Brussels, 05/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - “The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is more than ever dependent on the peace dynamic” between Israel and the Arab world and, given the current deadlock, constructing the UfM, “as conceived and launched in Paris, will be very difficult,” said Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado in an interview published in the latest edition of Al-Ahram Hebdo. In this interview, given during a visit to Cairo at the end of April, Amato says that “at the moment, the UfM is going through a period of waiting in the face of the major problems of the Mediterranean geo-political area”. There were, he said, “many contradictions in these Mediterranean relationships and this greatly influences the geo-global dimension of the initiative”. He went on to say that “projects launched by the UfM and the institutional dynamic of the initiative will continue, although more slowly”. His conclusion was that “the impetus for project development will, in the short term, also be, to some extent, determined by the way in which the peace process develops”.
“No one can remain indifferent to what is happening in this conflict,” Amado said. “We have to bring more pressure to bear on all parties concerned to make them develop and apply the ideas that have been there for a long time and which will bring peace and resolution of the conflict. Everyone knows that the solutions are there. But in our opinion, we can no longer let the parties to the conflict act as their own arbiters”. He said, however, that Portugal was not calling for relations with Israel to be reviewed. However, “given the new situation with the coming to power of the new government in Israel, EU countries cannot agree to enhanced relations with this state, as if nothing had happened. We cannot continue to deepen our relations with Israel if it does not honour the agreement it made with the EU”.
Portugal which, during its Presidency in 2007, was responsible for the preparation for the Annapolis Peace Conference, felt “bound by a responsibility assumed together. The Israeli government at that time accepted the undertakings proposed by the Annapolis agenda, which the Arabs, too, accepted. … It is difficult to accept that, because there is a new government in Israel, everything has to go back to square one”. Amado said that “the international community has to take the initiative to bring peace making use of the entire history of negotiations undertaken over the last number of years and bringing great pressure to bear on both sides so that a solution to the conflict can be found”. (F.B./transl.rt)