By Chris Jones - 31st August 2006
Finland will use the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lappeenranta today to call for renewed contacts with the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
The Finns, who hold the EU’s rotating presidency until the end of the year, are keen to use the so-called Gymnich meeting to persuade the other 24 EU countries that the time has come to talk to Hamas.
Erkki Tuomioja, Finland’s foreign minister, said that the EU had to talk to all “relevant” parties – including the terrorist blacklisted Hamas – if the peace process was to be revived.
“Hamas is not the same party as it was before the elections,” he said, suggesting that the moves by the group to tone down its radical stance and embrace the democratic process were encouraging.
“The EU is the only party which can talk directly and openly with everybody and everyone who is relevant for the Middle East,” he told FT Deutschland.
But Helsinki’s proposals are likely to be cautiously received by other EU member states, with France, Germany and the UK in particular concerned that opening talks with Hamas while it is still blacklisted could sour relations with Israel.
German MEP Markus Ferber said that Finland’s proposal was dangerous and would lead to “a loss of credibility” for the EU in the Middle East.
“Establishing contact with Hamas would be seen as a victory for the militants,” he said.
He stressed that the EU should only consider talking to Hamas after the group committed to renounce violence and recognised the state if Israel.
The Gymnich – named after the German town where the first such informal meeting took place in 1974 – coincides with the second day of an international donors’ conference in Sweden.
Forty eight countries pledged €730 million in donations for the first stage of rebuilding Lebanon during the conference in Stockholm – almost twice the €500 million target – and nearly €1bn has been pledged to help with the reconstruction of Lebanon following the war between Israel and the militant Islamic group Hizbullah.
But there are concerns that the focus on Lebanon could detract donors from the urgent need to raise more money to help the Palestinian people.
The second day of the Stockholm conference will draw donors’ attention to the ever worsening position in Gaza, described by the UN’s humanitarian chief Jan Egeland as a “ticking time bomb”.
The conference is hoping to raise more than €260m for the Palestinian people, which will be used to pay salaries and ensure basic services.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU foreign affairs commissioner, said that the EU had already given more than €330m “to the Palestinian people” this year, underlining that the money was being used for “those in urgent need” and would not be given directly to the Hamas-led government.
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