EU’s cooperation with Israel on major common challenges will stand high on the agenda of the 3-day visit of Manfred Weber, the German chairman or the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament, to the Middle East.

The center-right EPP is the largest political group in the EU parliament with 215 members.

Weber will first visit Jordan where the focus will be cooperation between the EU, Israel and Jordan on major common challenges such as security, the fight against terrorism, but also research, the political situation between Israel and Palestine and its implications, the economic conditions in Palestine, the support of the Jordanian government in the refugee crisis and the role of the EU.

In Israel, Weber will have high-level bilateral talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and meet with several members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

He will alo visit the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and participate in a memorial ceremony.

Later, the EPP Group Chairman will visit the Palestinian areas controlled by the Palestinian autonomy authorities where he will meet with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and other PA high-ranking representatives.

In the evening, he will have meetings with representatives of religious communities in Jerusalem.