Following days of confused and sometimes contradictory messaging about the European Union's stance on the spiralling Israel-Hamas war, EU leaders are struggling to rally around a clear and united statement on the conflict.
A video conference of EU leaders chaired by European Council President Charles Michel is due to take place at 1530 UT this Tuesday in a bid to supersede initial steps taken by the European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen, who has cultivated a profile as the "face" of the European Union, flew to Israel last Friday to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Europe backed Israel's right to defend itself.
However, her message was delivered without the caution being voiced by other Western leaders – and by the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell – that Israeli action must abide by international humanitarian law.
Several EU governments bristled at von der Leyen taking it on herself to wade into foreign policy matters, which are decided by member countries, without prior consultation and straying from their national positions.
According to one EU official, "Foreign affairs is a matter for member states, it is a matter for the [European] Council."
The scale of terror and brutality against #Israel and its people is a turning point.
— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) October 9, 2023
There can be no business as usual.
As the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, worth a total of EUR 691m
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The commission also took the same position with one of its own last week, notably Oliver Varhelyi, the commissioner responsible for relations with countries neighbouring the EU.
Varhelyi had taken it upon himself to announce that all disbursement of EU development aid to Palestinians had been frozen because of Hamas' 7 October attack on Israel.
The commission eventually corrected the announcement to say that it will see if payments for development projects in Palestinian territories "need to be adjusted" but that humanitarian aid was not affected.
'Source of annoyance'
After running into flak for her declarations in Israel, von der Leyen announced that the EU commission would triple its humanitarian aid to Palestinians to €75 million, upon her return to Brussels.
The impression left by uncoordinated, individual forays and U-turns is that the EU's stance on the conflict is chaotic and not worthy of a bloc that wants to project an image of geopolitical influence.
"This is a source of annoyance for member states," one EU diplomat told French news agency AFP.
The diplomat added that a meeting of EU foreign ministers last week should have set the tone for Brussels' public stance, especially the emphasis on referencing international humanitarian law, which also reflected the UN's position.
"But that was rendered unclear basically by the actions of the president of the commission," the diplomat said.
"I don't understand what the commission president has to do with EU foreign policy, which she is not in charge of," said French MEP Nathalie Loiseau.
There is no justification for Hamas’ heinous act of terror.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 15, 2023
Israel has the right to defend itself.
At the same time civilians in Gaza are also victims of Hamas.
This is why we are tripling our humanitarian aid for Palestinians in need. pic.twitter.com/x0zlUOKdb8
On Monday, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer sought to draw parallels between von der Leyen's trip to Ukraine, under attack from Russia, and her criticised voyage to Israel, during which she inspected the site of a Hamas massacre.
"I don't remember anybody having criticised the president for going to Ukraine after the outbreak of the war ... when she went to Bucha and she saw the body bags," he said.
"The president can travel wherever she wants."
Upcoming EU summit
This Tuesday's videoconference has been preceded by a statement from EU leaders on Sunday strongly condemning Hamas' "terrorist attacks" while also mentioning "the importance [of ensuring] the protection of all civilians at all times."
Both the statement and the meeting are an attempt "to bring things back on track so that the EU is speaking about the situation, and not speaking about the EU speaking about the situation," the diplomat said.
The videoconference – coming a week before leaders are to meet in person at a regular Brussels summit – aims to discuss various aspects and implications of the conflict, not least on diplomatic efforts to prevent it escalating into a regional conflagration.
Statement of the Members of the European Council on the situation in the Middle Easthttps://t.co/MuoVGRH0y2 pic.twitter.com/GLGV1IM9uF
— Émilie Vanderhulst 🌻 🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@BirdingBrussels) October 15, 2023
The issue has exposed public fault-lines among European countries have over the conflict, and the effects of migrants and refugees flowing from the conflict zones to nearby countries and to Europe are on the agenda.
Hamas, a Palestinian militant group backed by Iran, sent fighters through the Gaza Strip's heavily militarised border, killing more than 1,400 people in nearby Israeli towns, kibbutzim and at a rave party, most of them civilians.
They also took nearly 200 hostages, according to Israel.
Israel has responded by declaring war on Hamas, and has been relentlessly bombing Gaza, killing around 2,750 people.
Israeli forces are massed along the border with Gaza for what appears to be an imminent ground invasion.
