Data: 12/nov/2013 13:39
Oggetto: Your message to the European Parliament REF: GEDA A(2013) 10505
A: <luisa.costalbano@gmail.com>
Dear Ms Costalbano,
The President of the
European Parliament (EP), Mr Martin Schulz, has received your
message concerning the guidelines on the eligibility of Israeli
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories for EU funding.
The President has asked us, the Citizens’ Enquiry Service
of the EP, to reply to you.
To avoid any
misunderstanding, we would first like to clarify that no formal decision on these guidelines has
been taken by the European Parliament. It was the European Commission that
adopted guidelines, on 30 June 2013, concerning territorial limitations
applicable from 2014 onwards to the award of EU grants, prizes and financial
instruments to Israeli entities and their activities in the territories occupied
by Israel
since June 1967.
These
guidelines were prepared as a follow-up to a political decision taken by the
foreign ministers of the EU Member States at the EU Foreign Affairs Council of
10 December 2012. This stated that, "all
agreements between the State of Israel and the EU must unequivocally and
explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel
in 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the West Bank
including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip." You can find
more information about the adoption of the guidelines in the following statement by the Delegation of the European
Union to Israel:
The European Parliament was thus not directly involved in
the adoption of these guidelines. Nevertheless, it makes reference to them, and
at the same time strongly condemns Israel's settlement activity in the
Palestinian territories, in its resolution of 23 October 2013 on the European
Neighbourhood Policy, in which the EP "welcomes the resumption of direct
negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians; stresses its commitment to a
two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders, with mutually agreed land swaps
and Jerusalem being the capital city of both states; expresses its disapproval
and repeated condemnation of the increasing number of illegal settlements in the
occupied territories, and calls on the Government of Israel to cease settlement
activity and cancel all planned projects for building new settlements; recalls
vehemently that the building of settlements is a tangible obstacle to the
success of both the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and the
viability of the two-state solution; and draws attention to the guidelines which
the EU has laid down concerning the eligibility for grants, prizes and EU-funded
financial instruments, from 2014 onwards, of Israeli entities established in the
territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 and the activities they carry on
there" (Article 84).
You can access the full resolution at the following
link:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2013-0446+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
During
the plenary debate about this resolution on 22 October – in which Martin Schulz
didn't participate himself – Irish Member of the EP Emer Costello
(Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) spoke about the guidelines. A video
recording of her speech, which naturally reflects her personal opinion and not
necessarily that of the EP as a whole, is available at the following
link:
Concerning the peace process in general,
President Schulz lays great hope in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed this summer. In a statement
he made on 29 July, he welcomed the resumption of direct negotiations, saying:
"The European Parliament will continue to
support all efforts aimed at reaching an agreement on all final status issues,
ending all claims, and fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of both parties
with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign
and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security and
mutual recognition." You can read his full statement at the following
link:
We hope the above information will be
useful and thank you for your trust in the European Parliament and its
President.
Yours sincerely,
Citizens' Enquiry Service
European Parliament
Please note that the information given by the Citizens'
Enquiry Service of the European Parliament is not legally
binding
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