EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission has approved agreements with seven of its neighbours, in a bid to spread stability on the EU’s borders.

The Commission met on Thursday and approved wide-ranging deals with Israel, Ukraine, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

"[The deals] will prevent a new dividing line being drawn across Europe after enlargement", External Relations Commission Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Journalists on Thursday (9 December).

In spite of the turbulence in Ukraine the commission approved the "joint action plan" with the country, however diplomats say that implementation will have to wait until there is more stability.

This also leaves the door open for broadening the agreement with a new Ukrainian government.

Delay
Disagreement over the scope of EU-Israel talks on WMD held up all seven ‘action plans ’ for weeks.

However, the Israeli government on Wednesday (8 December) approved the EU-Israel action plan, committing Israel to talks on its adherence to international non-proliferation norms, breaking a long-standing taboo in Israeli politics.

The deal was held up for over Israeli acceptance of "two and a half words", according to diplomats.

One EU diplomat said: "The words might not seem like much but to non-proliferation experts they are very important", explaining that the exact terms will dictate how non-proliferation talks proceed.

Israel is suspected of having between 100-200 nuclear weapons and much of its nuclear programme remains beyond International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

One of the key points of the EU’s Security Strategy is to combat proliferation of WMD.

Although Israel is not signed up to international non-proliferation treaty diplomats hope that the EU-Israel dialogue help EU attempts to slow and eventually reverse proliferation in the Middle East.

Shadow talks
"One of the things in the last year that has been interesting is that Israel has been stressing the way it implements international norms in its own legislation", says Ian Anthony, an expert on the EU non-proliferation policy at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, described the move as a significant one.

"It would be a break in past practice", he said speaking before the formal adoption of the plans.

Although Israel has effective export controls, other aspects of the talks may prove difficult, "They will have to dance around their own nuclear programmes", he said.

Implementation
Foreign Ministers are expected to approve the deals on Monday when they meet in Brussels.

The deals will then be formally adopted at bilateral meetings with the countries concerned.

Talks on expanding the policy to cover Egypt, Lebanon Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia will begin in February.

Brussels approves 'neighbourhood' deals