WRITTEN QUESTION E-3492/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Council

(13 November 2000)

Subject: Community measures to stop war in the Middle East

Once again a dramatic, bitter and bloody conflict has been going on in the Middle East for several weeks. Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting battles for which no end is in sight. President Clinton and the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan are working to safeguard peace in the future and to eliminate the flashpoints of war, the victims of which include Israelis and, even more, Palestinians.

What practical steps has the European Union taken to assist the work of Clinton and Kofi Annan (apart from the empty words uttered in Biarritz)?

In the context of the MEDA programme the operation of which seems to be paralysed by unjustified bureaucratic delays there is scope for structural as well as humanitarian measures. How does the Council intend to harness this programme, and the relevant funding, as a force for peace?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-3460/00 and E-3492/00

(8 March 2001)

The Council continues to support a settlement negotiated on the basis of the fundamental principles established in the framework of Madrid and Oslo and subsequent agreements, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. From the beginning, the Council has lent its support to the efforts of the United States to relaunch negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Since the beginning of the clashes, the EU has not ceased to work for an end to violence and for dialogue to be taken up again at the highest level. The EU's Special Envoy, Ambassador Moratinos, has remained in the region almost permanently, in close contact with the Parties, to facilitate the search for an end to the crisis. Following the negotiations held in Paris on 4 October 2000 under the aegis of the Presidency, the Secretary-General/High Representative went to the region to help prepare the ground for the Summit held in Sharm el Sheikh on 17 October, in which he was an active participant.

At that Summit, which brought together Mr Arafat, Mr Barak, President Clinton, President Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, the UN Secretary-General and the Secretary General/High Representative, a decision was taken to create a commission to establish the facts about the violence in the Palestinian territories. The Secretary General/High Representative will participate in the work of this commission, alongside the former Turkish President Suleiman Demirel, the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs Thorbjørn Jagland and former United States Senators George Mitchell and Warren Rudman. The Council welcomes the fact that the commission has begun its work. It has noted Israel's decision temporarily to suspend its participation in the commission and would urge the Parties to resume their discussions as quickly as possible, since the outcome originally planned for the end of March 2001 should provide a positive contribution to the Peace Process.

The Council has just adopted the new MEDA II Regulation. It aims to support the efforts which Mediterranean partners, including the Palestinians, are making to reform their economic and social structures. For the period 2000-2006 it will be worth 5,350 thousand million. It will make possible a substantial simplification of procedures, leading to speedier disbursement.

The possibilities for humanitarian intervention are rather a matter for ECHO, the European Community Humanitarian Office. In July, humanitarian aid operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria received funding of 8,5 million and in September a sum of 3,545 million was given for assistance to southern Lebanon.

Moreover, the Union supports the Palestinians with major financial aid programmes outwith the MEDA programme, particularly in the framework of Community financial and technical cooperation with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for 1999-2003 (Regulation (EC) No 2840/98), and also specific actions financed under other budget headings, its contribution to UNRWA and the bilateral programmes of its Member States, all of which make the Union the principal donor to the Peace Process.