BRUSSELS (EJP)---The pro-Israel lobby group in the European Parliament deplored the decision Wednesday of the assembly to postpone the vote on Israel’s participation in the EU’s Community Programmes.
“By going against the position of both the Commission and the Council, the European Parliament has sent an unprecedented message to Israel that it does not consider it a partner,” said 'European Friends of Israel' (EFI) in a statement.
The vote, by 194 in favor of the postponement against 173, is seen in the parliament as a “sanction” against Israel for its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The postponement, at the request of the group of the European United Left, won the support of the Green and Socialists MEPs.
Francis Wurtz, a French MEP who heads the group of the European Left, requested at the start of the plenary session that the vote be postponed "until Israel gives serious signs of goodwill demonstrated by tangible results on the ground”.
His group hailed the vote, calling it “a clear signal set by the European Parliament: yes to an improvement of the relations between the EU and Israel but depending on the attitude of this country towards the peace process."
“The Gaza blockade doesn’t weaken Hamas but on the contrary makes it becoming more radical,” Véronique De Keyser, a Belgian Socialist MEP, explained to justify the vote.
“Innocent people are suffering and the aggravation of the humanitarian situation in Gaza obliged us to postpone the vote,“ she said.
Last month, the foreign affairs committee recommended that the parliament gives its assent for increased participation by Israel in European policies and programmes as part of the 'Action Plan' concluded with Israel, but linked this participation to respect for the commitments given by Israel at the Annapolis Mideast conference.
The EU Programmes include among others the protection of consumers, innovation, competitiveness, culture, research.
Denouncing the vote, 'European Friends of Israel' said that Israel’s participation in Community Programmes “is meant to create trust, facilitate mutual understanding and encourage collaboration between Israel and the EU at the “People to People”.
“It is only by inclusion and not by exclusion of our democratic partners that true and mutual understandings can be achieved,” EFI said.
During the debate, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, French State Secretary for European Affairs, who spoke on behalf of the French presidency of the Council, and European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry defended the idea of enhancing EU-Israel relations.
“This way Europe can become more credible not only in Israel but in all ENP countries,” Jouyet declared.
Greek Christian-Democrat MEP Ioannis Kasoulides, whose political group voted against the postponement, criticized the political linkage. “We do not have this political conditionality on issues of bilateral relations within ENP policies. In the case of Morocco for instance, we have never mentioned Western Sahara or human rights. Also in the case of Egypt or any country in the Mediterranean,“ he stressed.
Another MEP from the same European People’s Party (EPP) group, German Elmar Brok, said that “the reason that was given for postponing the vote, the situation in the Gaza Strip, means supporting the illegal Hamas regime, which is decisively responsible for the situation in Gaza and the shelling of Israel.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad welcomed the postponement of the vote, which, he said, "shows that the European Parliament is attached to international law and to a settlement based on two states, Israel and Palestine.
Fayad told EU diplomats on Monday that the EU should not upgrade ties with Israel "as long as it expands West Bank settlements."
On Tuesday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was in Brussels to plead for the upgrade in talks with EU senior officials.