ANNEX

Brussels,

The European Union attaches the utmost importance to the provisions of Article 9 of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement. As essential elements of the Partnership Agreement, respect for human rights, democratic institutions and the rule of law are the basis of our relations.

By letter of 19 February 2002, the European Union informed you of its decision to conclude the consultations held under Article 96 of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and to take certain ‘appropriate measures’ within the meaning of Article 96(2)(c) of that Agreement.

By letters of 19 February 2003, 19 February 2004 and 18 February 2005, the European Union informed you of its decision not to revoke the application of the ‘appropriate measures’ and to extend the period of application until 20 February 2004, 20 February 2005 and 20 February 2006 respectively.

Twelve months later your country's Government, in the view of the European Union, has made no significant progress in the five areas referred to in the Council Decision of 18 February 2002.

In the light of the above, the European Union does not consider that the appropriate measures can be revoked, and has decided to extend their period of application until 20 February 2007. The European Union will closely follow developments in Zimbabwe and would once again like to emphasise that it is not penalising the Zimbabwean people and will continue with its contribution to operations of a humanitarian nature and projects in direct support of the local population, in particular projects in social sectors, democratisation, respect for human rights and the rule of law, which are not affected by these measures.

The European Union wishes to recall that the application of appropriate measures within the meaning of Article 96 of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement is no obstacle to political dialogue as defined in the provisions of Article 8 of that same Agreement. With this in mind, the European Union wishes to underline the importance that it attaches to future EC-Zimbabwe cooperation and wishes to express its readiness to engage, once the conditions are met, in the post ninth EDF programming and considers that this would be an opportunity for a dialogue between the two partners.

To this end, the European Union hopes that you and your Government will do everything in your power to restore respect for the fundamental principles enshrined in the Partnership Agreement, and thereby enable the restoration of cooperation as soon as conditions allow.

Yours faithfully,