Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-22-Speech-2-277"
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"en.20070522.25.2-277"2
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".
Mr President, it has been a very passionate discussion and I completely understand why because, as I said before, we all feel a great frustration. But you have to understand that, over the last 10 years, the European Union has really tried to play an important role for the peace process – not in order to enhance the conflict but in order to make peace, or help to make peace. In the end it is always the two parties that have to be ready, but we try to push them. We were then quite happy to be an important and influential member of the Quartet.
However, we can only be a facilitator of this peace. That means we have to look to both sides. We cannot just go to one side, and therefore we feel that we embraced the three Quartet principles as important basic principles. It really is the Council, not the Commission, that can recognise the Government – there are 27 Member States. I understand if you ask me to do so, but it is not me who can take this decision.
I know there is one instrument which you have indirectly mentioned: the cancellation or suspension of the association agreement with Israel; but do you really think this would make a difference? I do not think it would. We would no longer be a facilitator of this process, so it would be the wrong instrument at this moment.
What we have as an instrument is a continuous political dialogue where all the parties work with all the parties, but it is true that there are other members of the Quartet too, for instance the United States of America, as has been mentioned. It is very important that we feel that there is also a push from that side too. Over the last months, we have seen a much greater effort on the part of the USA, particularly from Condoleezza Rice. We have all welcomed that and have tried to move forward. The German Presidency, in particular Mrs Merkel, but also Foreign Minister Steinmeier, have really tried to move forward.
A political solution can never be brought about by violence. Unfortunately, we now have violence again. I can promise – and this is within the Commission’s competence – that we will further engage with the National Unity Government, as we have started to do. But as we have said our policy is a gradual engagement and we cannot do everything. Even Salam Fayad said to me when I first met him after the formation of the Government that I would need some time to clean up the mess in the Finance Ministry – and this is still not completely done. Therefore, we are nearly there, the technical conditions would be ready, but you also know that the Council has to give us some political backing. I want you to understand these things.
I think the situation is very dramatic, and I hope that the Council understands that we have to engage in order to help this National Unity Government achieve the right platform to continue with the peace process and with the talks on the political horizon. We know that it is a complicated situation, and that is why I said that I see at least some positive hope in the fact that Foreign Minister Livni will attend the next Council meeting after the very positive meeting we had with the Arab League, but on the ground I agree that the situation is very difficult, and, besides all this, it is also those factions and those different radical groups that are outside the Government that would like to jeopardise the whole process. It is a vicious circle and I agree that we have to try to break it up.
An honourable Member mentioned that we have extended our mission monitoring the Rafah border crossing. We did that because we think that opening up freedom of movement of goods and people is so important. I myself have been working on that with Prime Minister Olmert. I remember my last visit there when I took it up in order really to go into the details. But there are security concerns. Unfortunately, there are suicide bombers coming over the borders, a lot of funds are being smuggled, so you always have the two sides of this conflict, but we think that it is important to have prolonged this mission at the Rafah crossing because only with the European Union is there a chance of there being an opening.
We are engaging. We are also working with the Finance Minister, not only on the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM), but also on institution building and technical assistance, helping them particularly on the question of customs, revenue collection and on auditing. This has been asked for by Salam Fayad, so we are working with them. I said we will also look at what we can then perhaps fund through the TIM as regards their particular desires, so not only those things that we have been funding up till now in order to help the population to survive, but to go further.
This is what I can offer you in this delicate and difficult situation. We have to go on pushing and bringing the different parties together. I hope that the time window is still open."@en1
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