The future of European Union aid to the Palestinian people is up in the air. The unexpected announcement made early this Monday afternoon by the European Neighborhood Commissioner, Oliver Varhelyi, that Brussels was going to suspend “immediately all payments” of aid to the Palestinians caused discomfort within the institution itself and in some capitals, Madrid among them, both for anticipating the debate that the Foreign Ministers will hold today on the matter and for apparently also including humanitarian assistance.
Given the commotion and confusion created by Varhelyi, at the end of the day, the European Commission corrected him by diplomatically stating in a press release published at eight in the afternoon that "as there are no planned payments, there will be no suspension ” of any disbursement and clarify that humanitarian assistance is not questioned. But the debate is open.
Commissioner Varhelyi's categorical announcement came shortly after the governments of Germany and Austria decided “in solidarity” with Israel to suspend all aid to the Palestinian people. In none of the cases has there been a differentiation between the items destined for development aid and those for humanitarian assistance. Nor among those directed at Gaza or the West Bank, a territory not controlled by Hamas.
“The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point. We cannot continue as if nothing had happened,” Varhelyi said in a message on the social network , including this year's, postponed until further notice." The total amount of aid affected, including some already budgeted for this year, amounts to 691 million and will be reviewed “thoroughly”, in accordance with what was announced by the Hungarian commissioner.
A few hours later, Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, publicly disagreed with his colleague. “Although I firmly condemn the terrorist attack by Hamas, it is imperative to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law,” he replied in another post in which he assured that “humanitarian aid to Palestinians in need will continue as long as do missing". Varhelyi's announcement actually went further than what was proposed by the institution itself a few hours earlier, when he reiterated that none of his aid is going to Hamas and announced that he will "evaluate" whether it may be affected by the current situation.
The statement finally published by the European Commission reiterates that it will carry out “an urgent review” of European aid to Palestine to ensure that it does not end up in the hands of the Islamist group and will publish its results as quickly as possible. After five hours of confusion and speculation, Brussels has finally made an important clarification: this exercise will not affect the humanitarian aid that the EU offers to the Palestinians through a separate budget item managed by the ECHO agency. The EU's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, who had remained silent throughout the afternoon, tweeted that the suspension of payments would punish "the entire Palestinian people" and "would have damaged the EU's interests in the region." and strengthened the terrorists.
The announcement of the supposed suspension of “all aid” to the Palestinians has also caught the capitals by surprise, which were hoping to debate this and other issues at the extraordinary meeting of European foreign ministers called for tomorrow by the high representative of Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell. The Spanish Government has made its discomfort known to Varhelyi through a call from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who conveyed his disagreement with the measure, ministerial sources explained. In parallel, Belgium has advocated not “rushing” while Ireland and Luxembourg have questioned whether there was a legal basis for the Commission to make such a decision.
A year and a half ago, Varhelyi provoked a conflict with the Twenty-Seven with his decision to suspend 224.8 million euros of European aid to the Palestinian Authority due to the alleged anti-Semitic nature of its textbooks, a blockade that had serious consequences in Jerusalem hospitals. This and in the most vulnerable families. Since its creation in 1993, the Palestinian Authority has depended on international aid to finance the salaries of its officials as well as its current expenses. The EU, its largest donor, contributes around €600 million a year.
Although Varhelyi had gone it alone, in the sense of not waiting for the debate of the European foreign ministers tomorrow, he had hardly taken this step without the endorsement of the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, European sources suggest. Internally it is interpreted as a "political signal" about what the European position will be in this new phase of the conflict, although in view of the reactions raised this may be more nuanced. Since the weekend the headquarters of the European Commission, the Berlaymont building, has been illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag. Von der Leyen strongly condemned the Hamas attack and went further than the European position on the conflict by saying that "Israel has the right to defend itself, today and in the days to come."
