Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 23 / Trend 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 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.
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