
Article 1 
The period of application of the measures referred to in Article 2 of Decision 2002/148/EC shall be extended until 20 February 2009. The measures shall be kept under constant review.
The letter in the Annex to this Decision shall be addressed to the President of Zimbabwe.
Article 2 
This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption.
It shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Done at Brussels, 18 February 2008.
For the Council
The President
D. RUPEL
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 form 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, 18 February 2005, 15 February 2006 and 21 February 2007, the European Union informed you of its decisions not to revoke the ‘appropriate measures’ and to extend the period of application until 20 February 2004, 20 February 2005, 20 February 2006, 20 February 2007 and 20 February 2008 respectively.

Twelve months later, the European Union considers that no significant progress has been made 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 2009. The European Union’s position will be kept under constant review, including on the basis of an in-depth assessment of the situation after the completion of the SADC initiative on Zimbabwe and the upcoming elections.

The European Union would once again emphasise that it is not penalising the Zimbabwean people and that it will continue its contribution to operations of a humanitarian nature and projects in direct support of the population, in particular projects in the social sectors, democratisation, respect for human rights and the rule of law, which are not affected by these measures.

The European Union wishes to reiterate 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 provided for in Article 8 of that Agreement.

With this in mind, the European Union wishes to underline once again the importance that it attaches to future EC-Zimbabwe cooperation and to confirm its willingness to make continued use of the opportunity provided by the ongoing 10th EDF programming exercise to carry on the dialogue and make progress in the near future towards a situation where the resumption of full cooperation becomes possible.

Yours faithfully,

For the Commission

For the Council
