MIDDLE EAST: The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has described as premature a French proposal to recognise a Palestinian state in advance of its creation.
Mr Cowen said that it was best to recognise states after their viability was assured.
"It is premature as a concept and does not meet the requirements of the present situation," he said of the proposal.
EU foreign ministers meeting in the Spanish city of Caceres will spend at least three hours today discussing a number of proposals to revive the Middle East peace process. The French Foreign Minister, Mr Hubert Védrine wants to recognise a Palestinian state and to encourage the Palestinan President, Mr Yasser Arafat, to call fresh elections for the Palestinian national assembly.
Under the French plan, which has the backing of the European Commission, Mr Arafat would campaign on a platform advocating peace and negotiations with Israel. A Commission spokesman said that the EU would make clear to the Palestinians that a victory for anti-peace parties would lead to the immediate withdrawal of EU aid.
Mr Cowen said that ideas were welcome and he stressed that the purpose of this weekend's meeting was to discuss proposals in an informal context.
But he said that he would have to hear more details of the French plan before he was convinced of its usefulness.
"Concepts are fine. I'd like to know how it is envisaged in a practical way," he said.
Germany is sympathetic to Mr Védrine's proposals but Berlin's Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, has indicated that he would prefer the Palestinians to hold a referendum on peace rather than to call elections.
The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi - who is also his country's foreign minister - wants to hold an international conference on the Middle East. But the United States, which is seen as a key player in any comprehensive settlement, has poured cold water on the Italian idea.
The ministers yesterday discussed the Commission's proposal for financing the EU's enlargement to include 10 new member-states. Germany is unhappy with a proposal to grant direct payments to farmers in the candidate countries.
For their part, the candidate countries are disappointed with the proposal to phase in the payments over 10 years, starting with 25 per cent of the EU level.
Mr Cowen said that the Commission's proposals took into account the interests of candidate countries while remaining within EU spending limits agreed in Berlin in 1995.
Mr Fischer said last night that, although reforming the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was not a condition for enlargement, it was a necessity for a larger union. But Mr Cowen insisted that next year's mid-term review of the CAP would not change the policy in a fundamental way and he warned that the issues of enlargement and CAP reform must not be linked.
Mr Cowen arrived late at the meeting after his aircraft was diverted due to fog. He missed a discussion of Spain's proposal to allow the EU to take charge of the NATO-led peace-keeping operation in Macedonia. The ministers approved the proposal in principle but most said that a number of issues remained to be resolved, including an agreement between NATO and the EU over the use of military assets.
Germany leads the mission under NATO auspices at present but the German deployment is due to end on March 26th. If the EU does take command of the operation, it is unlikely to do so before the end of the year.
Britain is understood to have questioned whether changing the flag from NATO to the EU would "add value" to the operation. The Netherlands suggested that the EU must finalise its agreement with NATO on using military assets before taking command of any operation.
German politicians are reluctant to reopen the debate in Parliament about Germany's involvement in Macedonia.
