Eran tells Israel to change its attitude towards the EU

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 26/01/06

Israel's new government should fundamentally re-examine its relations with the European Union to reflect the EU's growing influence, according to Israel's ambassador to the EU, Oded Eran.

In a dramatic call for Israel to review its foreign policy, Eran said the incoming Israeli government - which would take office after 28 March elections - should respond to new political realities and a more balanced EU policy towards Israeli.

"For a variety of reasons, the US is going to remain central in our policy planning, that is understood in Brussels. At the same time because of geopolitical realities or economic realties we need to understand that Europe will play a growing role in our daily lives," said Eran.

Despite strong trade ties with the EU, relations have long been strained by allegations that the EU has favoured the Palestinians in its Middle East policy.

In 2003 an EU-sponsored poll showed that 59% of Europeans thought Israel was the biggest threat to world peace.

Now, according to Eran, strategic interests are converging - the fight against terrorism, supporting the rule of law in the Palestinian territories and stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities.

"Something happened in 2005 in terms of the EU's role in the Middle East peace process and in terms of the EU's relations with Israel. I don't know what came first, which is the chicken and which is the egg," he said.

Last year the EU launched a border assistance mission in Gaza, its most high-profile engagement in the peace process to date, as well as launching a police mission to the Palestinian Territories aimed at creating an effective police force.

EU diplomats hoped that engaging in hard security issues would improve the Union's standing in the region and particularly with Israel. There are signs that this policy may now pay off.

But Eran added that work still needed to be done to convince the Israeli public and politicians of the EU's importance.

"I think that the EU is not doing a good job in public relations in Mediterranean countries. The Israeli public is not fully aware of the progress that has been made in Europe," he said.

"The view among the Israeli public and some politicians is that it is 25 states each with their own foreign policy. We ought to understand on the Israeli side that there is more cohesion in terms of foreign policy."

Eran said that on the Iranian nuclear question, for instance, "even if the effort is lead by three members of the EU" the foreign policy chief Javier Solana "was there" and "it will become a policy at 25".

Eran, who has been ambassador to the EU since 2002, called for a series of confidence-building measures between Israel and the Union. He praised the recent decision by the EU not to publish a highly critical report of Israel's activities in East Jerusalem.

But the EU's response to Hamas's expected success in yesterday's (25 January) Palestinian elections may prove to be a major stumbling block. While the US and Israel are opposing any contacts with Hamas, which is considered by the EU and the US a terrorist organisation, the European position has been more ambiguous.

Comments by Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the EU. In a dramatic call for Israel to review its foreign policy, Eran said the incoming Israeli government - which would take office after the elections on 28 March 2006 - should respond to new political realities and a more balanced EU policy towards Israeli.

EEAS: Countries: Israel http://www.eeas.europa.eu/israel/index_en.htm

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