All 27 heads of state and government of the European Union (EU) agreed on Thursday, December 14, to start accession negotiations for Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina to the EU, as far as they remain unable to to demand a ceasefire from Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Friday, the issue was actually raised by the Heads of State and Government on the second day of the European Council, but there was no question of publishing conclusions on this very sensitive discussion as disagreement remains the order of the day.
As Israeli operations against Hamas continue, causing thousands of Palestinian casualties, Europeans still refuse to unite in calling for an end to the bombings. “Europe's foreign policy is based on consensus, i.e. unanimity,” reminded Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar before the debate. Today a majority of European countries support a ceasefire in Gaza. But not all. There are still one or two countries that don't want this because they think it would prevent Israel from pursuing Hamas terrorists. I disagree with this interpretation. »
Therefore, a senior European official justifies: “We did not repeat a six-hour debate in Brussels, as on October 26 and 27 at the last European Council, while Europeans did not know how to vote in the same way at the United Nations.” [ONU] this week in New York on a resolution on a ceasefire request.”
“Strengthening convergence work”
The fact remains that “country positions have actually evolved since October,” says Mr Varadkar. At the end of October, European leaders spent hours agreeing on a joint text that called on Israel to organize a “pause” but not a ceasefire. On Tuesday, December 12, at a UN vote in New York, seventeen European countries supported a resolution calling for an end to the fighting, seven member states abstained, including Germany and Italy, and two opposed, Austria and the Czech Republic . In comparison, on October 27, when the United Nations was already voting on an earlier resolution, only eight people, including France, called for this ceasefire and four were against it, while the other countries abstained.
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“We are all moving forward in the same direction. I am pleased that the decision taken by France as one of the first countries to request a ceasefire is being followed by more and more partners,” comments Emmanuel Macron. “We need to strengthen convergence work,” argues Charles Michel, President of the European Council. However, the French President judges: “We must not make this an end in itself. What is most important to me is that we as Europeans have a very concrete response to coordination on security issues (…), humanitarian issues and working together on the two-state political solution.
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