EU/Simbabwe

The Coun­cil adopt­ed the fol­low­ing conclusions:

“1. The Coun­cil empha­sis­es its readi­ness to work close­ly with the Gov­ern­ment of Nation­al Uni­ty in Zim­bab­we in address­ing the chal­lenges the coun­try faces and in the imple­men­ta­tion of its com­mit­ments as set out in the Glob­al Polit­i­cal Agree­ment of Sep­tem­ber 2008.

2. The Coun­cil recog­nis­es the Gov­ern­ment of Zimbabwe’s ongo­ing efforts to imple­ment the GPA, and the progress achieved after one year in office, in par­tic­u­lar in the eco­nom­ic sphere. The Coun­cil wel­comes agree­ment on 21 Decem­ber 2009 by the sig­na­to­ries of the GPA to estab­lish the Com­mis­sions on Human Rights, Elec­toral Affairs and Con­sti­tu­tion­al Reform. The EU is active­ly sup­port­ing the GPA imple­men­ta­tion through a spe­cif­ic coop­er­a­tion programme.

3. Nev­er­the­less, the Coun­cil notes with con­cern insuf­fi­cient progress with regard to the rule of law, respect for human rights, con­sti­tu­tion­al reforms, pow­er shar­ing on equal terms, nation­al rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, secu­ri­ty sec­tor reform and the pro­tec­tion of investors.

4. In light of the above, the Coun­cil has decid­ed to revise and extend for anoth­er year appro­pri­ate and restric­tive mea­sures. Nev­er­the­less, its stands ready to keep them under con­stant review and to revoke them in response to fur­ther con­crete devel­op­ments in the imple­men­ta­tion of the GPA.

5. The Coun­cil reaf­firms its com­mit­ment to a suc­cess­ful polit­i­cal dia­logue. The launch of the Arti­cle 8 Polit­i­cal Dia­logue in Brus­sels on 18 June 2009 and the EU troi­ka vis­it to Zim­bab­we in Sep­tem­ber 2009 were impor­tant steps in the process of nor­mal­i­sa­tion of EUZ­im­bab­we rela­tions. The Coun­cil calls for reg­u­lar and time­ly continuation.

6. The Coun­cil wel­comes the recent hand­ing over of the Glob­al Polit­i­cal Agree­ment Com­mit­ment Plan by the Gov­ern­ment of Zim­bab­we as it con­sti­tutes a basis for a con­tin­ued Polit­i­cal Dialogue.

7. The Coun­cil also wel­comes the inten­si­fied region­al diplo­ma­cy and encour­ages the SADC, the AU and States in the region to con­tin­ue to make all efforts to cre­ate a con­struc­tive envi­ron­ment in which issues out­stand­ing can be resolved.

8. The Euro­pean Union remains the largest provider of assis­tance to Zim­bab­we in par­tic­u­lar through its tran­si­tion­al sup­port for agri­cul­ture and food secu­ri­ty, social sec­tors, includ­ing health and edu­ca­tion, and for GPA imple­men­ta­tion. The EU dis­bursed 274 mil­lion Euros in Zim­bab­we in 2009.” 

Text- / Bildquelle (source):
Ansprech­part­ner / con­tact:
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION