Weimar Triangle 2006

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The 7th meeting of the Weimar Triangle took place on the 5th. December 2006 in the Old Abbey in Mettlach (Saar).

Participants
Participants were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Jacques Chirac and Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

Chancellor Merkel had originally held the 15th Invited to the Weimar Triangle on 3 July 2006. However, this meeting was cancelled at short notice in connection with an illness of the Polish president. For President Chirac, the meeting in Mettlach was already his sixth and last participation in a Weimar summit. For Chancellor Merkel and President Kaczynski, it was the first trilateral meeting.

Topics
Key topics of the meeting were EU energy security, stronger military cooperation and EU foreign policy, especially in relation to Russia, technological research cooperation, Turkey’s accession to the EU and the political situation in Lebanon.

Energy security
Discussions were held on the EU’s energy security with regard to Russia. In this context, the Polish President had stated that the question of the planned German-Russian Baltic Sea pipeline was an issue that had to be resolved bilaterally between Germany and Poland.

In the context of securing Europe's energy supply, the summit participants stressed that they were working towards an energy policy for Europe in a spirit of solidarity. At the same time, they declared their willingness to coordinate closely on this issue. The three heads of state did not comment on Russia’s opposition to the ratification of the European Energy Charter. Finally, the Chancellor and the two Presidents once again emphasised the importance of Russia as a strategic partner and their willingness to develop a lasting partnership between the EU and Russia, especially in the trade and energy sectors.

Foreign policy and Russia
On relations with Russia, the summit participants discussed in particular Poland’s stance on the blockade in connection with the negotiations between the EU and Russia on the renewal of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

The Polish President called for the lifting of the Russian embargo on meat imports from Poland and declared it a condition for lifting his veto.

Chancellor Merkel and President Chirac made no statement as to whether they support Poland’s demands. The French President commented on this issue only as follows: “Our wish is that the negotiations on the future framework of EU-Russia relations be started as soon as possible, in particular that the embargo on meat products can be lifted as soon as possible.”

One wheat