Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-30-Speech-3-085"
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"en.20080130.17.3-085"2
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"Allow me to restate briefly my position on this truly thorny issue, which we discussed at length once again in the General Affairs and External Relations Council on Monday. I must tell you, though it goes without saying, that we do not confine ourselves to discussion: together with the United States, the Palestinians and the Israelis and, of course, with the United Nations and Russia too in the Quartet framework, the European Union has played its part in the adoption of a joint strategy.
I previously referred, albeit very briefly in connection with Annapolis, to one aspect of this strategy, namely the bilateral negotiating process between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert. The other aspect, which has more to do with me in the Commission, is the effort to generate a new development that will bring progress for the people, and I am fully aware of the enormity of that task. I have always been acutely aware of the difficulties, but we naturally wanted to make every effort to help, and that remains our position. For this reason, the thrust of our policy is to support Mr Abbas in his efforts to bring about peace through his talks with a view to using that peace to foster a process of conciliation with Hamas. That was the underlying idea of the strategy.
We still intend to support further meetings too. In the last few days there has been a meeting between Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas. We know that it did not achieve much in terms of substance, but this is understandable, since all meetings at the present time are overshadowed by what is a very fraught situation. We must nevertheless keep pursuing this approach. We still have the means to open a few doors in time for the next meeting in Moscow if we assist both parties.
That is one side of the coin. The other side is the humanitarian and economic perspective. On this point, I should like to say the following to those that might not have read my statement: on 21 January, I delivered a very clear position statement on the situation in Gaza, because I, too, realised that things had simply gone too far. Together with other statements from foreign ministers and international organisations, it has helped to improve the situation. The blockade, of course, has not been fully lifted, but the situation has improved considerably. Accordingly, on the humanitarian side – and this also answers your question, Mrs Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou – many deliveries are now actually arriving in Gaza.
We are none the less aware that this is not enough. And I myself am aware, Mr Cohn-Bendit, that we face an extremely daunting task. You are entirely correct in saying that it is an extremely difficult situation; the High Representative is fully aware of that, and he will perhaps comment on it too. Nevertheless, for the time being we shall continue to pursue the common strategy which we have jointly defined and intend to implement jointly, and we have no option but to press for the opening of the border, which Salam Fayyad himself, as you know, regards as a crucial step.
Let me just say a brief word on the mechanism we devised, which will actually become operational in two days’ time, on the first of February. It is a permanent mechanism, unlike the previous TIM, the Temporary International Mechanism, which we had to keep extending. For good reasons, the new mechanism has also been created in partnership with the Palestinian Authority. We worked very closely with Mr Fayyad on the project so that the result would match his requirement for a development and progress plan for Palestine’s economy and, of course, for its infrastructure.
This should be a common European effort, by which I mean that the mechanism – a financial mechanism – can be used not only by ourselves but also by Member States. The idea, indeed, is that some international organisations and non-European countries should also be able, in principle, to avail themselves of this mechanism. Like TIM, it offers full supervision and monitoring, because we naturally want to meet all the transparency criteria, and it is designed either to provide direct budgetary aid, to channel aid through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and other organisations or to fund our projects. I am aware, however, that this question currently takes a back seat behind the major political question, namely what we can do to resolve the current situation. I am, of course, fully conscious of the problem, but at the present juncture this is the only answer I can give you."@en1
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