France is to speed up the "roadmap" peace plan and start without delay discussions on Palestinian territories' final status, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said on Monday.

"The Europeans are united and available to go with the peace process and not only with the money", Barnier said in an interview with French daily Le Parisien.

"Beyond the disengagement of Gaza, France suggests to speed up the agenda scheduled by the roadmap (peace plan of the Quartet: the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Russia), start without delay the discussions on the final status and limit the transition periods," Barnier said.

France hopes that "the international conference initiated long before by France, should be held rapidly to benefit from the "window of opportunity'," he added.

The French foreign minister, who is to visit Washington Wednesday for his first bilateral visit since his nomination on March 31, reaffirmed that the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the "test" of a restarting of the transatlantic ties.

"For me, the test is the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...It's at the core of the restarted transatlantic dialogue," he said.

Source: xinhua