European Commssion wants Israel in 'Wider Europe' initiative
By Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondent
LONDON - The European Commission announced Wednesday that it intends to incorporate Israel into its "Wider Europe" initiative, which may give it a status similar to that of European Union states, especially on commercial and economic issues.
EU representatives who met with a Foreign Ministry delegation in Brussels on Wednesday as part of the annual meeting of the Israeli-EU Association Agreement Committee said that unlike in the past, EU-Israeli relations will no longer be conditional on the progress of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Over the past few weeks, Israel has created an inter-ministerial task force to formulate its stance on the Wider Europe scheme. Adopting this scheme would mean a new model of relations with the EU, similar to the one the European bloc currently has with Switzerland and Norway.
Israeli diplomatic sources said that Wednesday's talks were conducted in a cordial and businesslike manner, though no understanding was reached on the controversy over taxing Israeli goods produced in the settlements. The Europeans promised to expand cooperation in several fields, including economics and the law.
A large part of the talks focused on energy and the environment, and the Europeans asked Israel to finish ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on environmental protection. They stressed that a positive answer from Israel would considerably improve Israel's status in the EU. If Israel ratifies the agreement, this would bring the number of states to the minimum required to implement it, despite the United States' objections.
Israel's Ambassador to the EU Oded Eran said that considerable progress was made Wednesday, and that the Europeans were surprisingly positive on many issues. Among others, he said, the Europeans proposed formalizing contacts to bring an Israeli work group into the European satellite project Galileo, after which Israel's permanent position in the project would be determined.