No fewer than some 100 ministers will be crossing paths, on 16 and 17 November, in the halls of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, which will host a General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), a Defence Council and a Development Council, which will include several joint sessions.

GENERAL AFFAIRS, EXTERNAL RELATIONS

The foreign ministers will prepare the EU-Russia summit, set for 18 November in Stockholm, where the EU plans to voice concerns over energy (seeking assurances that there will be no more cut-offs of the gas supply in case of a conflict with Ukraine), trade (increase in protectionist measures on the Russian side) and the rule of law, in the wake of killings of human rights activists and journalists. The 27 ministers will also extend for one year the EU’s conditional policy on Belarus, namely on the one hand the suspension, decided in October 2009, of travel restrictions against 35 officials, including President Aleksandr Lukashenko, but on the other the ongoing application of the same restrictions for six other officials more directly involved in human rights violations. The ministers will also approve an initial agenda for the summit, on 10-11 December(implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, Stockholm programme on justice and home affairs, Copenhagen conference, and economic and social situation). Also on the agenda are an Association Council with Jordan and a Cooperation Council with Kazakhstan.

SOMALIA

The defence ministers will discuss the different ESDP missions under way. More specifically, they are expected to prolong the Atalanta naval operation in Somali waters and approve the principle of a training mission for security forces at the request of the transitional government in Mogadishu. The mission, which will include fewer than 200 European police officers and will take place in Uganda, could train up to 2,000 police and military operatives. The European Defence Agency’s Steering Committee will also meet in the margins of the Council.

AID COMMITMENTS

The development ministers will debate public development assistance (PDA), a heading that is under pressure in national budgets as a result of the crisis. The EU is the world’s leading donor of PDA, which added up to 0.4% of its GDP in 2008. It is committed to attaining collectively 0.56% in 2010 and 0.7% PDA in 2015. Paradoxically, with the decline in GDP resulting from the crisis, this percentage could be reached in 2010, although this appeared impossible six months ago. “The problems concern the following years,” explained a European source, once growth starts up again and when finance ministers start upping the pressure to bring down deficits. The EU’s best pupils (Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which already have PDA of more than 0.7% of GDP) would like the others to pull their weight. “There is a fair amount of tension. If you go to the restaurant and it’s always the same person who pays the bill, that doesn’t work for long,” added the source. Another question, but which also goes well beyond the development ministers’ remit, is the share of aid to the developing countries within the framework of adaptation to climate change that can be counted in PDA. This concept is strongly challenged by NGOs because it means there will be that much less for health or education. “One of the keys to the Copenhagen deal with the developing countries will be the share of aid that can be counted as PDA,” predicts the same source.

The ministers will also adopt operational conclusions on aid effectiveness, with the aim of reducing waste through a better sharing of the task among donor countries and a reduction of the administrative burden on beneficiary countries. They will also debate with their foreign affairs colleagues support for democracy in the EU’s external relations in the light of the Afghan case.