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EU to offer bold incentives to iran { May 15 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1962713http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1962713
Nuclear Standoff: EU to Offer 'Bold' Incentives for Iran
EU to Offer 'Bold' Incentives for Iran to Give Up Nuclear Program
By SLOBODAN LEKIC
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium May 15, 2006 (AP)— The European Union said Monday it will propose a "bold package" of incentives, possibly including security guarantees, to persuade Iran to accept international oversight of its disputed nuclear program.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana made his comments a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected any economic and political incentives that required Tehran to stop enriching uranium, a process that many experts consider a first step toward producing nuclear weapons.
"They want to offer us things they call incentives in return for renouncing our rights," Ahmadinejad said Sunday.
But Solana did not appear worried by Ahmedinejad's stand.
"We have said over and over again that we think a diplomatic solution is a good way, and we are going to continue on that line and ... we are going to prepare a very serious package that will make it difficult for them to say no," Solana said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
"It will be a generous package, a bold package, that will contain issues related to nuclear, and atomic matters and maybe necessary security matters," he told reporters.
A document posted on the EU's Web site said the ministers were likely to express the bloc's "preparedness to support Iran's development of a safe, sustainable and proliferation-proof civilian nuclear program, if international concerns were fully addressed."
"We ... have nothing against Iran having nuclear capabilities, if it's strictly devoted to the production of energy, (and) we have said that we would even be ready to cooperate with that," Solana said. "What we think is not appropriate, not acceptable, is to take the other route which is not to produce energy, but to produce arms or weapons."
Other ministers echoed that sentiment.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he counts on the fact that "there remains common sense in the government in Tehran" to accept the offer, adding that he hoped the package could be finalized this week ahead of Friday's meeting of nonproliferation officials from the five permanent Security Council nations and Germany in London.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said that if Iran complies with International Atomic Energy Agency recommendations that it suspend enrichment, "there could be real advantages in tackling the problems that Iran itself says that it is seeking to address."
Tehran repeatedly has asserted that its nuclear program, which includes uranium enrichment, is purely civilian in character and aims only to generate electricity. But the United States, Israel and the EU fear the research program is a cover for developing nuclear weapons.
Iran rejected a package of economic and political incentives offered by the EU in August in return for a permanent end to uranium enrichment. But EU governments have continued sweetening their offer while also pushing for U.N. measures that could lead to sanctions if Iran refuses.
The United States and Europe have made efforts to draft a Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter which would make it enforceable by sanctions or, if necessary, military action. China and Russia resist those efforts.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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