THE Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said yesterday that the Israeli Palestinian agreement on Hebron was a major step towards implementing the Oslo peace accords.
Mr Spring, a member of the EU's fact finding Middle East troika, said in a statement: "I sincerely hope that it will help Israelis and Palestinians re establish the trust and co operation that are necessary to strengthen and further advance the implementation of their peace agreements."
Mr Spring has visited the Middle East several times, including a trip last year when Ireland held the EU presidency, to secure a bigger role for the EU in overseeing peace efforts.
In Paris, the French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, said the EU's special envoy to the region, Mr Miguel Angel Moratinos, had played a role in brokering the deal and that the EU would for the first time be involved in its implementation.
President Chirac said the EU and France were ready to contribute to building Arab Israeli peace in close co ordination with the US.
Mr Charette said he was "delighted that for the first time, the request of the protagonists themselves, the European Union will have a role to play in implementing the accord".