Brussels, 28/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On the evening of Tuesday 27 October, the members of the European Parliament called upon the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, to do more to find a political solution in the Middle East.
“Among the Liberals, we believe that you need to take initiatives, to go beyond the usual bilateral contact”, explained Hilde Vautmans (ALDE, Belgium). She called for the head of European diplomacy to encourage the leaders of the Quartet to “reinforce this peace initiative” and go “beyond shuttle diplomacy”, which “does not encourage anybody to make real concessions”. Vautmans and her ALDE colleagues, Guy Verhofstadt (President of the group), Fernando Maura Barandiarán and Javier Nart wrote to the High Representative on 22 October, calling upon her to “launch a European peace initiative aiming to secure a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. “All forces and means available to us as Europeans must now be engaged to develop a peace initiative of this kind” under Mogherini's leadership, they added.
“We must now set in place international measures to reduce tensions and bring about peace. The international committee must also show its commitment to act, because talking for the sake of talking does not help the Palestinians, or the Israelis”, explained Martina Anderson (GUE, UK). Whilst stressing that he “believed in” Mogherini's silent diplomacy efforts, Fabio Massimo Castaldo (EFDD, Italy) said that it was “time to take a public stance, strongly and clearly”. “We need to make the difference. Let us take the initiative with a peace mission to protect civilians in the occupied territories”, he added, calling for this initiative to be carried out under the aegis of the EU and with the agreement of the United Nations Security Council.
Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA, Denmark) criticised Mogherini for failing to take measures she could have taken. “Why did you delay the publication of the guidelines on the products of the colonies? Why did you not react to the destruction of infrastructure funded by the EU in Zone C? What other measures taken to draw up a blacklist of violent settlers and prevent their travel to the EU?” Auken asked. The spokesperson for trade of the European Commission told EUROPE on 28 October that the technical work on the labelling of products from the colonies was still underway, adding that no deadline had been set for the Commission to present its guidelines to the member states. “There is a whole raft of measures that Brussels and yourselves could immediately take, independently of the negotiations underway”, Auken added.
Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy) said that “the EU's role is to revive hope. It is not rhetoric that will achieve this, it is actions”. Mariya Gabriel (EPP, Bulgaria) assured Mogherini of the full support of the European Parliament actions.
For her part, the High Representative explained that the EU had a role of “intermediary”, “diplomat”, “facilitator”. “We can demand and condemn, but that will not achieve much. In the meantime, we have to try to bring together the parties, with the international community, this is what our job is”, she explained. “I do not see many actors rushing to take on this mediation role. The Europeans are among the only ones”, she added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)