Belgium’s Foreign Minister, Leo Tindemans, said here yesterday that while the 1980 Venice declaration remains the “basis” of the European Economic Community’s (EEC) Middle East policy it could be subject to reevaluation after he reports back to the EEC Council of Ministers of which he is currently chairman.
Tindemans, on a “study tour” of the region, has already visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt. He called on President Yitzhak Navon yesterday and had a 90-minute meeting last night with Premier Menachem Begin and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
He told reporters that as chairman of the Council of Ministers, his aim was to help define the nature of the European role in the Mideast in the aftermath of Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai. Asked if the EEC is still bound by its Venice declaration, Tindemans noted that it was the last joint statement made on the subject by the European community. “It is still the basis of Europe,” he said. But he added, “I think that on the basis of my report now there is a possibility that Europe will make a new statement.”
The Venice declaration called, among other things, for the “association” of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Middle East peace process and supported self-determination for the Palestinian people.
The Belgian diplomat met yesterday with three prominent Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza Strip: Mayor Elias Freij of Bethlehem; Anwar Nusseibah, a former Defense Minister of Jordan; and Mayor Rashad A Shawa of Gaza. All are regarded as moderates with no direct links to the PLO. Tindemans’ meetings with the Palestinians were arranged by the Belgian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
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