Secretary-General's Press Conference with the President of the European Council Jan Balkenende, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and Netherlands Foreign Minister Bernard R. Bot

EU SPOKESMAN: Welcome. May I point out that this press conference is meant to report on the meeting with Mr Annan and the conclusions of the European Council will be available later. We will come back to this later. So there's no use asking any questions about the conclusions of the European Council and I have to disencourage you all beforehand. I give the floor to the President of the European Council.

BALKENENDE: Ladies and gentlemen, or do you prefer that I speak English again like yesterday? OK we'll do it in English. This morning we had a very interesting discussion with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and it was an honour that the Secretary-General was with the members of the European Council. And it's good to say that there was a clear support for the Secretary-General because we all realize that he's very well aware of the fact that we need effective multilateral system to solve all the problems. There was a High-Level Panel and the Panel published a report and the Secretary-General told about it. And these days it is important that also the European Union cooperates with the United Nations. And we made clear to the Secretary-General that also we support an effective multilateral channel. If we had talk about the struggle against terrorism, the struggle against poverty, against HIV and AIDS. We have to do everything to win these struggles. We have to work together on a world scale. And Mr Kofi Annan can be sure that the European Union is a partner for him and the United Nations. We are very glad Mr Secretary-General that you are here, that you noticed our support and we wish you all the best in your activities and attempts to work on a better world.

EU SPOKESMAN: Secretary-General…

SECRETARY-GENERAL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Prime Minister, let me thank you for your very warm words and also to thank you for inviting me to this Council meeting. And I thank the European leaders for the excellent discussion we just had. We talked about the importance of the EU/UN relationship, as you heard earlier, and in recent years that relationship has grown and become much, much more substantive. We are working together in many areas; peacekeeping, conflict resolution, development all over the world, so we are already partners and I'm very happy to hear you, Mr. Prime Minister, that we will always be partners. I also took the opportunity of my presence here this morning to stress how important it is that we keep going in the same direction and I welcome the clear intention of the European Union to do so.

And of course I spoke about UN reform and the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. I believe it is an excellent report which makes many important recommendations to strengthen our multilateral security framework. Next September there will be a very important summit in New York, where I hope leaders will be able to agree on reforms to bring the UN into the 21st century. There's a lot of work to be done between now and then and I am very heartened by the positive reception of the report by the European leaders. And of course we need to work with the other regions and the report has been generally well received. And so I hope it will lead to concrete decisions and actions when leaders come together in September. Thank you very much.

EU SPOKESMAN: And then the President of the European Commission.

BARROSO: Thank you very much. Two expressions for our relations with the United Nations; “effective multilateralism”, “Millennium goals”. You can count on our support Mr Secretary-General. European Union is fundamentally committed to the UN as President Balkenende just said and let me say that the European Commission and United Nations already enjoy excellent cooperation. I'd like to see this cooperation intensifying during the next five years, the mandate of the Commission. United Nations, Secretary-General, can count on the continued engagement of the Commission in this critical year. European Union is convinced that only an effective multilateral system with the United Nations at its core can effectively address complex challenges that the international community faces today. The Commission shares the United Nation's view on the importance to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We need to look for more effective means to cope with existing linkages between poverty, security and conflict. As European Commission we are managing a broad set of instruments in the areas of economic, trade, environmental, social and developmental policy. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, can rely on us to deploy them towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Thank you.

EU SPOKESMAN: OK, there's time for questions. Because of time reasons I have to try to limit it to three to four questions. I start with you on the second row and on the fifth row the lady over there.

QUESTION: Secretary-General Annan, could I ask you, with your long-term experience in the matter of Cyprus and since it is said that you are going to appoint another special envoy for Cyprus, what are your comments on the situation now created by the Union, by the Summit here, for Turkey when it comes to Cyprus?

