Annex 11 - Cannes European Council, 26 and 27 June 1995 Presidency Conclusions (excerpts)

SI (95) 500

INTRODUCTION

Meeting with 15 Member States for the first time, the European Council has considered the basic questions which confront the Union today and how they might be tackled, on both the internal and external fronts. It has thus laid solid foundations for a new stage in the process of European integration, with revision of the Union Treaty, completion of economic and monetary union and the achievement of a further major enlargement.

At home, the Union must provide an improved response to its citizens' legitimate expectations, that is to say, it must make it a priority to mobilize all its resources, including those of the Member States, to combat the scourge of unemployment effectively. This means implementing a broad range of measures at both national and Community level in full compliance with the convergence criteria; compliance with these criteria is also a precondition for introduction of a single currency: in particular, the Community's economy must be made more dynamic, by making sure that it remains competitive with its principal rivals and by mastering new technologies, especially information technologies. Finally, people's desire for security must be satisfied.

Externally, the Union is determined to work towards stability and peace on the continent of Europe, by preparing for the accession of the associated European countries. Their presence here in Cannes today provides confirmation that they are destined to join the Union. The Union also intends to strengthen relations in all spheres with the Mediterranean countries, to implement the customs union with Turkey as part of a developing relationship with that country, to establish close and balanced relationships with Russia and the CIS countries, to strengthen its special relationship with the ACP, to give fresh impetus to transatlantic relations and forge closer links with Latin America and Asia.

To be able to achieve these ambitions, the Union will need to complete preparation for the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference in the next few months; the discussions of the Reflection Group set up in Messina will be a contribution to that process.

The European Council heard a statement from the President of the European Parliament, Mr Klaus Hch, on the main questions dealt with.

STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN UNION

Former Yugoslavia

Meeting in Cannes on 26 and 27 June 1995, the European Council sends the following message to the leaders and peoples of former Yugoslavia:

1. The European Union solemnly reaffirms its opposition to the settlement of the conflict in former Yugoslavia by force. It calls for a moratorium on military operations and for the conclusion of an agreement to cease hostilities.

2. Since the beginning, the European Union has lent its support to the efforts of the United Nations to contain the war, to come to the aid of the civilian population and to promote the peace process. It now wishes to emphasize its support for resolute action by UNPROFOR.

As regards the action of the United Nations and its military aspects, the European Union reiterates its support for the deployment of the Rapid Reaction Force, as approved by the United Nations Security Council, for the purposes of enabling UNPROFOR to accomplish its task in the best possible conditions of security and with greater efficiency. The objective is to enable UNPROFOR to act and react. The Member States of the European Union are demonstrating their solidarity with the Rapid Reaction Force by offering it their assistance as far as they are able and by urging the United Nations to ensure that all the members of the Organization contribute to the financial support of the Force.

The European Union strongly advises all the parties in the conflict to refrain from placing obstacles in the way of the freedom of movement and action of UNPROFOR and of the humanitarian organizations bringing aid to the civilian population. It warns them that the peace forces are determined to overcome such obstacles. The siege of Sarajevo must be lifted. The European Union demands freedom of access to Sarajevo, its enclaves and the safe areas.

The European Union confirms the authorization to open negotiations for a trade and co-operation agreement with Croatia but would reiterate its stern warning against any attempt to settle the situation in Krajina by force.

3. The European Union confirms that it is its first resolve to speed up the finalization of a peaceful settlement. It reiterates its confidence in and its full support for the mediator it has appointed, Mr Carl Bildt as co-Chairman of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia. It has noted with the keenest interest the outcome of his first visit to the region.

The European Union asks Mr Bildt urgently to seek ways of re-opening the dialogue with all the parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The European Union, the United States and Russia have devised a plan which is based on a fair division of territory and on future constitutional arrangements which will preserve the integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and ensure equitable and balanced treatment for the Croat-Bosnian and Serb-Bosnian entities. This plan must be accepted as the basis for the resumption of negotiations.

The European Union at the same time asks Mr Bildt to pursue the efforts to secure mutual recognition of the States which have emerged from the former Yugoslavia. It understands the urgency attaching in an initial stage to the recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It would refer to the proposals made, in particular on the question of sanctions, in order to achieve that mutual recognition as soon as possible.

The European Union urges in this context the importance of strict observance of the closure of the border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It calls on all States to see to it that the monitoring mission of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia has adequate resources.

The European Union asks Mr Bildt to encourage the Zagreb Government and the Krajina Serb leaders to resume talks, revive the economic Agreement of 2 December 1994 and accept the draft Agreement known as plan Z4 and to urge the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to support that plan.

In view of the success already achieved to bridge the gap between Croats and Muslims, to which the Muslim-Croat Federation and the action of the European Union Administrator in Mostar stand witness, the European Union is convinced that solutions can be found to establish satisfactory relations between all communities in the former Yugoslavia.

The European Union asks its Mediator to keep the Ministers for Foreign Affairs informed of the initial results of his efforts at the next Council meeting on 17 July.

