During the Dutch presidency, the following Councils will meet to discuss this policy area:

- 12-07-2004 to 13-07-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
- 26-07-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
- 03-09-2004 to 04-09-2004 - Maastricht - The Netherlands
- 13-09-2004 to 14-09-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
- 16-09-2004 to 17-09-2004 - Noordwijk - The Netherlands
- 05-10-2004 - Amsterdam - The Netherlands
- 11-10-2004 to 12-10-2004 - Luxembourg - Luxembourg
- 27-10-2004 - Maastricht - The Netherlands
- 02-11-2004 to 03-11-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
- 22-11-2004 to 23-11-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
- 13-12-2004 to 14-12-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
Click here for a full list of upcoming meetings

About General Affairs and External Relations
The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) is composed of the foreign ministers of the member states and a representative of the Commission. The High Representative for the CFSP also attends Council meetings. Its meetings are chaired by the foreign minister of the member state holding the rotating Presidency of the EU. For the Netherlands this is Bernard Bot. The GAERC meets once a month.

General Affairs
The GAERC concerns itself with institutional matters such as the enlargement of the Union, besides which it is charged with coordinating the Council of the European Union in its other configurations. One of its tasks in this capacity is preparing the European Council. The GAERC also concerns itself with issues that impinge upon all the areas with which the Union is concerned (“horizontal issues”).

External Relations
The GAERC is also responsible for the EU’s external relations. These include the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), international trade relations, and development and humanitarian aid. The GAERC is also charged with coordinating member states’ efforts in these areas.

The responsibilities of the chair of the GAERC
The chair of the GAERC acts as the EU’s representative and coordinates the Union’s foreign policy. He collaborates closely with the High Representative for the CFSP and the Commissioner for external relations, with a view to safeguarding the continuity and cohesiveness of the EU’s foreign policy.

The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy
The member states of what was then the European Community embarked on intergovernmental cooperation in this area in the 1970s. Today, efforts are made to ensure that the member states follow one line, as much as possible, in the sphere of international politics. In 1986 the Single European Act placed this intergovernmental cooperation on a formal footing, though without changing its nature or modus operandi. A major change was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty (1993) whereby the member states made a common foreign policy one of the EU’s objectives. Since this Treaty entered into effect in 1993, the EU has been able to present a unified position on a range of international issues.

Division of powers
The CFSP comes under the second pillar of the EU. This means that most of its decisions are arrived at by a unanimous vote. The Commission is closely involved in the CFSP, but it does not possess the exclusive right of initiative in this area. Initiatives originate primarily with the president of the Council of the EU, member states, or the High Representative. The European Parliament is consulted regarding major decisions in the CFSP and is kept abreast of developments in this connection.

Objectives of the CFSP
The principles and objectives of the CFSP are set forth in the Treaty on European Union.
"The Union shall define and implement a common foreign and security policy […], the objectives of which shall be:
- to safeguard the common values, fundamental interests, independence and integrity of the Union in conformity with the principles of the United Nations Charter;
- to strengthen the security of the Union in all ways;
- to preserve peace and strengthen international security, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter, as well as the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the objectives of the Paris Charter, including those on external borders;
- to promote international cooperation;
- to develop and consolidate democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
 
The policy instruments of the CFSP
The three most important policy instruments of the CFSP are:
Common strategies. The European Council decides, following recommendations from the Council of the EU, on common strategies to be adopted in areas in which the member states have important interests in common.
Joint actions. The Council of the EU decides on joint actions to address specific situations where operational action by the Union is deemed to be required.
Common positions. The Council of the EU can formulate common positions defining the approach of the Union to a particular matter of a geographical or thematic nature in respect of a third country. Member states are responsible for ensuring that their national policies conform to such common positions. The Council can also clearly set out the EU’s position on leading international issues by means of EU declarations and Council conclusions.

High Representative for the CFSP
The position of High Representative for the CFSP was created by the Treaty of Amsterdam. This Treaty provides that the High Representative is at the same time the Secretary-General of the Council. This position is currently held by Javier Solana. The High Representative assists the Council by helping to formulate, prepare and implement policy decisions.

The Common European Security and Defence Policy
The Common European Security and Defence Policy (CESDP) is part of the CFSP. It focuses primarily on humanitarian aid and crisis management.

The Cologne European Council in June 1999, in strengthening the CESDP, accorded a key role to responsibilities for crisis management, also known as the Petersberg tasks. In addition, the EU decided to expand the civil aspects of crisis management, focusing on the four priorities established by the Feira European Council in June 2000: police, strengthening the rule of law, strengthening civilian administration, and civil protection. 

The Nice European Council (2000) approved the establishment of the following new permanent political and military bodies:
- the Political and Security Committee (which also monitors implementation of the CFSP);
- the European Union Military Committee (EUMC); and
- the European Union Military Staff (EUMS).

Development cooperation
More than half of all development aid comes from the EU (the Commission and the member states), which spends €30 billion a year on development cooperation. The European Commission is the world’s largest donor, contributing over €7 billion annually. A significant portion of that aid is provided by the European Development Fund, which contributes €2.43 billion a year.

European development cooperation dates back to the beginnings of the European Community: provisions on support to former colonies were included in the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Development Fund (EDF) for this purpose. The EDF, an intergovernmental fund for the ACP countries, is renegotiated every five years. The EU also has a parallel external policy, financed from the general budget, for certain types of aid.

The principles of current EU development policy are laid down in the EC Treaty. Article 177 contains the general policy objectives and states that Community policy shall be complementary to the development policies pursued by the member states. Article 178 states that development objectives should be taken into account in policy in other fields (such as agriculture, fisheries, trade) and article 180 contains provisions on coordination between the Community and the member states.

The main objective of European development cooperation policy, sustainable poverty reduction, was reaffirmed in a general policy statement by the Development Council in November 2000, which also identified six priority areas:
- trade and development;
- regional integration;- macroeconomic policy;
- transport;
- food security and sustainable rural development;
- institution building.
In addition, European development policy is guided by international agreements, such as the Millennium Development Goals and the agreements reached at the conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

Click for the key aims (pdf) of European development cooperation under the Dutch presidency.
Click for more information on two of the priority themes (pdf): fighting HIV/AIDS and promoting reproductive and sexual health and rights.

Foreign trade relations
With 20% of total imports and exports worldwide, the EU occupies first place in trade. Besides being the biggest importer and exporter, the EU also strives to play a key role in liberalising global trade.

The European Community has nearly exclusive powers in trade and trade-related affairs. This means it is the Community, rather than the individual member states, that is competent to negotiate on trade policy, including trade agreements with third countries. However, there are still exceptions; the member states and the Community have joint competence over trade agreements that relate (at least in part) to educational services, cultural and audiovisual services, or social and public health services.
Within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the EU is a key trading partner. All the individual EU member states, and the EC as a whole, are WTO members. The current negotiations at the WTO are known as the Doha development round. The goal of this round is to move forward with liberalisation of international trade in manufactured goods, services and agricultural products, which could give the global economy a much-needed boost. For the EU and for the Netherlands specifically, further liberalisation of multilateral trade has definite economic advantages. A parallel objective is to strengthen the multilateral trade system and further integrate developing countries, especially the least developed countries, into that system.