BICOM

Israel’s President Shimon Peres will today depart for a week-long trip to Europe, during which he will address diplomatic, economic and security issues with senior European leaders, and become only the second Israeli president to address the European parliament.

A statement from Israel’s foreign ministry said that the visit will aim to strengthen the strategic relationship between Israel and the European Union (EU) and that Peres is expected to raise a variety of issues including the Iranian nuclear threat, Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons, the related danger of arms smuggling into Lebanon and the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Another topic high on the agenda will be the consequences of a Bulgarian investigation into a bus bombing in the Black Sea resort of Burgas last summer. The Bulgarian probe recently concluded that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack which killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian. The EU has so far refrained from designating Hezbollah a terrorist entity, a move which would seriously hamper the organisation’s fundraising capacity in Europe.

During his trip, Peres will travel to Brussels, Paris and Strasbourg. He will meet with heads of state including French President Francois Hollande, the Belgian Prime Minister of Elio Di Rupo and Bulgaria’s President Rosen Plevneliev. Peres will also sit with senior EU leaders including President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.

In addition, Peres will deliver an historic address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where he will become only the second Israeli President to do so. Chaim Herzog was the first in 1984, but the EU has since then grown from ten to twenty seven member states.