Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-074"
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"en.20060426.11.3-074"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union has a long tradition of solidarity with the Palestinian people, as have all its institutions, not least this House. In the past, we were always agreed on the basis and the principles by which this solidarity with the Palestinian people – and the European Union’s Middle East policy itself – were determined.
We must of course ask ourselves whether there is any alternative to this policy. It is our belief that, given the fact that Hamas is an organisation that is on the list of terrorist organisations and gives no indication of any tendency to acknowledge the fundamental principles to which I have referred, the European Union has no choice but to adopt a policy of suspending direct payments to this government, although it is to be hoped that this will be only a temporary measure.
It will remain a priority that the new Palestinian Government should share with us the fundamental principles that are indispensable to the success of the peace process.
A two-state solution without a Palestinian Authority functioning on a democratic basis is by its very nature unthinkable, and so we must hope that the Palestinian government will be guided, both in the medium and longer term, by these principles, and must work, and send out clear signals, to that end.
It is also important that the European Union should maintain a common front with the international community; the Middle East quartet plays a vitally important part in this, and it is important that we, in our dealings with the Palestinian Government and people, should all be saying the same things, and saying them clearly.
They were founded upon the right of Israel to exist within secured and recognised borders, and on the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination. What has become known as the Oslo process, and the Roadmap, have begun to give this right of self-determination practical shape in the form of a independent Palestinian state coexisting side by side with Israel. The European Union, then, is firmly committed to the two-state solution, and to these principles all its policy measures, and all the support that the European Union gives, were made subservient.
These principles continue to apply, and the Council takes the view that the peace process can succeed only if it is conducted in harmony with them. Let me go through them again. There must, first of all, be a clear renunciation of every form of violence as a solution to the conflict, with, in its place, a process of thorough negotiation. Secondly, there must be an acknowledgement of Israel’s right to exist, and also, finally, of the undertakings on the basis of the existing agreement, including the Roadmap.
It is by these principles that the Council’s Middle East policy is guided, and it is for that reason that the European Union will continue to support the peace policy adopted by the Palestinian President, Mr Abbas, who was directly, and with a large majority, elected by the people. The Council has very carefully monitored what has been happening in the Middle East over recent months. We did of course hope that a newly-elected Palestinian government would be guided by the principles I have enumerated, and the Council observed very closely to what degree there was any perceptible movement in this direction.
Today, though, it is an unfortunate fact that we cannot find any evidence of the Hamas Government giving any indication of being prepared to accept without reservation this basis for support from the European Union, and nor was its response to the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv at the beginning of last week an encouraging sign.
At the same time, though, the Council does have an interest in the continuation of support for the Palestinian people and their basic needs. The Council’s policy – and the Commission’s, too – must be determined by the tension between, on the one hand, the Palestinian people’s election of a government that is not founded upon the principles that the European Union regards as binding, and, on the other, our striving not to abandon them.
I would like to make it clear that the Commission has acted very responsibly in this regard by taking the precautionary measure of suspending payments and the provision of technical assistance to the Palestinian Government until such time as a final decision is taken.
The last time the foreign ministers of the European Union met in Council, they reached agreement – after very serious and thorough debate – that, while direct payments to the Palestinian Authority were to be suspended indefinitely, at the same time, the attempt would be made to maintain the provision of aid via non-governmental and international organisations in order that the basic needs of the Palestinian people, not least in health and education, might continue to be met. The major donors – and the EU continues to give more than any of them – will continue to attempt to maintain the supply of aid without funds having to go straight to Palestinian Government institutions, so no funds will go directly to the government or be distributed by it.
The World Bank, too, has carried out a study examining the effects not only of reduced aid provision but also, and primarily, of the Israeli Government’s retention of Palestinian customs and tax revenue. The Council has, in terms that admit of no misunderstanding, demanded of the Israeli Government that it should take action to improve the Palestinians’ humanitarian and economic situation, and in particular that it should remit to the Palestinian authority the customs and tax revenue that constitute that body’s principal source of income."@en1
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