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Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European parliament and of its new working group on the Mideast: "The peace process launched at Annapolis must not founder on violence and terror."
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BRUSSELS (EJP)---The European Parliament will discuss next week in Brussels developments of the situation in the Middle east and how EU aid is being used.
The parliament's new working group on the Middle East, chaired by the EU body’s president Hans-Gert Poettering, will hear on March 25 reports from Mideast Quartet representative Tony Blair, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.
Earlier this month, during a debate on the situation in Israel and Gaza at the parliament's plenary session, Poettering stressed that Europe must help push forward Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
"The peace process launched at Annapolis must not founder on violence and terror", he said.
The European Parliament, he added, intends to play a role, using "an even-handed approach".
He highlighted the 540 million euros to support the Annapolis peace process pledged by the European Union at the Paris Donors' Conference in December and said the European Parliament would put itself forward as "an honest broker".
