Brussels, 12/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 11 June, Francis Wurtz (PC, France), President of the GUE/NGL Group at the European Parliament, addressed a letter to the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to the EU high representative for the CFSP, Javier Solana, and to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in which he calls for “authorised information” to clarify a matter that he describes as “staggering”. He above all asks to know what Europe's reaction was to the “exorbitant” demands made by Israel (EUROPE 9679 and 9675). This is “an extremely sensitive matter”, he said, asserting that it is essential to shed more light on the “work secretly carried out” by the Commission and/or Council to give Israel almost member state status.
Mr Wurtz has no doubt about the existence of such talks which are indeed taking place, he said, as can be seen from the succession of meetings, most probably partly informal: “It appears”, he writes, “that secret talks have been in progress for the past year between the EU and Israeli state leaders - not, alas, to seek to bring the peace process out of deadlock” but to grant an “impunity” that he strongly deplores. He points a finger of blame at Tel Aviv's utterly “inconceivable” demand that it should acquire the rights of almost a member state. He points out that Israel demands nothing less than to be able to take part in EU meetings at every level on matters of security and strategic dialogue, as well as Council deliberations on Maghreb and Mashrek and on EU activities within the UN. He also asserts that Tel Aviv is asking to take part in Councils that cover themes such as the economy, finance, energy, the environment, transport, media, youth, and higher education; and that it is looking at the possibility of forming a joint parliamentary structure with the European Union. In his opinion, a positive follow-up to the Israeli request is “totally inconceivable” and he urges that this be stressed at the next session of the EU-Israel Association Council in Luxembourg on 16 June.
Mr Wurtz's letter addressed to Mr Sarkozy and not to the current Slovenian EU Council Presidency is motivated by the fact that the French president “has some explaining to do on three accounts”, Mr Wurtz tells EUROPE. He owes an explanation as upcoming president-in-office of the European Council and also on the eve of a visit that he is to make to Israel and Palestine, and, finally, as initiator of the proposal for a Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and host of the 13 July summit. Mr Wurtz specifies his views on this last initiative to which he is not, in principle, opposed, as “it is very useful to relaunch Euro-Mediterranean relations” given the “failure of the Barcelona process”. It is necessary, he says, to learn from this failure and to understand why it failed, and thus prevent it happening again within the UfM. The first failure, “EU development policy, has given way to systematic free trade” while partner countries want development support. The second failure is “restrictive policies, which are repressive against migrants”. This, Mr Wurtz said, runs counter to the announced wish to build intercultural dialogue and to restore confidence of the peoples to whom the EU is thus sending “an extremely negative message”. He takes the view that UfM would be a success if it were to really tackle all these problems but he clearly has doubts about this. In his opinion, the most important thing will not be the list of attendance at the summit on 13 July but the content that will come out of it. What could be more significant for a region which is so important for the “future of world peace”.
Francis Wurtz, who took part in the recent mission in the region composed of members of the Middle East working group, notes that there is a “non partisan attitude” on the part of Parliament political groups that have signed a joint text calling for no “premium” to be granted to Israel in the present circumstances. (F.B./transl.jl)