Brussels, 19/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - "Today's meeting has confirmed that the EU and the United States have almost identical objectives on international current issues, but that we sometimes have a different conception of them", Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said. He was heading the European delegation at the meeting of EU/US Foreign Ministers in Washington on Wednesday. Such language, albeit diplomatic, shows in reality the deep malaise within the European delegation, composed of Mr Patten and Mr Solana, caused by the snub they received from Secretary of State Colin Powell when he announced that the United States did not wish formal publication, on Friday, of a "roadmap" for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.
The US Secretary of State hinted that his country had not been insensitive to the arguments set forth by the Israeli government, which does not wish to see this text published while Israel is in an electoral period: "because of the Israeli elections and the number of subjects the Israeli public has to cope with, we believe it would be wiser to continue work on the roadmap and to wait until the end of Israeli elections (on 28 January)", Mr Powell said. During the Copenhagen Summit, the Fifteen had called for the roadmap that opens the road to creation of a Palestinian State in 2005 to be adopted at the meeting of the Quartet on Friday. Mr Powell nonetheless pointed out that this postponement was "only a matter of weeks". He went on to add that, after that, they would address all parties involved to reactivate peace discussions on this basis. Speaking before the press, Per Stig Moeller criticised the US attitude in veiled terms, saying in substance that the content of the roadmap is no longer a secret and that it is necessary for voters in Israel to know what the world thinks of the situation. He added that "enlightened voters should also have information on which they can base their vote". Mr Moeller recalled that the roadmap calls on Palestinians to put a stop to violence and attacks, and on Israel to cease colonising occupied territories. If such colonisation continues, the "Palestinian State could look like Swiss cheese - full of holes", he insisted.
Europeans and Americans tackled a certain number of other questions on foreign policy, especially the fight against terrorism, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Africa.