SECRETARY-GENERAL: I'm not sure if the question should be directed to me, [laughter] but let me say that I have been following developments with keen interest and I hope in future there will be developments that will help Europe, Cyprus and Turkey resolve the problem that exists and we are finding very difficult today as we discuss their affairs…

[protests that the journalists couldn't hear]

Oh, you want me a bit louder? I was saying that, first I said I wasn't sure the question was meant for me, but said that I was following developments very, very closely and I hope that there will be positive developments so that in future, when you meet here, the question of Cyprus will not be a problem for the European Union. We had hoped that it would have been solved and they would have entered the Union as a unified state. We didn't make it, but there is a tomorrow. I hope there will be further developments.

EU SPOKESMAN: The fifth row over there. Then on the third row here afterwards.

QUESTION: Marie-Louise Muller from Reuters. I have two questions; one for the Secretary-General of the United Nations and one for the President of the European Council. Without commenting directly on the Council conclusions could you at least give us, Prime Minister Balkenende, a gist of what the negotiations are like at the moment? Are they difficult, is there movement, is it in the right directions and so on? And for the Secretary-General, will you be making any attempts today to revive the negotiations on a settlement of Cyprus and if not when do you foresee talks getting going again? Thank you very much.

BALKENENDE: Your question is very clear and I can imagine that as a journalist of Reuters you would ask this question, but [Spokesman] Mr [Gerard] van der Wulp already made clear that at this moment we are talking about the speech of Mr Kofi Annan and that I will not give comments on the other aspects of the European Council. We have another possibility later today.

SECRETARY-GENERAL: No, the Cyprus issue has not come up during my stay here. As the President indicated, we talked about UN/EU relationship and focused on the reform which we are trying to push forward in the summit of next year. As to whether there will be another round of talks, let me simply say that after the vote earlier this year, I did indicate that the parties should think through very carefully, reflect on it, and determine how they want to move into the future. And once that reflection is done and they have some ideas, my good offices could be available.

[journalists ask him to speak louder and the microphone is moved closer to him]

I said can you hear me now? [very loud followed by laughter] I said once the parties are ready to move forward again, my good offices could be available. 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.

EU SPOKESMAN: The third row, the third seat over there.

QUESTION: Une question pour Monsieur Annan, Juan Carlos Gonzales, El Mundo, aujourd'hui l'Union européenne vous a appuyé le multilatéralisme de l'ONU. Je voulais savoir si cet appui devrait passer par une augmentation des membres européens présents au Conseil de sécurité avec un droit de veto ou, au contraire, par une représentation unique de l'Union européenne au Conseil de sécurité. Merci.

SECRETARY-GENERAL : La question de la représentation unique n'est pas posée pour le moment à l'ONU, pas à New York. Je crois que les propositions qui sont faites doivent être étudiées par les Etats membres. La décision n'est pas encore prise mais j'espère que ce sera une décision équitable pour toutes les régions.

EU SPOKESMAN : I have a question on the fifth row over there, second seat and then the last question will be third row, first seat.

QUESTION : Monsieur le Secrétaire général, vous savez que les troupes rwandaises se trouvent de nouveau sur le territoire congolais; est-ce que l'ONU va-t-elle prendre des sanctions contre le Rwanda ?

SECRETARY-GENERAL: On suit de très prêt ces développements. Les troupes onusiennes sur place sont en train de faire le mieux pour améliorer la situation. La question des sanctions n'est pas posée pour le moment.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General Annan, Greg Calcott, Fox News Channel. We've have heard some very glowing support for you here today, but as you know, there's some hard questions regarding the Oil-for-Food Programme back in New York and back in Washington. How important is it for you, the performance of your Office, to get to the bottom of the question surrounding this programme and how has it affected your performance as Secretary-General or could it affect it in the future, unless these questions are resolved ? Are there some questions that perhaps it is not as open as it could be, the probes, investigations going on right now ?

SECRETARY-GENERAL: Let me first say that these are allegations we take very seriously and we want toget to the bottom of this. And that is the reason why I appointed an independent investigative team led by Mr. Volcker. 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. And I think one has to be patient to wait for the process to get the facts before we draw conclusions. And when the facts are out, then we can all judge. Thank you.

EU SPOKESMAN: Thank you all very. We will be back here in a few hours.