European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner refused to back down on Monday in a row with the Czech EU presidency
over boosting ties with Israel.
Israel should first recognise a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict before ties could be strengthened, Ferrero-Waldner insisted.
”We want to have good and trustworthy relations with Israel but … our upgrading can only be seen in the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict,” Ferrero-Waldner said at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
”We are looking now to Israel to really make a policy review and hopefully they will go back to a two-state solution,” she said, reaffirming comments she made last week.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, contradicted Ferrero-Waldner’s position in an interview published in Israel on Sunday.
”The peace process should not be linked to the relations between the EU and Israel,” Topolanek said.
Commenting on Ferrero-Waldner’s position, he said: ”I would not really attribute to it more weight than just a statement by a commissioner.
”I am still the president of the European Council and I should know something about it,” he added.
In response, Ferrero-Waldner said Topolanek clearly did not know the decisions that the 27 EU nations had taken.
”He should read the [EU] council conclusions,” she added.
Topolanek’s government has been defeated in a no-confidence motion in the Czech Parliament and will be replaced next month.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana sought to smooth over the policy cracks between the EU institutions.
”We have to wait until the next government of Israel” sets out its policy, he said.
Asked if there was a split in EU ranks he replied: ”I don’t think so,” adding that a decision on whether to upgrade ties with Israel could be taken early next month.
Prague is a fervent defender of Israel within the EU. Before the Israeli offensive in Gaza the Czech EU presidency had hoped to organise an EU-Israel summit.
The Middle East impasse has hit the EU’s wider ”Mediterranean Union” plans, which have been stalled since the Gaza conflict. — Sapa-AFP