SOPOT: The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the bloc’s foreign ministers are grappling at a meeting in Poland with whether to take a unified position on Palestinian statehood in a United Nations vote later this month.
Catherine Ashton did not say how the discussions were leaning, but stressed that Europe supports a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Our ambition is to see the two states side by side," Ashton told reporters in Sopot, a Polish Baltic sea resort, as the ministers began their two-day meeting.
Poland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, has been trying to encourage the 27 EU members to take a common position when the Palestinian resolution on its statehood comes to a vote in the UN General Assembly later this month. Such a consensus, however, will be extremely hard to achieve since some countries support the Palestinian bid while others are firmly in the pro-Israeli camp and are likely to vote against it.
The meeting is also to focus on Syria, the scene of violently repressed protests against the regime of President Bashar Assad. The EU said in a statement Friday it is imposing an embargo on oil imports.
The EU is the destination for most of Syria’s oil exports. They generate $7-8 million per day, said David Schenker, director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Without that revenue, Syria will quickly burn through the $17 billion in foreign reserves that the government had at the start of the uprising.
Ashton said ahead of the meeting that ways should be sought to make the violence in Syria stop.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki has said the meeting is an opportunity for frank discussions on international problems, but no official communiqué or statement was planned. Ashton is to hold a news conference on Saturday.
hieve since some countries support the Palestinian bid while others are firmly in the pro-Israeli camp and are likely to vote against it.
The meeting is also to focus on Syria, the scene of violently repressed protests against the regime of President Bashar Assad. The EU said in a statement Friday it is imposing an embargo on oil imports.
The EU is the destination for most of Syria’s oil exports. They generate $7-8 million per day, said David Schenker, director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Without that revenue, Syria will quickly burn through the $17 billion in foreign reserves that the government had at the start of the uprising.
Ashton said ahead of the meeting that ways should be sought to make the violence in Syria stop.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki has said the meeting is an opportunity for frank discussions on international problems, but no official communiqué or statement was planned. Ashton is to hold a news conference on Saturday.
