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Remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini upon arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council

22.01.2018
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Remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini upon arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council

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Good morning,

I will see you several times during the day. We have a very intense agenda today. I will highlight now only two points of our day with the [Foreign Affairs] Ministers.

One is Libya. I have invited the UN Special Envoy [for Libya, Ghassan] Salamé to join us via video conference to update us on the political work he is doing to try to overcome the crisis in the country. I believe it is essential that the European Union and all its Member States continue to focus on the situation in Libya, on the Mediterranean in general. It will be another opportunity, after a few months, to come back on the issue – not only from a migration point of view, which is currently and constantly on our agenda – but also on how we can support more and better the UN in solving the crisis in Libya.

And then – as you know – we will host [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud] Abbas, after the visit of Prime Minister [of Israel, Benjamin] Netanyahu in December [2017] to the Foreign Affairs Council. We will discuss with him the ways in which the European Union can support the restart of the process.

As you might know, at the end of the month we will host also here in Brussels an extraordinary meeting of the Ad-hoc Liaison Committee for supporting the creation of two states. So, we will have a discussion first with the Ministers of the 28 Member States alone and then with the [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud Abbas] on how the European Union can increase its work in support of the two-state solution. 

 

Q. Talking about supporting a two-state solution, how can you do this while the Palestinians no longer recognise the Americans as a player and there is a problem with Jerusalem.

Clearly there is a problem with Jerusalem – I would say this is a very diplomatic euphemism. We, Europeans as well as all the Arab world and the United Nations system as such, still continue to believe that the only pragmatic, realistic solution for Jerusalem has to come through direct negotiations and has to be the capital of two states.

We will continue to work to support an international framework to accompany direct negotiations. We have been engaged with our American friends through the Quartet [on the Middle East] - you know that a Quartet Envoys' meeting has taken place in the last days and I take this as a very positive sign.

We are discussing with the United States, with Russia, with the United Nations and first and foremost with Israel and Palestine, and with our Arab friends – Jordan, Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Arab League on how we can help this international framework to continue to support or rather to support a re-start of the negotiations.

We have been closely in touch in particular with Jordan as it is conducting the leading role in the Arab League Ministerial format on the issue of the Middle East Peace Process and we have discussed a next invitation to the Ministers' representatives of the Arab League, probably in the February Foreign Affairs Council, to discuss together how the Arab League and the European Union can further support this process.

I am afraid I will have to meet you again, in a couple of hours I will come back to welcome [Palestinian] President Abbas.

 

Thank you.

 

Link to the video: https://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I149703

Category
Remarks
Location

Bruxelles

Editorial sections
EEAS
Middle East & North Africa (MENA)
Israel
Libya
Palestine (*) - Occupied Palestinian Territory, West Bank and Gaza Strip
Foreign Affairs Council
United Nations (UN)