European Union leaders agreed on Thursday a "united EU approach" to keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact, a European source said after talks in Bulgaria.
"The EU will continue fighting for a rules-based international system despite recent decisions on climate change, tariffs and Iran," the source said after the leaders met over dinner in Sofia, AFP reported.
“On Iran nuclear deal, we agreed unanimously that the EU will stay in the agreement as long as Iran remains fully committed to it. Additionally the (EU) Commission was given a green light to be ready to act whenever European interests are affected,” the chairman of a two-day EU leaders’ summit in the Bulgarian capital, Donald Tusk, told a news conference.
Their show of unity comes after Tusk lashed out at Trump, saying that "looking at the latest decisions of President Trump, someone could even think with friends like that who needs enemies."
“We will not negotiate with the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters on Thursday at the summit’s close. “It’s a matter of dignity.”
The leaders also expressed backing for a plan including "EU support for JCPOA, as long as Iran respects the deal," the source said, referring to the deal's formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
They also agreed to "initiate work to protect European companies negatively affected by the US decision," which involves Washington reimposing sanctions on Iran.
But with the US saying it had pulled out of the deal because of broader worries about Tehran's actions, the leaders said they would also "address concerns about Iran's role in the region, Iran's ballistic missile program and what happens after 2025".
Iran has repeatedly said it will not renegotiate the terms of the deal.
“It really is hard to overstate how angry and resentful the Europeans are,” said Robert Einhorn, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who worked on Iran nuclear issues under former president Barack Obama. “They extended themselves quite a bit, they moved very close to the Trump administration negotiating position. But then they discovered that what they were working on was essentially irrelevant to the decision by the president,” Bloomberg reported.
Protecting Businesses
The European Commission said on Friday it had started the process of renewing a sanctions-blocking measure to protect European businesses in Iran, after the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
It said in a statement it had “launched the formal process to activate the Blocking Statute by updating the list of US sanctions on Iran falling within its scope.”
The last time the EU threatened to use the blocking statute was in 1996. That time, former president Bill Clinton’s administration stood down and agreed to waive sanctions aimed at curbing foreign investment in Cuba, Iran and Libya. British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed with the leaders of Germany and France on Thursday to uphold the Iran nuclear deal after meeting on the sidelines of an EU summit in Bulgaria, May’s spokeswoman said, Reuters reported.
May met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal. “The leaders reiterated their firm commitment to ensuring the deal is upheld, stressing that it is important for our shared security,” the spokeswoman said.
“They pledged to work with the many parties to the deal to this end. The leaders stressed that Iran must continue to meet its own obligations under the deal.”
