The 10 member-states of the European Economic Community (EEC) called on the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization today to back President Reagan’s Middle East peace initiative and to empower King Hussein of Jordan to enter peace negotiations in the region.
The official statement, issued at the EEC summit conference here, also urged the Arab states to take “full advantage” of the current opportunity to try to reach a peace settlement in the Middle East. The joint communique reasserted the right of all states in the region to live in peace behind secure borders.
At the same time, it reaffirmed its “past statements” which include the Venice declaration of June, 1980, and specifically called for the implementation of the rights of the Palestinian people “with all that this implies.” The Venice declaration had called, among other things, for PLO “association” in any Middle East peace process.
COMPLETE UNANIMITY REPORTED
Despite a heavy work schedule complicated by Western Europe’s financial crisis, the leaders of the 10 EEC nations discussed the Middle East at length during their dinner meeting at the Val Duchesse Castle on the outskirts of Brussels. Sources close to the meeting said later that there was a complete unanimity among the 10 Presidents and Prime Ministers “to fully back America’s efforts” and to do all they can to help achieve the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon.
The 10 leaders included Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, President Francois Mitterrand of France and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany. They agreed among themselves “not to do anything which could impede America’s own efforts” in that direction, the sources said.
Diplomatic observers here said the joint statement of the EEC leaders indicates that Western Europe will refrain from any diplomatic initiatives toward the Middle East as long as President Reagan’s plan remains viable. “There will be no new ‘Venice’ for the next few months,” a West German diplomat said. He stressed that the U.S. is in the best position to obtain a foreign troop withdrawal from Lebanon and to make some progress in the search for a Middle East peace settlement.
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