AGENDA" "
An emergency meeting of EU Foreign Ministers was held in Luxembourg on Monday, 14 April to discuss the situation in the Middle East. But the ministers ended their meeting without taking any concrete decisions. In spite of the pressure of some member states (in particular Belgium) and of the European Parliament for the immediate convocation and possible suspension of the EU-Israel Council of Association, the Fifteen considered it more prudent to await the outcome of the mission to the region of US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his meetings with Israeli Premier Sharon, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Arafat and Arab leaders. In spite of the full support of Europe and the enormous hopes being invested in Powell’s diplomatic efforts, the Council of Ministers said it was “realistic” about the difficulties of obtaining “miracles or extraordinary results”, but reiterated its hope that “two or three signals would be identified to lead to the resumption of dialogue”. The Ministers declared that the next meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership planned for Valencia on 22 and 23 April will provide an occasion to evaluate the results of Powell’s mission and organize a bilateral discussion with Israel. The Council stressed that none of the member states was selling arms susceptible to being used against civilians to either side in the conflict.
