Europe

The first meeting since the outbreak of COVID-19 of the small group of the Constitutional Committee, held under the auspices of UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen in Geneva, is positive news.

The European Union encourages all the parties to seriously engage in good faith on the substance in order to pursue concrete results.

I take note of today’s announcement by the US regarding the so-called UN sanctions “snapback mechanism” under UN Security Council resolution 2231.

As I have repeatedly recalled, the US unilaterally ceased participation in the JCPOA by presidential Memorandum on 8 May 2018 and has subsequently not participated in any JCPOA-related activities. It cannot, therefore, be considered to be a JCPOA participant State for the purposes of possible sanctions snapback foreseen by the resolution.

High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell had a phone call on 17 August with the UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.

They discussed the welcomed normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE and High Representative/Vice-President Borrell reiterated the EU's position, in particular the EU's commitment to a negotiated and viable two-state solution and the need for a resumption of meaningful negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.