Tag: US Foreign Sales Corporations

French Foreign Affairs Minister Michel Barnier wants Europe to become a world power on an equal footing with the US. He suggests a new Treaty to define security co-operation.

For a long time the US only saw the Middle East as a source of energy, says James Foster, deputy chief of the US mission to the EU. He sees the Madrid bombings as a "sea change" in the EU's attitude to co-operation on terrorism.

The 10 future Member States and two associated countries have agreed to put their national policies in line with the EU's position on the International Criminal Court.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou has suggested to invite members of the US Congress to participate in the debate on the reform of EU institutions, as well as on EU defence and foreign policy plans.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell says France will feel the consequences of having stood against the American view in the Security Council over the Iraq crisis.

On 8 November the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a Resolution on Iraq giving the UN weapons inspectors "immediate, unimpeded and unconditional" rights to search anywhere for weapons.

The EU Foreign Ministers agreed on 30 September that Member States can conclude bilateral agreements with the United States to give American officials and soldiers immunity from the International Criminal Court.

An independent British think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), says Iraq could build such a weapon within a matter of months if it were able to obtain the necessary radioactive materials. The IISS report, released on 9 September, also concludes Iraq probably has large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, as well as a small number of long-range missiles.

The EU and the US are starting talks next week about increasing judicial cooperation in criminal matters, in particular extradition.

Amnesty International has called on governments to refuse to sign agreements which would give impunity to US nationals should they be accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Such agreements would undermine the International Criminal Court and violate the signatory countries' obligations under international law, says a report released by Amnesty International on 3 September.

The Bush administration has warned the EU that the US role in NATO will change if the Union refuses the US request for agreements to give Americans immunity from the new International Criminal Court.

The US President George Bush has signed a controversial new farm bill that will boost agriculture spending by 70 percent over the next 10 years and increase subsidies to US farmers.

Europeans are critical of US President George Bush's Middle East policy, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center, conducted in Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

The EU foreign ministers called on the United Nations to set up a new, truly representative transitional government in Afghanistan. Britain, France and Germany put forward their own proposals for the future of war-torn Afghanistan, oppressed by the Taliban regime.

The US made a formal request to NATO on 3 October for the use of a number of NATO assets, including surveillance aircraft, ports, military bases and air space. The request was made by the US ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, the day after NATO had invoked Article 5 of its treaty relating to the mutual defence of its members. The US has also made a number of separate, bilateral requests for military assistance from countries such as France.

NATO has formally invoked its mutual defence clause after receiving "clear and compelling" evidence from the United States that Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaida terrorist network was behind the 11 September attacks in the US. This is the first time in NATO's history that the alliance reaffirms its founding principle that an attack upon one is an attack upon all.

EU justice ministers agreed a set of changes on 28 September that make it easier to prosecute criminals who are engaged in the trafficking of people for sexual exploitation. They agreed a common definition of human trafficking and a minimum jail sentence for this crime. A change to the articles of Europol relating to terrorism was also agreed at the meeting in response to the events of 11 September in the US.

The EU wants to persuade Muslim countries that their support for the international counter-terrorism coalition is key in order to disperse fears of a clash between Western and Islamic civilisations. The EU hopes that its diplomatic mission to the Middle East will also contribute to improving relations between Europe and Muslim countries.

The 13 candidate countries for EU membership have all aligned themselves with the counter-terrorism conclusions of the extraordinary Europen Council of 21 September. The Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country holds the EU Presidency, will inform the US President George Bush at their meeting this week of unanimous support of 28 European countries.