But America is keen for it to takeup the issue, partly as a way of holding North Korea to accountfor its treaty breaches, but also to ensure that, unlike in 1993 when North Korea last provoked a nuclear crisis, its neighbours will not simply stand back and leave America to do all the negotiating.
Mr Barnier suggests lengthening the list of Petersberg tasks (so named for the German town where they were drawn up), to takeaccount of the heightened risk of global terrorism and non-conventional weapons.