Former EU officials – Cyprus included – call for peace in Middle East

A statement calling for peace in the Middle East was signed on Monday by over 400 former EU and member state ministers, ambassadors and senior officials, including Cyprus’ former Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis.

“At a time when the international order is facing unprecedented challenges, the EU and its member states must fully engage with all relevant parties to bring peace to Israel-Palestine in accordance with longstanding UN principles, resolutions and international law,” they said.

It pointed out that “this engagement must run in parallel to the roll out on January 22 in Davos of President Trump’s Board of Peace, a concept which, based on the mandate given to it by UNSCR 2803, purports to launch and operationalise the second phase of a comprehensive plan to bring peace in Gaza, between Israel and Palestine following the catastrophic chain of events unleashed by the deadly Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.”

The co-signatories said that recent developments “make evident the need for the EU and its member states to take robust and prompt diplomatic action”.

The EU and its member states have “consistently condemned actions inimical to peace”, however such statements “have not been backed up by concrete measures”, they said.

The co-signatories called upon the EU and its member states to “desist from membership of the Board of Peace which, in its current guise, includes an ICC indicted war criminal (with a second one invited) and whose charter and governance threaten to undermine, if not in reality to supplant, the role of the UN in safeguarding peace and security”.

They also called for the immediate launch of “a critical, time limited, dialogue with Israel on the application of the relevant provisions of the EU-Israel association agreement” and, in the absence of constructive responses and actions on these concerns, the EU must “adopt measures aimed at stopping Israeli excesses and unremitting violations of international law, including suspending the agreement”.

The EU is also called upon to “reach out proactively to like-minded and strategic partners in the OECD, the Middle East, the Global South and other G20 members to establish common positions and develop initiatives to promote peace”.

“A robust approach based on the EU’s founding values and principles will be essential to reestablish the Union’s reputation as a force for peace and good in our time,” they concluded.