The EU has welcomed the democratic and fair conditions under which this week's elections were held in the Palestinian Authority (PA), but warned that a Hamas-led government must renounce violence and recognise Israel in order to maintain ties with Europe. At the same time, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that "we state we are happy to work with any government if that government is prepared to work by peaceful means".
Officially known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas won 76 of 132 seats in parliament, according to preliminary results.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said that the foreign ministers' council on 30 January will analyse the election results, and in light of that "the EU will express its views and prospects for co-operation".
The Austrian Presidency said in a statement that "there is no place in a political process for groups or individuals who advocate violence. The European Union urges all factions to disarm, renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist". In a similar vein, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that if the Hamas government "drives in the other direction and fails to renounce violence [...] they will face an appropriate response".
In the White House, US President George Bush said that "I have made it very clear [...] that a political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of a platform is a party with which we will not deal". The US lists Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that "if a government is led by or includes Hamas, the Palestinian Authority will turn into a terror organisation".
Leila Shahid, the PA's delegate-general to the EU, said that the Union's conditionalities in its relations with the PA should be the same as those with the other partners in the Mediterranean and with Israel.
EU Ambassador to Israel Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal told The Jerusalem Post that the Union will continue to "honour [its] financial commitment to the Palestinian Authority to the extent that Hamas will honour the political commitments to the European Union". The EU provided a total of 500 million euros in aid to the PA in 2005.
