Duitse minister: "Verwacht geen wonderen van EU voorzitterschap" (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Germany's EU presidency will "not perform miracles" and its agenda is likely to be dominated partly by unplanned events, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said amid high hopes for Berlin's chairmanship of the bloc.

Mr Steinmeier at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday (19 December) admitted that "expectations are high" as the EU's largest member state is gearing up to chair the union for half a year from 1 January.

But he sought to play down unrealistic hopes of Berlin's presidency, stating that "we will not perform miracles in six months."

Mr Steinmeier's call for "realism" comes despite a presidency agenda which does not lack ambition and which includes: the breaking of the EU's constitutional deadlock; the strengthening of the union's ties with post-Soviet states; securing Europe's energy supplies; tackling climate change; and fighting bureaucracy.

The German minister reiterated that the revival of the EU constitution - rejected by France and the Netherlands in referendums last year - would be at the heart of Berlin's priorities.

"We should succeed in making progress on the constitutional issue which has meanwhile become the symbol of [the EU's] self-blockade," he stated.

But he added that Berlin is "realistic" on its chances to get anything moving before the French elections in May - giving the Germans little time to hammer out a "roadmap" towards a new treaty before the EU summit in June.

Unplanned global trouble

On foreign policy, Mr Steinmeier indicated that Berlin's priority to strengthen ties with the EU's eastern neighbours as well as further-away countries in Central Asia could easily be overshadowed by unplanned items on the global agenda.

He stressed that the EU accession of Romania and Bulgaria "will mean that we have new immediate neighbours," while also highlighting that Central Asia and states such as Kazakhstan had been "underestimated" in importance so far.

But the German politician added that "from previous presidencies it has become clear that what has characterised them also is what cannot really be planned," referring to this summer's Lebanon war dominating the first weeks of the Finnish presidency.

Mr Steinmeier is already preparing for time-consuming diplomacy in the Middle East as well as in the Balkans.

Kosovo, Russia, Turkey

He said that in the Balkans, "expectations are high" on a planned EU police and administrative mission to Kosovo once the final status of the territory is agreed, with a report by UN envoy Marti Ahtisaari on the issue expected in late January.

On the Middle East, Germany is seeking to "revitalise" the international so-called quartet of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU.

Berlin will also have to devote much diplomatic energy to two dossiers which the Finnish presidency failed to clear: Russia and Turkey.

Poland is still blocking a common EU position on a new strategic deal with Russia over Moscow's ban on Polish meat, and looks increasingly unlikely to lift its veto before the end of the year.

Cyprus is meanwhile likely to frustrate concrete progress on Berlin's goal to open at least two negotiating chapters in Turkey's EU membership talks.