Ashton, Jalili will meet in Geneva 6-7 December
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and the European Union’s foreign affairs minister, Catherine Ashton, have agreed to meet in Geneva Monday and Tuesday, 6-7 December, to discuss nuclear issues. It is the first such talk since October 2009. Ashton has the agreement of the E3+3 group, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, for the EU to have nuclear discussions with Iran. Iran insists its nuclear programme is not negotiable.
Links to other sites: Fars News Agency, Iran, Reuters, Xinhua
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government late Wednesday 24 March said it is “willing to lift the ban on entry into and transit through Switzerland for particular Libyan citizens as quickly as possible. In return, it expects Libya to lift its entry ban on citizens of countries from the Schengen area.” The Federal Council emphasized in its statement that it is willing to take this step to ensure the release of Max Goeldi, a businessman who has been held in Libya for 19 months.
The announcement came after a Brussels meeting between Switzerland’s foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, and Catherine Ashton, head of foreign and security policy of the European Union (EU.
Catherine Ashton, who heads the European Union’s foreign policy programme, is stopping in Gaza to see for herself how the EU’s aid to Palestinians is being used, before she continues on to Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet: the EU, US, UN and Russia. The EU is the biggest contributor of aid to the Palestinians, according to the BBC. Ashton’s visit is unusual: officials at this level rarely visit Gaza itself because of diplomatic complications, and it follows Ashton’s condemnation of new Israeli settlements which have dampened hopes for a Middle East settlement.
(Reuters video) The European Union has two new leaders, in posts created by the Lisbon Treaty, which goes into effect 1 December 2009 following final approval by Ireland and the Czech Republic. Herman van Rompuy, Belgian prime minister, was named President of the European Council, a two-and-a-half year job. He was elected by a majority vote by the 27 members states. A key part of his job is to chair meetings of the European Commission. Catherine Ashton was made EU high representative for foreign affairs. She has been the EU’s trade commissioner for the past year.
The election of the pair, both of whom have relatively low profiles in international affairs, has been praised by the US, France and Germany but those who were hoping to see the first European president play a strong role are expressing disappointment. Turkey’s leaders are unhappy with Rompuy, who resisted Turkish membership and the UK media reaction has been more puzzled than enthusiastic.
Links to other sites: BBC, Die Welt (Ger), Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), Le Temps (Fre), Times, UK
