Foreign ministers of the European Union will decide next week how to implement the E.U.’s coordinating role in the upcoming Palestinian elections in the autonomous areas.
At a summit meeting last month in Cannes, France the 15 E.U. member states expressed their readiness “to send observers to the forthcoming Palestinian elections and to coordinate the various international observer missions at those elections.”
The 15 nations views their participation as observers as a means for encouraging and supporting the Middle East peace process.
According to a source close to Manuel Marin, the European commissioner in charge of relations with Mediterranean and Mideast countries, the E.U. foreign ministers, who are scheduled to meet Monday in Brussels, will set procedures for choosing European observers to the Palestinian elections.
Among the topics to be discussed will be the number of observers that will make up the team.
Well-informed sources said the E.U. observer team would include 300 people. An additional 300 observers from other countries are also expected to participate.
E.U. officials will help monitor the elections, along with international observers, and will furnish computers, ballot boxes and security.
E.U. officials have had several working sessions with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials in May and June to prepare for the E.U.’s role.
E.U. monitors “will oversee the whole electoral process, from the registration of the electoral lists until the results,” a senior E.U. official said recently.
The source added that preparation time of at least four months will be needed between the signing of an Israeli-Palestinian accord and the holding of the election.
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