SALZBURG, Austria, March 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Decisions are yet to bemade over the European Union's (EU's) aid to a new Hamas-led Palestinian government, said EU officials on Friday.

    "We have taken no decisions on aid to the future Palestinian Authority. We will clearly review this question when we know the new positions of the Palestinian Authority government on the crucial issues," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters.

    The militant group Hamas, which surprisingly won the Palestinian legislative elections in January, is set to form a government in two weeks' time.

    "We have to look at how we can really support the Palestinian people and at the same time keep the pressure on the new government to move in the good direction," she said after EU foreign ministers held their first day of discussions in the Austrian city.

    The EU admitted that it has been put in a difficult situation by the electoral victory of Hamas.

    "Following Hamas' victory in elections, we are all confronted with a new and difficult situation. This requires careful political evaluation," Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik told reporters. Her country holds the EU presidency.

    "In this situation, there is no business as usual," she said.

    The EU ministers decided in February to release aid worth 120 million euros (145 million U.S. dollars) to the Palestinian Authority as emergency funding. But they have made it clear that the money must be spent by the time a Hamas-led government is formed.

    EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the Mideast Quartet-- the EU, Russia, UN and the United States -- will meet next week to discuss how to make sure the Palestinian people will not suffer. But none of the EU officials would elaborate on what kind of measures will be worked out.

    "So there might be some delicate questions ahead," said Ferrero-Waldner. "But there is no need to put the cart before the horse. Let us therefore wait until the new (Hamas-led) government is formed and not try to guess what situation we will find ourselves in."

    The EU repeated its position that it would continue to support the Palestinian people.

    "Those forming the new government need of course to know their decisions will have consequences. But we also need to be aware that too our decisions will have consequences on the lives of the Palestinians and on how we are perceived in the Arab world," said Ferrero-Waldner.

    She said the Hamas-led government has to respond to EU's principles that Hamas has to recognize Israel, recognize and respect existing agreements and renounce violence.

    Hamas, which is on EU' list of terrorist organizations, has so far refused to recognize the state of Israel, which it says must be destroyed. Enditem