Ashton and Blair to brief on Middle East tensions

Ministers to discuss prospects of peace talks in the Middle East and long-term economic support for Haiti.

The European Union’s foreign ministers will discuss the dim prospects for a resumption of peace talks in the Middle East when they meet in Brussels on Monday (22 March) as the Foreign Affairs Council. 

During a confidential working lunch, the ministers will hear a report from Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, on her recent trip to the region, which covered Cairo, Damascus, Beirut and Amman as well as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Gaza strip. They will also be briefed by Tony Blair, the international Middle East envoy. Ashton and Blair will tomorrow (19 March) be in Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet – the United Nations, the EU, the United States and Russia.

US irritation

But the prospect of indirect talks involving Israelis and Palestinians has been disrupted by Israel’s announcement last week that it would build an additional 1,600 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem. The announcement provoked small-scale rioting by Palestinians and high-profile irritation in the US, since it coincided with a visit to Israel by Joseph Biden, the US vice-president.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, have since both attempted to play down the significance of the rupture in their relations. But George Mitchell, the US special envoy at the centre of these talks, postponed a planned visit to Israel this week, although he is still expected to travel to the Middle East after the Quartet meeting in Moscow.

Haiti

The ministers will also discuss support to Haiti ahead of a 31 March donors’ conference in New York on the next phase of the country’s recovery from the January earthquake. According to draft conclusions for Monday’s meeting, the ministers will discuss a “long-term economic plan that goes beyond reconstruction”. This includes support to encourage economic growth, a better investment climate, trade, infrastructure investments and governance support.

The ministers want to agree a division of labour among member states and the European Commission in preparation for a similar exercise with external donors in New York. Ashton will represent the EU in New York, accompanied by Andris Piebalgs, the European commissioner for development, and Kristalina Georgieva, the commissioner for humanitarian aid.

The ministers are expected to confirm the appointment of Vygaudas Ušackas, a former Lithuanian foreign minister, as EU special representative for Afghanistan, Ashton’s first high-profile appointment for what is to become the European External Action Service. Ušackas will also head the EU’s delegation in Kabul, the first such arrangement since the coming into effect of the Lisbon treaty, which makes this the standard for special representatives.

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