian and Commission officials
agreed a text (enclosed) (not printed). Earlier drafts
had included Russian language that some Member States could not
accept. Significant interventions by the UK and others ensured
that the rights of Member States, particularly the Accession countries
themselves, were protected during negotiations. The present draft
is now acceptable to all Member States and does not impose any
new commitments on the EU. On this basis, Member States unanimously
adopted the text at working level on 12 March 2007.
The Presidency proposes to publish this text
formally on 23 April at the EU-Russia Foreign Ministers' Troika.
Its publication will coincide with the signing of the protocol
extending the EU-Russia PCA to Romania and Bulgaria. I support
this proposal on the basis of the current text.
12 April 2007
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