(15 May 2006)
1. Car pulls up and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier gets out
2. SOUNDBITE: (German) Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister:
"If I didn't believe there was any hope then I would not be able to do this job. We will continue our negotiations and I hope that the Iranian leadership in the end also has enough people with good sense which will not reject the proposals before they are laid out on the table, such as has happened now. I am convinced that there are enough responsible people that will react differently from how Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reacted yesterday."
3. Cutaway building entrance
4. Austrian Foreign Minister, Ursula Plasnik arriving
5. SOUNDBITE: (German) Ursula Plasnik, Austrian Foreign Minister: "We will now determine the exact rules for an International mechanism, a temporary mechanism, to make sure that we make payments directly to the Palestinian people. The most important thing is that we want to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people. To do this we want to react quickly that is what we are working on. However, we can't take responsibility away from, who are in the first place responsible for the situation."
6. British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett arriving at the Council
7. SOUNDBITE: (English): Margaret Beckett, British Foreign Secretary : "It is a matter of having a balance on the one hand, it must be clear that the international community wants and needs Iran to comply with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) board's recommendations. But also of course, we think that it is sensible to say that if they are prepared to do so, there could be real advantages in tackling the problems that Iran itself says it is seeking to address. But these are issues which we all debate."
STORYLINE:
Senior European Union officials met in Brussels on Monday to discuss a 'bold package' of incentives to Iran.
The aim of the EU is to ensure Iran does not use its nuclear programme to produce weapons.
Speaking ahead of talk the German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said "I hope that the Iranian leadership in the end also has enough people with good sense which will not reject the proposals."
The newly appointed British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett who also attended today's meeting said "it must be clear that the international community wants and needs Iran to comply with the IAEA board's recommendations."
Also on the agenda today was a plan to allow urgently needed humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians without going through the Hamas-led government.
The Austrian Foreign Minister, Ursula Plasnik said "We will now determine the exact rules for an International mechanism, a temporary mechanism, to make sure that we make payments directly to the Palestinian people."
In January the EU and United States cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas' election victory because the group refuses
to renounce violence or recognise Israel.
Since then the international community has been trying to find ways of helping those living in Gaza and the West Bank, where 1.4 million Palestinians are reliant on food aid.
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