BRUSSELS: Foreign Ministers representing the 15 member nations of the EU appear hesitant as to the level of support they plan bringing to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in his attempts to encourage them to take a firmer stand on his behalf.

French sources close to recent attempts in Paris at resurrecting the peace process indicate that Arafat has let it be known in recent weeks, in no uncertain terms, that he believes his life to be seriously in danger, indeed that Israel could very well further increase the methods of pressure brought to bear against the Palestinian authority. But, Europe seems convinced that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will continue to toe the line and not place in danger Arafat’s person.

What has been largely responsible for the hesitation expressed in recent days here on the part of Arafat’s traditional European allies has been the discrete visit earlier this month here, and the other major European capitals, of General Kuperweisser, an adviser to Sharon on military intelligence.

Another major factor behind the EU’s seeming inability to come strongly, as before, to the aide of Arafat, whose situation is otherwise perceived as “fragile” in the words to one European diplomatic official who was queried, is the apparent growing influence of Washington in the EU’s strategic orientations.

As for taking a stand that might be perceived as going against the interests of the US, Spain’s Javier Solana, who is presently in charge of diplomacy for the EU as a whole, has not hidden his desire to align the EU’s foreign policy on that of Washington, for fear that the EU cannot yet efficiently function on its own, at least in terms of diplomacy, and might best take a leaf from the United States and before adopting a foreign policy of its own, might seek out Washington’s position in the matter.

Still, there are those, notably in France and Germany, who are concerned that Europe’s attitude on the Middle East is completely ir-realistic. “It’s not only dangerous, also quite stupid,” notes Anna Lindh, Sweden’s foreign minister who has long supported a more independent European position with regard to the Middle East conflict in general, and Arafat’s situation in particular. As for her German counterpart Joschka Fischer, he speaks already of “a major tragedy being in the works,” if Europe does nothing to provide greater support to Arafat.