EU leaders to focus on fallout of Hamas attack on Israel at emergency meeting

BRUSSELS - European Union leaders aimed on Tuesday to settle on a united approach to the crisis triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel, after days of confusion, infighting and mixed messaging.

The leaders are meeting in an emergency video conference at 1530 GMT (11.30pm Singapore time).

It will be chaired by Mr Charles Michel, president of the European Council, which brings together the leaders of the EU's 27 member countries.

The conference will seek to supersede initial steps taken by the European Commission and its chief, Dr Ursula von der Leyen.

Dr von der Leyen has cultivated a profile as the “face” of the EU.

Last Friday, she flew to Israel to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Europe backed Israel’s right to defend itself.

But that message was delivered without the caution being voiced by other Western leaders, and by the EU’s own top foreign policy official Josep Borrell.

And that is that Israeli action must abide by international humanitarian law.

Several EU governments bristled at Dr von der Leyen taking it upon herself to wade into foreign policy matters, which are decided by member countries, without prior consultation and straying from their national positions.

“Foreign affairs is a matter for member states, it is a matter for the (European) Council,” an EU official said.

The commission aimed the same allegation of non-coordination at one of its own last week: Mr Oliver Varhelyi, the commissioner responsible for relations with countries neighbouring the EU.

Mr Varhelyi had gone it alone to announce that all disbursement of EU development aid to Palestinians had been frozen because of Hamas’ attack in Israel on Oct 7.

After a disconcerted pause, the commission corrected that to say it would see if payments for development projects in the Palestinian Territories “need to be adjusted”, but that humanitarian aid was not affected.

The disarray has exposed old divisions within the EU on the Middle East and underscored the severe limits of its influence in the region.

It has also undermined the EU’s calls to be treated as a major geopolitical player in its own right.

Potential fallout

In their video conference, the leaders will focus on trying to mitigate the potential fallout from the crisis, with an Israeli assault on Gaza widely expected to be imminent.

Hamas’ attack in southern Israel killed more than 1,400 people.

In retaliation, Israel has put Gaza under a total blockade and pounded it with unprecedented air strikes as it vowed to annihilate Hamas.

The Gaza authorities say the Israeli military action has killed at least 2,800 people in the enclave.

The EU leaders are likely to task ministers with exploring potential risks in more detail, according to officials.

“The conflict could have major security consequences for our societies. If we are not careful, it has the potential to exacerbate tensions between communities and feed extremism,” Mr Michel said in a letter inviting the leaders to attend the meeting.

He also cited the possibility of many Palestinians fleeing into neighbouring countries that already host many refugees.

“If not handled carefully, there is a risk of onward migratory waves to Europe,” he said.

But the big problem for the EU, analysts and diplomats say, is that the bloc has little leverage with key players.

“In the Middle East, we are back to basics: One superpower holds all the trump cards and the aces – the US. Others are just followers,” said one European diplomat. “It is not Europe that is playing a major role in this conflict.” REUTERS, AFP