Trend, Azerbaijan
Jan 23 2010

EU President: All possible mechanisms will be used in settling of
conflicts in Caucasus
23.01.2010 15:11
Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 23 / Trend News E.Ostapenko /

Spain, which chairs the European Union (EU), will use all possible
mechanisms to resolve the existing problems, including the regional
conflicts, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said.

"We will continue to speak with conviction and clarity on the major
challenges that we face, including on regional conflicts, and to act
with all the instruments at our disposal in a fully-fledged and
coordinated way," Moratinos said in an interview with Trend News
responding to the question on the reformed EU’s role in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

Spain will chair EU in the first half of 2010. This is Spain’s fourth
chairmanship in the EU and the first under the Lisbon Treaty that
entered into force Dec. 1

The Lisbon Treaty is designed to reform the EU institutions and
streamline the EU’s decision-making process. Moreover, the treaty
stipulates that EU decisions will not be taken by consensus, that is,
the consent of all members without exception, but by the qualified
majority.

"The Lisbon Treaty provides the European Union with new instruments
which will allow us to become a more capable, more coherent and more
strategic global actor," he said." This objective already reflected in
the European Union Security Strategy adopted by the European Council
in December 2003."

The Lisbon Treaty also introduces the post of EU president and EU
foreign minister, who is also EU High Representative for External
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European
Commission. 62-year-old Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy was
appointed as President of the European Council and British Baroness
Catherine Ashton, who previously held the post of European
Commissioner for Trade, as EU Foreign Minister.

The appointments of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton are the
most visible of the provisions contained in the Lisbon Treaty in the
area of foreign affairs, he believes.

According to him, Spain is engaged to promote the European Union as a
global actor and to support and protect human rights and the
eradication of poverty in the world.

"This constitutes one of our main priorities for the next six months.
We are working closely with the President of the European Council and
with the High Representative/Vice President of the Commission to
achieve this," he said.