4. These are the European Union's immediate objectives for its own action and that of Mr Bildt. Overall peace will not be restored unless the rights of each community are safeguarded everywhere. In this respect the European Union will remain vigilant concerning the fate of the people of Vojvodina, Sandjak and Kosovo: full reintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into the community of nations depends on satisfactory developments.

DECLARATION EUROPEAN COUNCIL, CANNES, 26 AND 27 JUNK 1995

Subject: Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations

"Today, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco, the European Council:

- solemnly reaffirms the European Union's attachment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and renews its commitment to serving the ideals and action of the United Nations;

- emphasizes the extent to which the United Nations, which was created in response to the tragedy of the Second World War, helped in the reconstruction of Europe and in aiding the refugees of the conflict;

- pays tribute to the work of the United Nations over fifty years and to its major contribution to consolidating international law, maintaining peace and international security in co-operation with the regional organizations, to disarmament, to decolonization, to development and humanitarian aid, to protecting and promoting human rights and to co-operation between nations in the most diverse fields;

- vigorously affirms the need, in a world facing political, economic, cultural and social challenges of increasing complexity, to preserve and develop a forum in which universal commitments are made and in which co-ordinated initiatives are implemented in co-operation with the regional organizations;

- points out that the success and the proper functioning of the United Nations depend above all on the political support of its Member States and on the resources which they put at its disposal, notably by full, punctual and unconditional payment of their financial contributions;

- calls on the United Nations and its Member States to pursue and develop the reform programme under way, in order to remedy the weaknesses in some areas and to be ready to take up the challenges of the next century;

- hopes in this regard that progress will be made in adapting UN structures and institutions, including the Security Council;

- supports the Secretary-General's moves to strengthen the Organization's preventive diplomacy capacities and to adjust its peacekeeping tasks and resources, a field in which the UN plays an irreplaceable role, since only the UN may decide on the use of force in international relations;

- also expresses its attachment to the United Nations' revival of a global sustainable development policy centred on human beings, incorporating the achievements of the major Conferences which it has organized and laying stress on aiding the poorest countries, in close consultation with bilateral donors and other multilateralagencies;

- calls on the Secretary-General to step up further his drive to increase efficiency in the Organization's operation and in the management of its staff and financial resources;

- reaffirms that the European Union, which is by far the Organization's largest financial provider, the leading contributor in troops to peacekeeping operations, the principal donor of multilateral development aid and of humanitarian aid, intends, for its part, to continue to support the United Nations."

EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE IN BARCELONA

POSITION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

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II. POLITICAL AND SECURITY PARTNERSHIP: ESTABLISHING A COMMON AREA OF PEACE AND STABILITY

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B. Stability, security, good-neighbourly relations:

The partners could affirm that peace and stability in the Mediterranean region are a common asset, which they undertake to preserve and strengthen by all means at their disposal.

A security partnership between Europe and the Mediterranean should be based on respect for the following principles:

1. (Sovereign equality). Commitment by the partners to respect each other's sovereign equality and all rights inherent in their sovereignty, in accordance with international law. Commitment by the partners to fulfil in good faith the obligations they have assumed under international law.

2. (Non-interference). Commitment by each partner to refrain from any direct or indirect intervention contrary to the rules of international law in the internal affairs of another partner.

3. (Respect for territorial integrity). Commitment by the partners to respect the territorial integrity and the unity of each of the other partners.

4. (Non-use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes). Renunciation by the partners of any recourse, in their mutual relations, to the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another partner, or any other action that is incompatible with the aims of the United Nations. Commitment by the partners to consider joint mechanisms of preventive diplomacy and to settle their disputes by peaceful means.

5. (Fight against terrorism, organized crime and drugs). Commitment by the partners to cooperage to prevent and combat the threat of terrorist activities by ratifying and implementing the international instruments and commitments to which they subscribe in this connection, and by taking other appropriate measures. Commitment by the partners to fight together against the expansion and diversification of organized crime and to combat the drugs problem in all its aspects.

6. (Objectives in relation to disarmament and non-proliferation). Commitment by the partners to fulfil in good faith their commitments under the arms-control, disarmament and non-proliferation conventions to which they are party.

7. Call for all the partners to adhere to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Convention on Chemical Weapons and the Convention on Biological Weapons and to commit themselves to practical action in favour of chemical biological and nuclear non-proliferation.

8. Commitment by each partner not to develop military capacity beyond its legitimate individual or collective security requirements. The partners could accordingly reaffirm their resolve to achieve the same degree of security and mutual confidence at lower levels of conventional weaponry.

9. (Good-neighbourly relations, confidence and security-building measures). Commitment by the partners to develop good-neighbourly relations among themselves. The partners should support the processes of regional integration, emphasizing their importance for the stability of the region. They could also undertake to consider any confidence and security-building measures that could be taken jointly with a view to the creation of an "area of peace and stability in the Mediterranean", drawing for example on the Stability Pact for the Central and Eastern European countries.