The EU has been plunged into a diplomatic row after an announcement that it was to suspend “all payments” to Palestinians as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel led to clashes with several member states including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.
After six hours scrambling for an explanation, the European Commission appeared to backpedal on an announcement made by the commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, saying: “There will be no suspension of payments.” But it muddied the waters by saying there were “no payments foreseen”.
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell, who is in Oman for a summit with Gulf states, insisted humanitarian aid would not be suspended to Palestinians.
“The suspension of the payments – punishing all the Palestinian people – would have damaged the EU interests in the region and would have only further emboldened terrorists,” he said.
The row erupted after Várhelyi announced that “all payments [were] immediately suspended” and “all projects put under review” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday afternoon.
“There can be no basis for business as usual,” he said. “As the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, worth a total of €691m.”
The post caught member states by surprise with several questioning how humanitarian aid could be suspended just as Gaza was being cut off by Israel in a “complete siege”.
Ireland and Luxembourg questioned the statement, heaping embarrassment on commission officials who had indicated any decisions on funding would be taken at an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday.
“We have seen the tweet issued this afternoon by Commissioner Várhelyi … our understanding is that there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind by an individual commissioner and we do not expect a suspension of aid,” said a spokesperson for the foreign ministry in Dublin.
Madrid and Brussels also expressed reservations, with Belgium announcing development and humanitarian aid would continue. “It is important we do not act hastily,” it said.
A source at Spain’s exterior ministry said the decision by the commissioner “has caused uneasiness in the Spanish government”.
Its minister of foreign affairs, José Manuel Albares, phoned Várhelyi “to convey his disagreement with this decision” and asked for it to be put on the agenda at an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Oman on Tuesday.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, was asked if humanitarian funds from the Netherlands would be suspended.
“There’s no question of that at the moment,” Rutte said, adding that the EU did not finance Hamas in any case. “We really have to make the distinction between Hamas, the terror organisation, and very innocent Palestinians who are just as much victims right now, and again, in the case of Gaza, have been for 16 years. And have to live under the yoke of a terrible terrorist regime,” he said.
As hours elapsed with no explanation, another commissioner was forced to reassure critics that civilians in Gaza were not being abandoned in the face of an energy and food blockade by Israel. “EU humanitarian aid to Palestinians in need will continue as long as needed,” tweeted the commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarčič.
After six hours with no explanation for Várhelyi’s tweet, the EU finally issued a statement, confirming it was launching “an urgent review of the EU’s assistance for Palestine”. “The objective of this review is to ensure that no EU funding indirectly enables any terrorist organisation to carry out attacks against Israel,” it said.
It seemed to backpedal on Várhelyi’s declaration that funds would be frozen, but also said that in the meantime “there were no payments foreseen”, without offering any detail on which payments it was talking about.
Ireland said 80% of Palestinians relied on international assistance to survive, with €700m of humanitarian aid granted to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since 2000 throughthe European Commission’s humanitarian aid department (ECHO) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In its statement, the EU said ECHO funding would not be reviewed.
Várhelyi also left EU commission officials scrambling for answers having indicated earlier in the day that any decision on funding would be taken at the meeting of foreign ministers with Borrell in Oman.
The UK has said it will be reviewing funding to ensure no money goes to terrorists.
