Finland’s EU Presidency : General Affairs and External Relations

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General Affairs and External Relations

The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meets once a month bringing together the EU Foreign Ministers. Ministers responsible for European affairs, defence, development or trade may also attend the meetings, depending on the items on agenda. In addition to the Union’s external relations, the Council coordinates the work of the other Council formations, prepares for European Council meetings, and attends to institutional matters and issues concerning enlargement. During its Presidency, Finland will hold five GAERC meetings (and two extraordinary GAERC meetings) and they will be chaired by Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja, or Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Paula Lehtomäki. The Defence Ministers’ meeting held within the framework of the GAERC will be chaired by Finland’s Minister of Defence, Seppo Kääriäinen.

Key issues

At its sessions on external relations, the Council deals with the whole of the Union's external action. This covers the common foreign and security policy including security and defence policy; trade policy and development policy. One of the Council’s priorities is to ensure coherence in the EU’s external action, in cooperation with the Commission.

Under the common foreign and security policy, the Council adopts Common Positions, Declarations and Joint Actions, for example in relation to EU crisis management operations. The Council also adopts conclusions on the main issues under discussion.

During Finland’s Presidency, topical issues in external affairs include the Western Balkans, Middle East and Iran. Matters relating to the EU’s crisis management capability will also feature prominently. Cooperation between the EU and Russia will be another area of activity; the legal framework governing the relationships between the EU and Russia will be discussed. Regarding the Northern Dimension, the aim is to reach a decision on a new political document to replace the Action Plan that will expire in 2006.

Questions regarding trade and development will be high on the Council’s agenda, for example when the Development Ministers take part in the Council meeting in October. Discussions will also focus on migration and development issues.

Discussions on enlargement will be based on the progress reports which the Commission will produce in the autumn of 2006 on candidate countries and other countries in the Western Balkans. The ways in which external action can support the goals of the energy policy will also be covered.

Meetings

The informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) will be held in Lappeenranta at the beginning of September. Relations between the EU and Russia are likely to be among the items discussed. The informal meeting of the Defence Ministers will be held in Levi in October. The intention is to discuss EU crisis management operations, the building of capabilities and improvements in civilian-military co-ordination in EU operations.

In September, the leaders of Asian and European states will come together for the ASEM 6 Summit (Asia-Europe Meeting) in Helsinki. During Finland’s Presidency, there will be six other third-country summits and over 150 meetings between ministers and officials from the EU and third countries. The EU will usually be represented by the Troika, with the Finnish representative chairing the meeting. These meetings will take place in Finland, Brussels or a third country and will cover current issues in global politics.