Ursula von der Leyen's incursion into the foreign policy of the European Union - a competence in the hands of the Council, of the governments, not of the institution she chairs, the European Commission - has caused deep discomfort in the European capitals, which yesterday they hurried to make clear their position in the Middle East conflict and called for restraint from Israel in its response to the attacks by Hamas.
"The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel and deplores the loss of life. There is no justification for terror", says the statement published yesterday by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. The text adds an important element of the common European position which, however, has been absent in the messages launched by Von der Leyen from Brussels and Tel-Aviv. "We strongly emphasize Israel's right to defend itself in line with international and humanitarian law" and "reiterate the importance of ensuring the protection of all civilians at all times, in line with humanitarian law."
The Twenty-Seven declaration, which demands Hamas release all hostages and reiterates its readiness to continue delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, something Brussels questioned on Monday, comes after intense week of consultations between the capitals that highlighted the need to clarify the EU's position to the world, more nuanced than that expressed in the statements by Von der Leyen and, to a lesser extent, by Roberta Metsola, president of the Eurochamber, which also traveled to Israel on Friday to express its support for the Hebrew State.
Charles Michel convened an extraordinary telematic European Council before last night to "fix" the common position and assess the consequences of the war between Israel and Hamas for the EU both in terms of security ("If not let's be careful, it has the potential to exacerbate tensions between communities and fuel extremism", he warns in his letter of invitation) as migratory, since it is not ruled out that it will cause movements of people in the region that lead to "future waves" of refugees in Europe.
Twenty-four hours later, after consulting the capitals and contacting the ambassadors of several Arab countries to try to reassure them about the "confusion" created ("They are perplexed", say diplomatic sources), he left choose not to wait, put the European position in black and white and mark a distance from the categorical words of the German people. "We cannot take sides. We must be able to continue to be an actor and an interlocutor in the conflict", defend these sources.
Condemning the Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people on October 7, Von der Leyen said the EU would support Israel's right "in the days and weeks to come" and -contrary to what was reiterated by the European Foreign Ministers on Tuesday and defended by Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU's Foreign Policy- he did not make it clear that his response must respect humanitarian law.
"I am sure that Israel's response will show that it is a democracy," the conservative German simply said in Tel Aviv, where she arrived to coincide with the preparations for the ground offensive in Gaza. A few hours later, he gave signs that he had caught the Council's discomfort with his action - much criticized for example in Ireland, a neutral country - and, after speaking with the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, he announced that the Commission will triple humanitarian aid to Palestine.
The declaration of the Twenty-seven and the letter of invitation to Michel's summit are a full-fledged corrective to Von der Leyen. Her skids in foreign policy, a competence of the Council that some countries believe she has also invaded with the signing of an agreement with Tunisia, are unexpectedly complicating the final stretch of her applauded mandate as president of the Commission.
