Implementation of the Common foreign and security policy CFSP for 1996

The committee adopted the report. The chairman emphasised that in terms of organisation, transparency and the potential for action by the EU, the CFSP had made an unconvincing start in the eyes of the European public. The CFSP was still the expression of the interests of the Member States at intergovernmental level and it lacked a solid and consistent institutional framework thus depriving EU action of the necessary effectiveness. The IGC must remedy this situation. The report criticised the Council's very restrictive use of joint actions and positions as well as the delays in framing a common security policy and in coordinating defence policies. It reiterated the idea of eventually integrating the WEU in the EU. The Committee emphasised the need to conclude an interinstitutional agreement on this subject and took the view that the operating expenditure of the CFSP should be entered in the Community budget. This spending must remain non compulsory in order to allow proper parliamentary scrutiny. The Council was called on to consult and inform Parliament systematically before adopting and implementing joint positions and actions. Reviewing the implementation of the CFSP in 1996, the committee criticised the absence of a common position on Bosnia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the lack of initiative with regard to Kosovo and the ineffectiveness of EU policy towards the crisis in Albania. The weakness of Community diplomatic activity concerning Cyprus and relations with Turkey and the lack of a common position on NATO enlargement and relations with Russia were also the subject of criticism along with the divisions within the EU on the subject of relations with China. At the same time, it took a positive view of the joint action in designating a special EU envoy to the Middle East and felt that opportunities remained to be exploited for Community action in Africa (Great Lakes region, Zaïre, Burundi, Rwanda). It hoped for stronger action from the Council in banning anti-personnel mines and called for an overall action programme for EU relations with Latin America. �