Valencia, 23/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to an announcement by the President of the Council of the European Union, Josep Piqué, at the end of the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Valencia, CFSP Special Representative of the EU to the Middle East, Miguel Angel Moratinos, hopes to meet President Arafat in Ramallah on Wednesday and is also expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. According to diplomatic sources, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shimon Peres, spoke in Valencia of a "misunderstanding" when Josep Piqué and Javier Solana were refused a meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority at the beginning of the month (see EUROPE 5 April page 4).
Greek and Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministers, Georges Papandreou and Ismail Cem, will be carrying out a joint visit of the area on 25 April, where they will meet Messrs. Arafat, Sharon and Peres.
In a press conference in Valencia, Shimon Peres asserted that the most important lesson for Europe after the Second World War was that there was no political solutions to political problems without economic solutions to economic problems.
In Valencia, Spanish Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, again indicated that another "Quartet" meeting could be arranged in Washington for 2 May during the EU-USA Summit.