RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Europe is ready to do everything possible to help realise the dream of Middle East peace, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after meeting the incoming Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

"I met with the future president of the Palestinian Authority  and congratulated him," Solana told reporters Monday, a day after Abbas' landslide victory in the contest to replace the late Yasser Arafat .

"The Palestinian people have a very important leader in the new president. You can be sure that the European communities will help you in every respect -- politically, economically, with security or whatever you need.
 

"We have a new opportunity now, an avenue of optimism, an avenue to work together to make the dream of so many people into a reality. The dream can be true and can be realised. Whatever we can do for that, we will do."
 

The European Union  is one of the four sponsors of the troubled roadmap peace plan, which targets the creation of an independent Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel, but has made little progress since its 2003 launch.
 

Solana was critical of Arafat's stewardship of the Palestinian Authority and urged him to yield power to his prime minister Ahmed Qorei.
 

He has also clashed with the Israeli leadership which has accused the EU of being biased towards the Palestinians.
 

Solana, who is expected in Israel later in the week, said that the peaceful election augured well for the future.
 

"I have been meeting with Israelis and Palestinians for a long period of time and I can say that this is a very happy day, as I'm sure it is for all Palestinians," said the Spanish diplomat.
 
 

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