After attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for the EU to play a role in restarting the Middle East peace process. Other major issues discussed at the meeting were the EU's commitment to Afghanistan, the "Eastern Partnership" and the Commission's economic stimulus package.
Steinmeier underlined that, following the parliamentary elections in Israel and during the current process of forming a government there, the EU had to "ensure that the political process in the Middle East gets underway again".
That also included intra-Palestinian reconciliation - even though the conditions were tough, he continued. "Therefore we must support the project of a government of national unity as called for by President Abbas", Steinmeier stated.
In addition, he went on, a route had to be found leading to direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It was clear that the two-state solution remained "the only political option for stability and peace in the Middle East". According to Steinmeier, "this is of course also what we expect from the incoming Israeli government, regardless of its composition".
Steinmeier also announced his participation in the international reconstruction conference scheduled for 1 and 2 March in Sharm el-Sheikh. Prior to that conference, the European humanitarian aid initiatives are to be organized in a targeted manner and reconstruction aid further coordinated.
Increased commitment in Afghanistan
The EU reiterated its promise to advance the buildup of the security forces in Afghanistan by providing a total of 400 police trainers. Although the EU had already decided this in May 2008, it had been unable to second sufficient manpower to Afghanistan.
Steinmeier warned the EU not to put this task on ice until the new US Administration sets out its Afghanistan strategy at the end of March. "We should above all do our job, which includes our obligation to train the police in Afghanistan."
He called on the Member States to "find ways of ensuring that the envisaged number of police trainers and advisors are on the ground in Afghanistan in future, too".
The individual countries should in that regard consider "whether the incentives offered to police officers and trainers are sufficient".
Widespread support for the Eastern Partnership
The EU's "Eastern Partnership" is to be officially launched in Prague in May. Steinmeier advocated giving this initiative proper funding: "If, in this highly difficult economic situation, we are serious about the Eastern Partnership, we must spend more than the currently-planned 250 million euro."
He said that the Commission's proposal to raise this funding level to 600 million euro seemed to be realistic.
The Eastern Partnership venture was announced at the end of 2008 and is a major project of the Czech EU Council Presidency. It is to be launched at an extraordinary European Council summit in Prague, and will initially involve countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The aim is to intensify the EU's relations with its eastern neighbours across a broad spectrum, ranging from trade, energy security, home affairs and justice to science and research as well as culture.
Information of the European Union on the Eastern Partnership
Steinmeier said that Russia and Turkey could also be included "if these countries are at all willing to play a role in this Eastern Partnership".
Reviewing the European recovery programme
Steinmeier said he favoured reviewing the Commission's proposed five-billion-euro economic stimulus package to examine its impact on the economy. "We have no objections at all to economic stimulus at European level", he underlined. But the task was, he went on, to find measures and projects capable of supplying that stimulus in 2009 and 2010.
In his opinion, however, with a view to the list of projects proposed by the Commission, "we cannot say this for most of these measures".
He added that the European governments wanted to continue their dialogue with the Commission regardless. He was sure this debate would be over by the time the EU summit is held in mid-March.