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Israel in the EU?
Israel Considers Asking to Join EU Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told a visiting EU delegation Tuesday that "he is not excluding that this government will ask for full EU membership," said Marco Pannella, an Italian member of the European Parliament who is spearheading the initiative. A spokesman for Shalom said, "In principle, the minister thinks a possibility exists for Israel to join the EU, since Israel and Europe share similar economies and democratic values." (Reuters/Ha'aretz) Italian PM: "We Look on Israel as a European Nation" "In the future, Europe must include Israel," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly told World Jewish Congress leaders on Wednesday. "We look on Israel as a European nation to all intents and purposes: Cultural, economic and political," he said. In March 2002 Berlusconi first said that both Israel and Russia should join the EU. (Jerusalem Post) Israel's Membership in EU Ruled Out Israel's desire to become a member of the EU is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future, commented the Brussels-based online "EUobserver." Any acceptance of Israel as a member is likely to be based on a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and substantially improved Arab-Israeli relations. (IRNA-Iran) Iraq and Israel in the EU: Peace through Accession? - Leon Hadar A diplomatic coup that could put the Europeans in the Middle East's driver's seat could begin by removing the obstacles to the prompt entry of Turkey into the EU. They should also announce their readiness to open negotiations with a free and democratic Iraq, as well as with Israel and an independent Palestinian state that could lead to latter's gradual accession into the EU - albeit a goal that would take many years to achieve. It's time for the Europeans to conclude that they cannot continue to secure their interests in a region, with which they maintain strategic, business, and demographic ties, by burnishing their "pro-Arab" credentials and by propping-up bankrupted, corrupt political elites. (Cato Institute-Washington)