Naharnet - EU Expected to Announce Readiness to Fund Tribunal, January 31, 2011

Europe's foreign ministers are expected on Monday to stress the importance of funding the international tribunal and express readiness to look into ways to support it financially.

An Nahar daily said the European External Action Service (EEAS) would call in its statement for the formation of a Lebanese government that preserves national unity.

The statement would also stress support for a sovereign, independent and stable Lebanon and would urge the new Lebanese government to respect its commitments to international resolutions, including the resolution that established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The EU foreign ministers are furthermore expected to call for the respect of Security Council resolution 1701, An Nahar said.

The ministers are considering joint action on global hotspots from Tunisia to Belarus, as the EU comes under mounting pressure to offer its fledgling diplomatic corps a louder voice on the world stage.

Set up barely a year ago to raise the European Union's international profile, its new diplomatic corps EEAS is stumbling against criticism over its failure to do just that.(Naharnet-AFP)