11/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Shimon Peres declared on Wednesday when speaking to the members of the foreign press association in Jerusalem, that Israel, Jordan and a future Palestinian State should be invited to join the EU. Referring to the invitation made to Cyprus to join the Union, which would make it possible to bring the two communities of the island out of diplomatic deadlock, Mr Peres felt that a similar approach should be applied to the Middle East. The former Israeli Prime Minister pointed out that he had mentioned this idea to the CFSP High Representative, Javier Solana, and to German and Spanish Foreign Ministers Joschka Fischer and Ana Palacio, who said they clearly supported him. (We recall that the Italian Radical party under Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino have been campaigning for months in favour of Israel's EU membership).