25/08/2004 (Agence Europe) - At the end of a working lunch with Israeli counterpart Sylvan Shalom on Monday in Paris, the French minister of foreign affairs Michel Barnier affirmed, according to AFP, that the EU's successful role in the Middle East peace process was "recognised and consolidated". He also reiterated the "the availability of France and the European Union to the contribution to the Israeli project of withdrawing from the Gaza Strip", in a process that he insisted in their eyes was part of the Road Map of the Middle East Quartet. Mr Shalom acknowledged that France and the EU could bring a genuine contribution to the peace process but he also called on them to use their influence with the Palestinians so that the latter abandoned its negative and destructive policy. According to Shalom, the Palestinian leadership had proved that it did not want to stop the violence or make dialogue possible and preferred inaction.