21-22 February General Affairs Council

EU FOREIGN ministers failed to make a breakthrough in talks on the Agenda 2000 reforms at a special 'conclave' meeting held in Luxembourg on the eve of their regular monthly meeting. Germany's Joschka Fischer, who chaired the meeting, conceded afterwards that the ministers had not made any substantial progress, saying: "Nobody seems to be prepared to make sizeable concessions at this stage." He added that the discussions had "achieved greater clarity", although he predicted that a breakthrough would only be made at the final negotiating session on the proposals next month. With just a month to go before the 24-25 March deadline set by EU leaders for reaching a final agreement on the reforms, most of the options remain on the table. Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes said that he could not accept a new working paper tabled by the Germans at the meeting.