25/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - “There's not much time left. The (Mediterranean) region cannot allow itself new deadly and destabilising conflicts”, write Franco Frattini and Bernard Kouchner in a joint column published in Le Monde on 24 February, in which they speak of a Lebanon faced with the major election deadline on 7 June for which they offer assistance and the possibility of sending an observer mission. The two foreign ministers, of Italy and France, say that the “Mediterranean, for which we symbolically sealed a union in Paris on 13 and 14 July 2008, needs stability and peace which, alone, can offer prosperity to all its peoples. Lebanon can and must set an example. We, French and Italian, will continue our action with the European Union, with determination, so that Lebanon remains the model of co-existence, democracy and tolerance that the Mediterranean needs”. The two ministers launched a direct appeal to Lebanon to form good relations with Israel. (F.B./transl.jl)