THE Tanaiste, Mr Spring, has insisted that the EU has a prominent role to play in the Middle East peace process, in spite of increasing resistance by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, to the idea.
As President of the EU foreign ministers, Mr Spring last night spoke of the need to see the Oslo accords fully implemented. He told The Irish Times that the EU wanted to be supportive of all parties and "to work in partnership with the United States in serving the cause of peace",
Earlier, Mr Netanyahu suggested that European intervention was complicating matters and that the US was already playing an important role. "I don't think that at this time in such sensitive negotiations it would be wise to introduce another interlocutor I would be careful before I would add more cooks to the broth."
The Israeli Prime Minister was responding to comments by French President Mr Jacques Chirac, on the eve of an official visit to Israel, that the EU should become a co sponsor of the peace process with the United States.
Two weeks ago, Mr Spring visited the Middle East to announce the appointment of a special EU envoy and to appeal to the Israeli government to end its obstruction of the peace process and arrange an early withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron.
Last night, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said further discussion of the special envoy proposal will take place at an EU Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg next Monday.
The EU has "an important stake in the future of the Middle East", Mr Spring said, and it could not afford to let the peace process flounder. Its concern to see the Oslo accords fully implemented had prompted it to make "an enhanced contribution to the search for a permanent settlement".
The special EU Summit in Dublin on October 5th was harshly critical of Israeli tardiness in implementing the Oslo accords.
Since then Arab leaders - including President Yasser Arafat - have suggested that the EU should be represented in the talks process, while the Israelis have rejected such involvement.
Mr Spring said that there was no question of interfering or imposing ourselves, but of providing active encouragement and support.
"With its close ties to both Israel and the Palestinians, the Union believes it has an important role to play in the Middle East ... The EU's contribution needs to be commensurate with its political and economic interests in the region," he said.
An Irish official said last night that while it was envisaged the special envoy would have a "hands on" approach, he or she would not necessarily be at the talks table. The envoy's role would be to encourage and support the parties and to reflect the EU's underpinning of the peace process. "The fact that we pay the bills and are a leading trading partner with Israel means that we have a real role to play," he said.
Derek Brown adds from Jerusalem:
President Chirac is unlikely to be deterred by the Israelis' cool response to his proposal.
Even before he has arrived, there have been several quintessentially Israeli rows over his programme. One was quietly and diplomatically smothered yesterday, when it became known that the President would, after all, visit the Knesset - but he will stay in the VIP gallery. There had been attacks from parliamentarians over his original plan to address the Palestinian Council, but not the Knesset.
The ingenious explanation by French diplomats was that this is to be an "official", not a "state", visit, and that a trip to the Knesset was not strictly necessary.
Another potential row, circumvented with similar skill, was the proposal that the accompanying French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, should meet Palestinian officials in Orient House, the de facto headquarters of the PLO in East Jerusalem. This, for the Israelis, is a red rag issue.
That looming dispute was elegantly defused when President Chirac decided not to bring his Foreign Minister to Israel. But, to save national face, he will send a junior health minister, Mr Herve Gaymard, to Orient House for talks on what are euphemistically described as health matters.