Brussels, 09/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Addressing the United Nations Security Council in New York on 8 February, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton said it was more urgent than ever to make progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks although it was impossible to predict how the flux and popular revolt across the Arab World at the moment would alter the situation. The Middle East Quartet agreed at its meeting in Munich, Germany, on 5 February to monitor developments closely, hold separate meetings of experts with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators and convene a new ministerial meeting in March, explained Ashton, all in the hope of agreeing on a framework agreement by September (see EUROPE 10310). She said that the parameters of the future peace deal were clear as far as the EU is concerned, namely “two states, co-existing in peace and security, with a Palestinian state that is sovereign, independent, democratic, contiguous and viable, based on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as future capital of two states”. She added that the EU had not changed its highly critical views of Israel's settlement building. Ashton commented that “the Lisbon Treaty and the External Action Service are not just good for Europe. They also make us a better partner for the UN.” (H.B./transl.fl)