Brussels, 17/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EU Council adopted a Joint Action establishing a three year assistance programme, with a total appropriation of EUR 10 million, so as to continue to support the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorist actions "originating in the territories under its control." This programme (the second of its kind) will be coordinated, as with the previous one, by a special EU Advisor acting according to the Directives of the EU Council Presidency. The Joint Action foresees that, so as to insure the coherence of the cooperation in terms of security, the Presidency, assisted by the Secretary General/High Representative (Solana), insure the coordination of the EU advisor and the EU Special envoy for the Middle East peace process (Moratinos).
The aim of the programme is to provide the Palestinian Authority security and police services assistance and training that is "fully compatible with human rights principals and the respect for three rule of law indicated the Joint Action, which specified that the programme would be suspended, in particular, if the Palestinian Authority does not manage to take the appropriate measures to insure the respect for human rights during the implementation and enable the EU to monitor and proceed with the external evaluations foreseen to this effect. The programme consists of projects concerning the improvement of the organisational and operational capacities of the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorism and the "management of the situation after incidents."