Mubarak Appeals for "More Active" EU Role in Mideast CrisisEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday urged the European Union (EU) to play a "more active" role in resolving the current Mideast crisis, visiting Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen has said.Mubarak expressed his fear about the failure to implement the Mitchell report and called on the EU to help promote peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis, Cowen told reporters after his meeting with Mubarak in the day. The Mitchell report, released in May by an international panel led by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, urges both sides to break the cycle of violence, adopt confidence-building measures after a cooling-off period, and resume peace talks. Cowen also said that Ireland, as a member of the EU and the U.N. Security Council, would do its utmost to push forward the Mideast peace process and bring back on track the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Mubarak's talks with the Irish minister came as part of the Egyptian leader's international efforts to halt Israeli military escalation against the Palestinians and the worsening situation in the region, Egyptian officials have said. Cowen arrived here on Sunday at the outset of a regional tour which will also take him to the Palestinian self-rule areas, Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Ireland will take the presidency of the U.N. Security Council as of October 1. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |