The future of European Union aid to the Palestinian people is up in the air.
The unexpected announcement made yesterday by the European Neighborhood Commissioner, Olivér Varhelyi, that Brussels would suspend “immediately all payments” of aid to the Palestinians caused unrest within the same institution and in some capitals, including Madrid , both to get ahead of the debate that the Foreign Ministers will hold today regarding the issue and also to include, apparently, humanitarian assistance. Due to the uproar and confusion created by Varhelyi, at the end of the day the European Commission corrected it and pointed out, diplomatically, that “since there are no planned payments, there will be no suspension” of any disbursements, and he clarified that humanitarian assistance is not questioned. But the debate is open.
Commissioner Varhelyi’s categorical announcement took place 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 a distinction been made between the items intended for development aid and those for humanitarian assistance. Nor among those aimed 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 happened,” said Varhelyi in a message on the X social network detailing that “all payments have been suspended immediately,” all projects have been “put under review” and “all new budget proposals, including this year’s, have been 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”, according to Varhelyi.
A few hours later, the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenar?i?, publicly disagreed with his colleague. “Despite the fact that I strongly condemn the terrorist attack by Hamas, it is imperative to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law”, he replied in another publication in which he assures that “humanitarian aid to Palestinians in need will continue all the time whatever is needed”. Varhelyi’s announcement actually went further than what the same institution had proposed a few hours earlier, when it reiterated that none of the aid is directed to Hamas and announced that it will “evaluate” whether it can be affected by the situation current
The statement published last night 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 the results as soon as possible .
Brussels 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 ECHO.
The announcement of the suspension of “all aid” to the Palestinians also took the capitals by surprise, which expected to debate both this and other issues at the extraordinary meeting of European foreign ministers called for today by the high representative of Politics Outside the EU, Josep Borrell.
The Spanish Government made its displeasure 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. At the same time, he proposed not to “rush”, while Ireland and Luxembourg questioned the legal basis of the decision.
A year and a half ago, Varhelyi caused a conflict with the Twenty-Seven with the 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 which had serious consequences in East Jerusalem hospitals and for the most vulnerable families.
Since its creation in 1993, the Palestinian Authority has depended on international aid to finance the salaries of officials, as well as running costs. The EU, the largest donor, contributes around 600 million euros each year. European sources believe that Varhelyi could go free, but that he was convinced that he had the support of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who on Saturday strongly condemned the attack by Hamas and went further than he marked the European position on the conflict when he said that “Israel has the right to defend itself, today and in the days to come”.
