EU foreign ministers to hold talks with US counterpart Pompeo as rifts fester
Issued on: 15/06/2020 – 05:37
EU foreign ministers will hold video talks with their US counterpart Mike Pompeo on Monday as transatlantic rifts widen over Israel, international organisations and how to deal with China.
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The meeting kicks off a crunch week for US-Europe ties, with a virtual meeting of NATO defence ministers starting Wednesday already overshadowed by Washington's controversial plans to slash its troop presence in Germany.
US President Donald Trump's "America First" approach has seen ties with Europe lurch from crisis to crisis, but EU officials are determined to keep talking to Washington, even if little progress is apparent.
High on the agenda will be the Middle East peace process, as Brussels seeks to persuade Israel to back down from plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
The new Israeli government led once again by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signalled it intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as proposed by Trump, with initial steps to begin from July 1.
A senior EU official said Monday's talks with Pompeo would begin three weeks "devoted to strongly reaching out" to all parties — including the Israeli and US governments — to try to stop the moves.
EU ministers will press their objections to annexations — which they say breach international law — with Pompeo.
"We are reaching out trying to persuade everybody that annexations are not a good idea and will create instability, and the Israeli government should reconsider," the official said.
Pompeo has urged the Palestinians to embrace Trump's Middle East peace plan, which promises them an independent but condensed and demilitarised state as well as international investment.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas travelled to Jerusalem this week to tell Israel of Europe's "serious concerns" about the proposed annexations.
Court concern
Europe is also increasingly alarmed by Trump's withdrawal from international institutions and agreements, most recently the World Health Organization and the Open Skies treaty with Russia.
Monday's meeting comes after the US leader authorised sanctions against any International Criminal Court official who investigates US troops — a move that EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell said was a matter of "serious concern".
The EU is still studying Trump's order on the ICC to assess its likely impact, but the senior official said the bloc thought the sanctions move was wrong.
If the prospects of making progress on these issues on Monday look slim, diplomats hope the two sides may be able to make progress towards common ground on China.
While the US has pursued a tough-talking approach to an increasingly assertive Beijing, the EU has sought to thread a path between cooperation, competition and confrontation.
But the senior EU official insisted that Read More – Source
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