Date of release : 25-04-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Event : General Affairs and External Relations Council

At the General Affairs and External Relations Council held on Monday April 25 2005 in Luxembourg, the minister for Foreign Affairs and current president of the Council of the European Union, Jean Asselborn, made the following declaration on the subject of the situation in the Middle East:  

"Today we have discussed the situation in the Near East. I will not hide from you the fact that we have observed developments over the last few weeks with a certain concern.  This is why we have called on the Israelis and Palestinians to urgently renew efforts to honour the commitments to which they subscribed in Sharm el Cheikh, and to avoid any action that might shake the climate of mutual confidence. In our eyes, it remains essential that the chances and opportunities currently available must be fully seized.

On May 8, the ‘Quartet’ will meet at the occasion of the festivities in Moscow. The High Representative for the CFSP, Javier Solana, Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and myself will represent the EU at this meeting, which will also be attended by the General Secretary of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, the American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and the Russian minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergueï Lavrov. It is important that the ‘Quartet’ meets now.

In this context, I would like to remind you that the current President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, has been appointed ‘Quartet’ representative to support the withdrawal process from Gaza."