Remarks by High Representative/Vice - President Federica Mogherini ahead of the meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

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Thank you, my friend, for being here. I invited President Abbas to join me for a meeting tonight, very shortly after our last meeting. We met less than a month ago in New York at the margins of the UN General Assembly, to discuss together the ways in which the European Union can contribute to de-escalation of the violence that we are seeing in this moment in the Middle East.

I have had similar talks in the last days with Prime Minister Netanyahu and we had on Friday a meeting of the Quartet, to try contribute, from the international community side, to invite everybody to act in a responsible way and to try to preserve or to restore calm and especially with the view to the status quo in the holy sites. This is something that I know is very important for all, not only for the Palestinian people, but for the world.
Let me also say that I am very grateful and very supportive of the efforts that [US Secretary of State] John Kerry has been carrying on in these last days, especially in Jordan. I am always in contact with our Jordanian counterparts and friends to support their role on the status quo of the holy sites.

But with President Abbas, with my good friend, we will discuss much more than this tonight. Because last time we met in New York we discussed the ways in which the international community can support the political process. And whenever I say the political process, or the peace process, I feel myself a certain degree of frustration, so I can imagine yours. Because the process for the sake of the process is not what we are looking for. What we are looking for is steps, concrete steps on the ground, including difficult ones, that can improve the life of Palestinian people, that can strengthen the Palestinian authority, not only on the economic field, but also on security and on the political field.

And to have what we would call some deliverables of the process itself, not a process for the sake of the process. On the other side, something that can guarantee more security for the Israeli people. Something that can translate into the everyday life of ordinary people on the ground. This is what we have been discussing together the last time we met. This is what the European Union proposed to the Quartet to focus on, in particular, starting with implementation of steps that are consistent with prior agreements.

Tonight I think that with President Abbas we will concentrate also on this. How, while calming down the security situation on the ground and exercising leadership, we can together work to have a political process leading somewhere. And that somewhere, we know very well, is the two state solution. We have to have the political horizon preserved, the situation on the ground improved security-wise, and in the meantime, concrete steps that can improve the life of the people on an everyday basis.

This is the agenda for tonight and let me thank you very much for accepting my invitation, I am honoured to be here with you. I was enjoying your hospitality several times in Ramallah. Our hospitality might be a little bit less warm than yours, but I hope that we can reciprocate in this way, especially as we are living in difficult times, we have so many things to discuss together and to do together in the future.

Thank you.

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