After days of confusion, squabbling, and contradictory messages, European Union officials want to agree on a unified strategy for the crisis brought on by Tuesday’s Hamas attack on Israel. The European Council, which brings together the leaders of the EU’s 27 member nations, will discuss potential serious ramifications for the continent emerging from the situation in an emergency video conference at 1530 GMT.
While the EU and its member states unanimously denounced the Hamas attack from Gaza, which claimed the lives of about 1,300 Israelis, they disagreed on key political stances and their consequences for policy.
Old disagreements within the EU about the Middle East have come to light thanks to the chaos, which has also highlighted how severely constrained its power is.
Additionally, it has weakened the EU’s demands that it be considered a significant global actor in its own right.
The EU’s 27 national leaders will meet virtually on Tuesday to seize solid control of the crisis response following unease among some of them over how European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen conducted herself.
In a letter inviting leaders to the conference, European Council President Charles Michel stated that it was “of the utmost importance that the European Council… sets our common position and establishes a clear unified course of action that reflects the complexity of the unfolding situation.”
When one of its members posted on social media last week that all EU development funding to Palestinians had been halted, Von der Leyen’s Commission, the EU’s executive body, was confused, retracting the statement.
Von der Leyen, who visited Israel on Friday, was also attacked by some officials and parliamentarians for not saying, as other EU leaders did, that the EU expects Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law in its reaction to the attack.
At the weekend, Von der Leyen openly declared his stance for the first time.
Insisting that von der Leyen had previously informally sent the message to Israeli leaders, commission representatives have defended her quick trip to Israel as a crucial act of solidarity.
POSSIBLE FALLOUT
The leaders will concentrate on mitigating the crisis’s possible effects during their video chat because an Israeli attack on Gaza is generally anticipated to happen soon.
Israel completely cut off Gaza and bombarded it with unheard-of airstrikes. According to the Gazan authorities, at least 2,750 people have died there. According to officials, the EU leaders would assign ministers the duty of more thoroughly examining potential hazards.
“The battle may have significant effects on our societies’ security. If we are careless, it might increase tensions between groups and fuel extremism, according to Michel’s letter.
He also mentioned the likelihood of several Palestinians escaping into nearby nations that currently host many refugees.
“If not handled carefully, there is a risk of onward migratory waves to Europe,” he stated. However, experts and diplomats claim that the EU’s main issue is limited influence over important actors.
We have returned to the fundamentals in the Middle East: the U.S.A. is the only superpower with all the trump cards and aces. Others are merely followers,” a diplomat from Europe claimed. “It is not Europe playing a major role in this conflict.”
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