EU summit in times of uncertainty

2023-10-26 08:33:36, Kosova & Bota CNA

View from the summit of EU leaders in Granada, 05.10.2023

"Our meeting takes place at a time of great global instability and uncertainty, which recently became even more severe with the developments in the Middle East", writes the president of the European Council in the letter of invitation for this meeting. With this formulation, Charles Michel sets the tone for the meeting of the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union on Thursday (26.10.2023) in Brussels.

The dominant theme of the summit is the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip. After the terrorist attack by the Islamist militants of Hamas on Israel on October 7, the heads of government and state of the member countries declared that the country has the right to defend itself, "in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law against such violent attacks and arbitrary".

Many countries, mainly Western ones, classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. In 2006 it emerged from the elections as the largest force in the Palestinian parliament. Since 2007, she has governed without other democratic mandates in the Gaza Strip.

No unanimity for the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip

The EU member states are less unanimous on the issue of declaring a "ceasefire" or rather a "humanitarian ceasefire", as was revealed during the meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. Some countries, such as Spain, Ireland and Slovenia supported this request formulated for the first time by the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres.

Other countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria expressed their opposition. These countries fear that such requests can be evaluated as interference in the right of self-defense of the state of Israel. Now the heads of states and governments must find a common position.

German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock

Wording issues

A new variant of the concept was suggested by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a debate at the UN Security Council. A "humanitarian window" is needed, she said. According to a post by the minister on the X platform (formerly Twitter) these are necessary so that international aid can reach the civilian population in Gaza. Likewise, there have been "humanitarian pauses" in recent days.

A compromise could be the term "pause" in the plural, as used in the German minister's post, writes the DPA news agency. With this, it can be made clear that the EU does not demand that the war against Hamas be stopped.

Even a high-level diplomat said on the eve of the meeting that there is movement towards reaching a consensus on the demand for a "pause" - as opposed to a ceasefire. Another EU diplomat said that every word has weight, especially when it comes to humanitarian access to help people in need.

Support for Ukraine discussion topic

Support for Ukraine is also a topic of the EU summit. For this reason, there will be a link through the video conference of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.

According to Charles Michel, it will mainly be discussed about a faster action for military aid as well as the issue of how the Russian wealth located in Europe can be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The heads of member states will also discuss financial guarantees for Ukraine for the coming years.

EU Council President Charles Michel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Permanent topic

Migration will also be a topic of discussion at the summit of the 27 heads of the EU in Brussels. According to Charles Michel, the steps taken at the previous summit in Granada will be reviewed. At this summit there was a strong argument on the subject of migration.

Also on the agenda will be the relations between Kosovo and Serbia, the situation in the Sahel as well as in the South Caucasus./ DW