21/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - Monday's External Relations Council expressed its “deep satisfaction” at the “courageous decisions” taken by Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas during the Sharm el-Sheikh summit on 8 February. The “resolve expressed by the two parties to work together in a spirit of understanding and cooperation must continue so that the peace process may be revived”, the foreign ministers say in conclusions on the Middle East. The EU, for its part, undertakes to support the parties with a view to making the peace process move forward, the conclusions state. “The Council recalls that a just, lasting and global peace must answer the legitimate aspirations of both Israeli and Palestinian peoples and encompass Lebanon and Syria”. The Council also condemned the recent attack in Beirut which killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri, and called for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559. The EU will remain “vigilant” so that the next legislative elections in Lebanon are “free, fair and without foreign interference or influence” (Syria is not explicitly mentioned).