The European Union welcomes the appointment of Mr Lansana Kouyaté as Prime Minister on 26 February 2007. This appointment constitutes an important step towards a government based on broad consensus and in implementing the agreement signed between the government and the trade unions. The European Union expects the Prime Minister to be vested with the executive powers provided for in that agreement and necessary to the accomplishment of his task. It also welcomes the unanimous vote by parliament not to extend the state of siege.
The progress made towards the easing of tension is largely attributable to the mediation efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The European Union pays tribute in particular to the commitment of the former Head of State of Nigeria, Mr Babangida, and of Dr Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS Commission.
The European Union also commends the whole of Guinean civil society and the trade unions, whose constructive attitude has made a consensual resolution of the crisis possible.
The European Union would encourage all parties in Guinea to continue the dialogue and to support the actions of the new Prime Minister aimed at the economic and social recovery of their country.
As it has already said, the European Union greatly regrets the loss of human life in recent weeks and calls on the new government to bring the truth about the violence to light to ensure that the culprits do not go unpunished. It also asks the new government to undertake urgent economic and social reforms and to give priority to improving the human rights situation and the rule of law in the country.
The European Union hopes to resume constructive dialogue, particularly on these last points, with the new Guinean authorities, in the framework of the consultations begun in 2004 pursuant to the Cotonou Agreement.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
