Translation of "Council States Security Policy Committee " (English → French) :

N. whereas Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union states: ‘The Union shall ensure consistency between the different areas of its external action and between these and its other policies. The Council and the Commission, assisted by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, shall ensure that consistency and shall cooperate to that effect’;

I therefore agree with the resolution where it states that ‘whilst the Member States should retain their sovereign right to make strategic choices concerning the energy mix, to exploit their energy resources and to decide on the supply structures, there is a need to [promote a common approach and not necessarily a single policy] covering security of supply, transit and investment related to energy security, and the promotion of energy efficiency and energy savings as well as clean and renewabl ...[+++]e energy sources, particularly in relations with countries whose energy consumption is growing rapidly’. However, as for the idea of a High Official for Foreign Energy Policy, this dimension must be included within the work of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as I do not believe that a more specific approach than this makes any sense.

In December 1999 in Helsinki the European Council decided to develop more effective European military capabilities with a view to undertaking the full range of Petersberg tasks in support of the CFSP. In order to achieve this goal, by the year 2003 the Union was to be able to rapidly deploy units of about 50 000 – 60 000 troops which should be self-sustaining, including the necessary command, strategic reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities. The first steps towards such an autonomous intelligence capability have already been taken in the framework of the WEU and the standing Political and Security ...[+++] Committee. Cooperation among intelligence services within the EU seems essential on the grounds that, firstly, a common security policy which did not involve the secret services would not make sense and, secondly, it would have numerous professional, financial and political advantages. It would also accord better with the idea of the EU as a partner on an equal footing with the United States and could bring together all the Member States in a system which complied fully with the ECHR.

Those are three reasons for a common foreign and security policy and we will be tested on how successful a common foreign and security policy we develop above all by how we handle things in the Balkans and do not lose sight of the fact that there are quite a few of our critics, quite a few American politicians, quite a few senators and congressmen who say ‘How can we possibly take you seriously in developing a common foreign and security policy when you cannot even handle problems on your own back doorstep?’. So the big test for us is going to be in the Balkans. I hope that a ...[+++]ll those heads of government, all those prominent politicians in our Member States who promised the earth in the Balkans, who promised Marshall plans and who make all the other promises in the Balkans will be around when the budgetary authority decides how much we have got to spend in the Balkans.

It CALLS upon the Commission to start the procedures to set up in due time the European GNSS Supervisory Authority, in accordance with the Regulation; STATES that, when decisions or action relating to substantive security policy issues must be taken by the Council in accordance with the Regulation on the establishment of structures for the management of the European satellite radio navigation programmes, or on ...[+++] the security aspects of international agreements relating to the European GNSS system, the Council Security Committee, meeting in a GNSS security experts formation, will, as appropriate, issue technical recommendations in accordance with the Council's security regulations or, if the matter is entirely security-related, substantively prepare COREPER's work; RECALLS that the Council is the competent institution to authorise the Commission to enter into negotiations with third countries and to subsequently sign and conclude international agreements with third countries, on the subject of the European GNSS system; UNDERLINES that the procedure set out in the Council Joint Action agreed today would be applicable notably in cases where a Member State considers that its national security is under threat;

The Governments of the Member States and the Commission of the European Communities were represented as follows: Belgium: Mr Robert URBAIN Minister for Foreign Trade and European Affairs Denmark: Mr Niels HELVEG PETERSEN Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Jorgen ØSTRØM MØLLER State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Germany: Mr Jürgen TRUMPF State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Greece: Mr Theodoros PANGALOS Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Georges PAPANDREOU State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Spain: Mr Carlos WESTENDORP State Secretary for Relations with the European Communities Mr Apolonio RUIZ LIGERO State Secretary for Foreign Trade Fra ...[+++]nce: Mr Alain LAMASSOURE Minister with special responsibility for European Affairs Ireland: Mr Dick SPRING Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Tom KITT Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for European Affairs Italy: Mr Paolo BARATTA Minister for Foreign Trade Luxembourg: Mr Jacques POOS Minister for Foreign Affairs Netherlands: Mr Piet DANKERT State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Portugal: Mr Vitor MARTINS State Secretary for European Affairs United Kingdom: Mr David HEATHCOAT-AMORY Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office * * * Commission: Mr Jacques DELORS President Mr Hans VAN DEN BROEK Member Mr Peter SCHMIDHUBER Member Mr René STEICHEN Member FINANCING OF THE CFSP On the basis of a note from its General Secretariat reflecting the preliminary discussions of the Permanent Representatives Committee, the Council held a policy debate on the question of financing future joint actions under the Common Foreign and Security Policy and in particular Article J.11 on the Treaty on European Union, which lays down that the Council may, either decide that operational expenditure on such actions is to be charged to the Community budget or determine that it shall be charged to the Member States.