Ekaterina Zaharieva takes part EU foreign ministers’ informal meeting to discuss Middle East
30 August 2018 News
The foreign ministers of the European Union gathered in Vienna for the Gymnich two-day informal meeting within the framework of the Austrian Presidency of the Council. In their first working session today, they discussed a number of relevant issues related to the Middle East, as well as the trans-Atlantic relationship.
‘The European Union must continue to pursue its initiatives pertinent to the Middle East peace process, and be more proactive. We should create a favorable climate in pursuit of the two-state principle. I would be remiss not to mention the instrumental role of Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator, for the August 10th ceasefire agreement. His plan seeks to defuse tensions while keeping the peace and giving the people of Gaza a clear perspective,’ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva pointed out.
Bulgaria’s top diplomat urged the EU to convene, as soon as possible, another meeting of the Association Council with the State of Israel, that would discuss the most sensitive issues. ‘Israel is an important partner of ours and whenever we have something to say to each other, it must be said within the framework of the Council,’ Zaharieva said.
The close cooperation with the United States is a necessary condition for progress to be made on the Middle East, the meeting stated. The countries in the region should show more commitment to the UN Agency in order to assist in the construction of buildings for Palestinian refugees.
The ministers also discussed the situation in Idlib, Syria, where over 2.5 million people are threatened by a humanitarian disaster.
‘The appeal that we all make to the regime there is to do anything possible to avoid civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. Because, on the one hand, we want to start financing the restoration of Syria, but on the other, we are not prepared to pour money into a bottomless pit, i.e. in a country that is as yet unsafe and the scene of armed conflict.’ Minister Zaharieva summed up.
‘We would like to support the return of the people to their homes, but when they do not know what has happened to them, whether or not there are roads leading there, or electric power, or hospitals and schools, there is no way we can expect them to start returning this autumn or winter. So the focus should be on getting the political process going.’
The foreign ministers of the EU once again underscored that everything possible should be done to keep the Iran denuclearization plan on track.
With respect to the trans-Atlantic relationship, the meeting of the EU’s top diplomats underscored that there are many more things that unite us than ones that pull us apart. On the matter of the aluminum and steel trade, for instance, a constructive decision towards re-examining the tariffs was made after the meeting between EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and US President Donald trump in Washington on July 25. For its part, the EU committed itself to increasing imports of soybean and liquefied natural gas from the United States.