ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BRUSSELS, 17 DECEMBER

The Secretary-General flew overnight from Washington to Brussels, and met privately with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Tony Blair, for a half hour on his arrival Friday morning.

He then went to the European Council to address a summit meeting taking place there.  He had a brief talk with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Bernard Rudolf Bot, before addressing the summit gathering on the theme, “The United Nations and the European Union:  Our Shared Agenda” (Press Release SG/SM/9653).  He described the European Union/United Nations relationship as having “real substance” as a result of working together in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.

He appealed to the European leaders to give urgent attention to the recommendations put forward by his High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.  He pointed, in particular, to the current breakdown of the system of collective security established in 1945.  2003, he said, was a year of deep division, and 2004 a time of sober reflection.  2005, he concluded, must be a year of bold action and full European engagement will be essential.

He then held a joint press conference with the President of the European Council, Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which currently chairs the presidency.  They were joined by other senior European leaders -- President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and Foreign Minister Bot.

Prime Minister Balkenende began by expressing the European Council’s “clear support for the Secretary-General”, adding, “Mr. Kofi Annan can be sure that the European Union is a partner for him and the United Nations”.

In the course of the press conference, the Secretary-General was asked if he would attempt to revive his negotiations on Cyprus.  “No”, he replied, “the Cyprus issue has not come up during my stay here”.  He then added, “For the moment I have no plans to resume the talks and, as I said, my good offices are available and I am waiting for the parties to reflect on what has happened and determine where they want to go”.

When a journalist asked the Secretary-General about the “oil-for-food” scandal, he replied that he took the allegations very seriously, which is why he appointed the Volcker panel.  “They have a free hand and they are getting full cooperation from the UN and its staff and we will get to the bottom of this”, he said.

After the press conference, the Secretary-General had a private meeting with Javier Solana, the European Union High-Level Representative for Common, Foreign and Security Policy.  He then saw the Prime Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, for a detailed discussion of the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the evening, he met with President of the European Commission Barroso and the European Union Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero Waldner.  At a joint press encounter with the President afterwards, Mr. Barroso warmly welcomed the Secretary-General to the headquarters of the European Commission and said he was looking forward to cooperating over the next five years with the Secretary-General and the United Nations.  The Secretary-General commented that he was extremely happy that the European Union had received his high-level report on United Nations reform so favourably, adding that he was “really, really grateful for the cooperation we have”.

The Secretary-General was asked by a journalist to react to a comment by the commander of the African Union Force in Sudan that the Sudanese Government was preparing a military offensive in Darfur.  The Secretary-General replied that he hadn’t seen the report, but that if indeed the Government was doing that, “it is a major violation of the ceasefire and the understanding that they have with the international community”.  He went on to say that “any such action will only create more difficulties for the internally displaced and the people in that region who have suffered far too much”.

The Secretary-General departed for New York the next morning.