Fresh impetus for the Fahd Plan

More than a year ago the European Economic Community produced its "Venice Declaration" on the Middle East in which the community supported the principle of Palestinian self-determination and required its members to play a "special role" in the region. Since then what became known as the European initiative has made little progress and showed few signs of achieving positive results. Now some fresh impetus has been given to the initiative by the EEC Foreign Ministers' decision to send Lord Carrington, the British Foreign Secretary and current president of the EEC to Riyadh for discussions on Prince Fahd's eight-point proposal for a Middle East peace settlement.