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EU Steps Up Role in Iraq, Gaza
By BROOKS TIGNER, BRUSSELS

The European Union is rapidly expanding relations with Iraq and will sign a joint political declaration Sept. 21 with the country that includes nonproliferation and counterterrorism measures. The announcement follows new signals that the 25-nation bloc also plans to increase political support for Gaza’s Palestinian population while easing Israeli security concerns about arms smuggling across the Gaza-Egypt border with a possible EU observer mission there.

The union and Iraq will sign their joint political declaration on the margins of the Sept. 21 U.N. General Assembly in New York, setting “the framework for a comprehensive dialogue covering a wide range of political issues,” said the European Commission. So far, the commission has handed out 518 million euros ($629.5 million) in aid to Iraq and is providing another 30 million euros to help prepare for Iraqi elections in December.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations, said the European Commission “remains deeply committed to supporting Iraq’s political and economic reconstruction” and confirmed that preparations are under way to open a commission bureau in Baghdad as a liaison.

The joint EU-Iraq declaration aims for a new political dialogue to cover:

• Nonproliferation and counterterrorism.

• Conflict prevention and resolution.

• EU support for Iraq’s political transition process.

• Promotion of good governance.

• Protection of human rights.

• Rule of law and democracy.

Meanwhile, the commission announced Sept. 19 that its total financial aid to the Palestinian Territories would amount to some 280 million euros in 2005, including a new allocation of 60 million euros for the Gaza Strip.

The money is partly designed to “maintain the momentum created by [Israel’s] Gaza withdrawal,” the commission said.

In a gesture to Israel, however, EU officials here said the union may set up a monitoring mission along the Gaza-Egypt frontier to help guard against the movement of weapons and combatants into Gaza — a major security concern for Tel Aviv. Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza in August amid fierce protests by Israeli settlers in the region, whose synagogues later were burned by jubilant Palestinian crowds.

If approved, the security mission would be the union’s first in the region, though its participants would provide only technical assistance and advice to Palestinian and Egyptian border-control forces.
 

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