‘’I would be happy if a Palestinian state exists at the end of my five-year mandate,’’ the new European Union policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said in an interview with several European newspapers ahead of a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority at the end of this week.
She said she intends to really give Europe a stronger foreign policy and to play a more influential role in the Middle East than in the past. ‘’Europe cannot only be a payer but needs to play a political role,’’ she added, stressing that ‘’it will be difficult to guarantee the security of Israel without a more broader framework involving the Arab countries.’’ A statement that is likely to be appreciated in Israel.
‘’A global agreement of this kind would facilitate a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian dossier,’’ she said.
Asked about the recent decision by Sweden, one of the 28 member countries of the EU, to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, and the debate among other member states on this issue, Mogherini, who resigned last Friday as Italy’s Foreign Minister to take her new post, declared: “What’s important for me is not whether other countries, be they European or not, recognize Palestine.”
On November 1, 41-year-old Mogherini succeeded British Catherine Ashton as High Representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy. She also became a Vice-President in the new European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker.
‘’I intend to forge a common strategy, vision and policy but I know the limits of the exercice. The question of the recognition of a state is a competence of the member states,’’ she said.
“But I surely intend to use the union’s political potential in this region. That’s why my first visit will be to Israel and Palestine at the end of this week. European action can be decisive during this key moment, probably the most difficult the region has ever seen,’ she added.
‘’Europe cannot eternally be a payer without playing a political role, Mogherini said. Therefore, the EU intends to adopt a broad regional approach to the Middle East, seeing a possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a wider reconciliation of the Arab world with Israel,’’ she said.
‘’It’s important to first listen. It’s essential that the European states adopt a common initiative and speak with one voice,’’ she said. ‘’I feel that the actors in the region need Europe.’’ ‘’This is the message that we receive today from the Israelis, the Palestinians and the main Arab countries in the region. I will see how we can better play our role. "On Friday I'll be there, there is a unique opportunity to bring together different actors’’, Mogherini added.
"It's a question of political will and internal leadership, in Israel and Palestine. After the events in Gaza, people's desire is that you go on like this for twenty years. Also because, in the absence of reconciliation, we will have a Gaza after the other. There is an awareness that is a window of opportunity. "
During her two-day trip, on Friday, Mogherini will meet with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, President Reuven Rivlin, opposition leader Isaac Herzog and the chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. She is also expected to travel to Ramallah and the Gaza Strip, where she will meet with senior Palestinian officials.
Mogherini gave interviews to five European newspapers — French Le Monde, German Süddeutsche Zeitung, British The Guardian, Italian La Stampa, Spanish El Pais and Polish Gazeta Wyborcza.
Before joining the EU, Mogherini served for seven months in Italy’s center-left government led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who is known to be a friend of Israel and tough on Iran’s nuclear program.
Last July, she visited Israel in the midst of Operation Protective Edge against Hamas. During her visit, s
Officials in Israel are relatively optimistic about Mogherini. ‘’She’s open and seems ready to listen to our positions,” a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel last week, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We’re really hoping that she will have an open mind and try to represent a more balanced approached within the EU.”
Mogherini’s predecessor, Catherine Ashton, was not considered in Jerusalem as Israel’s best friend. She was seen as too open to Iran in the framework of the P5+1 nuclear talks.
The Renzi government has been relatively fair to Israel, and there is reason to hope that she will continue in this line in her new role in Brussels, the official added. “The fact that her first visit is to our region tells us a lot.”
As Italian Foreign Minister, Mogherini was in Israel last July during Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza and among other things, she visited, along with her Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman a house hit by a rocket in the southern city of Ashdod.
‘’The fact that her first visit as High Representative is to our region tells us a lot,’’ an Israeli official said.
During the recent confirmation hearing for her new EU position in the EU parliament, Mogherini indicated that while in office, the EU would take a more prominent role in Middle East affairs. She commented, “In the Middle East in particular the EU has been an effective payer, it needs to become an effective player.” Mogherini added that, “no return to the status quo is possible” following this summer’s Gaza conflict and that “political will and political leadership” is standing in the way of a solution.
For Italian Member of the European Parliament, Fulvio Martusciello, who chairs the European Parliament delegation for relations with Israel, “it’s very important that Ms. Mogherini comes to Israel on 7 November. It’s her first official visit.”