Last week’s European Summit confirmed and reinforced the European commitment to the Middle East and Iraq, two of the areas most in crisis in which the European presence is still in good measure controversial. As far as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is concerned, the EU High Representative for external policy Javier Solana has presented a new four-point plan by which to increase the involvement of European diplomacy in the area. In the view of the EU, the “road map” for the creation of two independent States needs to be maintained and steps taken to favour Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied territories. Security, administrative reform, economic support and elections: these are the four sectors in which the EU is offering cooperation to both sides. As for Iraq, European leaders approved, in the presence of premier Allawi, an additional allocation of 30 million euros, designed to prepare next January’s elections. Brussels also decided to send a mission of experts to Iraq in a few weeks’ time to assess the feasibilities of cooperation with Baghdad on matters relating to administrative reform and public security.
