THERE was bitter disappointment in Brussels over the end of the ceasefire, but sources close to the Commission say that they do not believe that the London bombing would put in jeopardy the EU's peace package for the North, Patrick Smyth reports.
The £240 million three year special aid package was the product of an initiative of the former Commission President, Mr Jacques Delors, in the wake of the ceasefire. The cross Border peace package was targeted primarily at projects involving work on social exclusion and employment generation.
Senior sources say that the Commissioner for Regional Affairs, Ms Monika Wulf Mathies, was likely to argue for continuing support.
British parliamentarians who met Ms Wulf Mathies recently asked about the possible effects of a resumption of violence. She is understood to have said that the funding was aimed at supporting the whole peace process and was not conditional.
Continuing violence might, however, jeopardise funding for, an extension to the package beyond 1997, one source said.