EU congratulates Israel on its 60th anniversary

Hundreds of project proposals by Israeli researchers have received EU funding. srael is now close to being granted ‘special status’ within the EU's neighbourhood policy
 
The European Union on Thursday congratulated Israel on the 60th anniversary of its independence, with officials vowing to forge even closer ties with the Middle Eastern state.
 
European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, said in a statement that Israel's significance for Europeans went "beyond normal forms of cooperation with a close neighbour”.
 
The commission chief noted that the EU and Israel were already cooperating on a range of issues such as climate change, counter-terrorism "and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism”.
 
The EU is Israel's main trading partner and Israel is the only non-European country to participate in the EU's Research and Development programme, noted External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
 
“Hundreds of project proposals by Israeli researchers have received EU funding, for example developing innovative cancer diagnostic techniques, hydrogen cars, machine translation techniques. Israel is now close to being granted ‘special status’ within the EU's neighbourhood policy”, officials in Brussels said.
 
Such a special status might include deals in the area of air transport, higher education, trade in agricultural products and services, social security, customs, information society, environment as well as consumer protection."
 
“The EU and Israel are closer now than they were ever before," the commissioner said.