EU: European Union foreign ministers meet in the Netherlands today for a weekend of talks focused on Iraq, Iran, the Middle East and the crisis in Darfur.
The ministers are also expected to discuss the prospect of Turkey starting accession negotiations with the EU in advance of a report next month by the European Commission on Ankara's readiness to embark on the process of joining the EU.
The ministers are expected to agree a compromise with Asian countries that would allow Burma to participate in an Asia-Europe (ASEM) meeting in Vietnam next month.
EU ministers insisted in Dublin earlier this year that Burma could not take part in the meeting until its military government frees the opposition leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and lifts restrictions on other pro-democracy activists. A compromise would allow Burma to attend the meeting but at a lower level than other countries.
The Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias de Rossa, yesterday called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, to resist any softening of the EU's stance. "I hope Brian Cowen holds firm to the EU position and refuses to accept Burma as a member of ASEM unless the regime releases Aung San Suu Kyi, allows her party, the National League for Democracy, to operate freely and commences a genuine dialogue with the pro-democracy and ethnic forces within the country," he said.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "We await Presidency proposals on how to resolve this issue in a way which will preserve ASEM as an important framework for Europe Asia dialogue, while maintaining EU pressure on the Burmese regime."
The discussion of the EU's relations with Iran follows a report this week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which said there was no conclusive evidence that Tehran was engaged in a nuclear weapons programme but that a number of questions remained unanswered.
The External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, acknowledged this week, however, that the EU's policy of constructive engagement with Tehran was in trouble. Mr Patten told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee that the EU had sought to build political ties with Iran based on progress on human rights, discussions on terrorism, guarantees that nuclear power was only being used for peaceful purposes, and leading towards negotiation of a trade agreement.
"I'm sorry that that policy's gone backwards. We've seen deeply concerning reverses on human rights," he said.
Mr Patten said that photographs of US troops abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail had further undermined EU efforts on human rights.
On the Middle East, the foreign ministers will consider ways the EU could become involved in the Israeli process of withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, with a view to ensuring the withdrawal is orderly and safeguards the living conditions of the Palestinians who will remain there.