A key official of the European Economic Community promised today that a third round of talks with Israel on a trade agreement with the six-nation Euromart would begin in March. The promise was made by Jean Rey, Minister of the EEC Commission in charge of its Foreign Relations, in a report to the regular meeting of the European Parliament, an advisory body to the EEC.
M. Rey spoke after members of the Parliament voted unanimously to ask the Council of Ministers, the key policy-making body of the EEC, to give the EEC Commission a new mandate to make possible an initial agreement with Israel. In the first two rounds of talks, the EEC negotiators offered Israel minor concessions of three relatively trivial exports which the Israeli negotiators rejected, asking for new talks. At that time, the Israelis offered several technical proposals as a basis for such talks.
A. Blaisse, Deputy President of the European Parliament, told the deputies that those proposals were a “good basis” for renewed talks. He said the lengthy negotiations had been “very disappointing” and that there was a “moral obligation” of Europe toward Israel “if it exists as the political will of the member states.”
GENERAL COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT WITH ISRAEL IS RECOMMENDED
He called for a commercial agreement with Israel “which will be only a first step, as with Turkey, towards a larger agreement.” Another deputy, Ludwig Metzger, a German Socialist, said Israel had not been treated well by the EEC. He added that “we are happy that we reached an association with Turkey and Greece,” which received an associate membership “and we do not understand why negotiations with Israel did not have any results.” He asserted that “Europe cannot stay indifferent to Israel.”
The West German deputy said that the European Parliament had not given up the idea of an associate status for Israel “but in the meantime a general agreement is needed. The EEC can help Israel with a small effort on its part if the political will exists.”
M. Rey opened his report with a description of his recent visit to Israel where he said, government officials had indicated their disappointment over the laggard talks. He said he left with a renewed feeling of the urgent need to find a solution. He added, however, that there were difficulties, some arising from the fact that all of the member states had interests in the Mediterranean area.
He said he was not certain that the matter could be presented to the Council of Ministers on February 3, as had been announced recently but it will definitely be discussed on February 25. “Later we shall be able, in March, to invite once more our Israeli friends to the third round of negotiations and to reach an agreement which will not be a complete solution of all the problems “but would be a first step for later enlargement,” he stated.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
