Brussels, 19/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is to have talks in Madrid on Wednesday with Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Piqué and Thursday with Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, over the situation in the Middle East. "Our aim is to support the dialogue between the parties and provide a contribution by proposing ideas to break the current situation of deadlock", declared Josep Piqué at the end of Monday's General Affairs Council. Mr. Piqué should, when meeting Shimon Peres, back the open dialogue with the Chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Abu Ala. In its "directives" for European policy in the Middle East, presented at the General Affairs Council (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5), the Spanish Presidency pleaded in favour of the creation of a Palestinian State as intermediate step between the re-establishment of security and the beginning of negotiations on the statute of Palestine. The United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, however, insisted on security first being established. "We agree on implementing the Mitchell Plan on security, and on the fact there must first be something resembling a cease-fire. But for that, a political perspective is necessary. We must speak to both States", said Josep Piqué before the press. The minister recalled that at the Forum in Istanbul last week, participants had subscribed to a declaration affirming that future agreements must be based on the existence of two States, "and thus a Palestinian state and an Israeli State" (see EUROPE of 16 February, p.6).