Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 April 2014
42. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the degree to which the EU and UN continue to support the peace process in the Middle East with particular reference to the need to ensure the continuation of administrative structures to which the opposing parties can address their grievances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15889/14]
View answerThe current negotiations in the Middle East have reached a critical juncture. At the present moment, both sides are awaiting US proposals to move the process forward, but the exact form this might take remains to be seen. The EU, and indeed the UN, are therefore making every effort to support and encourage the process and the parties at this crucial moment. The Deputy will be aware of EU measures to support the process, set out most notably in the Conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council in December 2013, and the remarks of High Representative Ashton after the March Council.
There is no existing independent administrative structure of the sort the Deputy refers to, although the EU, UN, Quartet, US, Russia, Japan and others all have standing representatives present on the ground in close contact with the parties. To be frank, I do not think the parties have ever lacked opportunities to make known their grievances to the outside world. The problem rather has been in establishing a framework in which they agree to engage directly to resolve these differences, through compromise together. It is to that end that present efforts are directed.
