mr president the wind of change blowing through the middle east promised democratisation and no true democrat can deny that the people of egypt tunisia and now libya deserve both freedom and democracy
i can also fully agree with the high representative that these events rather than being a distraction demand a refocusing of our attention on the peace process
in recent visits to the area i found an understandably nervous israeli people
past experiences have seen political vacuums filled by hamas and hezbollah
in this situation we must consider how best we can help both in the peace process and in the stability of the region
recognition of israel's need for security and the validity of agreements with neighbouring countries are important cornerstones
we must also admit that the neighbourhood policy has failed
we currently spend eur one point five billion per year on this policy
we must assess the tangible benefits of this
if we consider egypt where tens of thousands of people are added to the labour market each year with no economic future and no hope perhaps we should realistically acknowledge that the seeds of further revolution are already there
