Election of the Council and the President of the Palestinian Authority and the role of the Union

The committee unanimously adopted the report by Mr Luigi COLAJANNI (PSE, I). Forthcoming elections to the Council and for the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority represented an essential step in the search for global peace in the Middle East. In adopting the recommendation by Mr COLAJANNI under the CFSP, the Committee on Foreign Affairs trusted that the Council would ensure that the European Parliament delegation was closely associated with the work of the European Electoral Unit and allowed to help monitor all stages of the electoral process. In addition, horrified by the assassination of the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who paid for his commitment to peace with his life, and conscious of the fact that fundamental and nationalist extremists could compromise the success of the process, Parliament hoped that the European Union would make a clear, unconditional commitment to peace. It therefore recommended a political initiative to promote agreement between the Palestinian authorities and the Israeli government on the points still in abeyance and guarantee maximum support for this government at this difficult and decisive juncture. The committee considered that this peace process would have a positive impact on the stability and security of Europe continent and therefore called on the Council to: - quickly prepare the legal, economic and commercial instruments needed for the economic development of the Territories under Palestinian jurisdiction; - start negotiations with a view to concluding a Euro-Mediterranean association agreement and - intensify action by the European Union to mediate between all the countries in the region. Recommendations adopted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs under the CFSP are entered on the agenda of the next session and are deemed to have been adopted unless at least one-tenth of the members of the European Parliament objects, in which case a vote is held in plenary.