EU to urgently audit all aid to Palestine, but does not freeze funds

The European Commission announced this Monday the immediate review of all EU development aid to Palestine, almost 700 million euros. An additional audit to ensure how these funds are being used, in case a portion may have been used, directly or indirectly, to finance the activities of Hamas or any group that may provide support to it.. This measure (which according to Ursula von der Leyen's team does not imply the suspension of any disbursement, as there are none planned in the short term), as well as the general position of the Union after the murder of more than 800 Israelis, will be addressed by the foreign ministers of the 27, who will meet urgently this Tuesday by videoconference after being summoned by the high representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.

What happened this Monday reflects a practically unprecedented situation, in which community leaders or commissioners flying the solo are rewriting or trying to rewrite on the fly Europe's worldview on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, as well as altering the economic ties between the institutions. and the programs that in theory finance schools, hospitals, the payment of civil servants, pensions and all types of expenses in Gaza and the West Bank, after the massive and bloody attack over the weekend.

The controversy was started by Hungarian commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, one of the most controversial politicians and without a doubt the most pro-Israeli commissioner and critical of the Palestinian authorities.. He did so with a message, that of the immediate suspension of development funds, which managed to penetrate public opinion and with which he wanted to force the helm of the entire Commission in one of the most critical moments.. After hours of criticism, protests from half a dozen national governments, indignation on the part of NGOs and a great debate in public opinion, the European Commission looked for a formula to reverse, minimize the announcement, emphasize that there will be no freezing of funds and not a euro of humanitarian aid will be touched, but there will be a thorough examination of each item, to ensure that no spurious use is made or that it could contribute to the coffers of terrorist groups.

“The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point. Things cannot continue as if nothing had happened. As the largest donor to the Palestinians, the European Commission is reviewing its entire development portfolio, worth a total of €691 million. All payments are suspended immediately. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals paralyzed, including those for 2023, postponed until further notice. There will be a comprehensive evaluation of the entire package,” the head of Neighborhood and Enlargement, who is Viktor Orban's man in the institutions, announced in a thread on X, formerly Twitter.. His announcement came after Germany and Austria announced the interruption of bilateral aid to Palestine, which amounts to almost 150 million euros.

Rectification and public humiliation

The problem is that hours later, and from the same platform, his colleague Janec Lenarcic, responsible for Crisis Management and Humanitarian Aid, reacted and contradicted him, or qualified him.. “I strongly condemn the terrorist attack by Hamas but it is imperative to protect civilians and respect International Law. “EU humanitarian aid to the most needy Palestinians will continue as long as it is needed,” said the Slovenian.

Shortly after, an official statement tried to put out the fire, but leaving many doubts. “The Commission unequivocally condemns the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel over the weekend. Following these events, the Commission announces today that it will launch an urgent review of EU aid to Palestine. In addition to existing safeguards, the aim of this review is to ensure that no EU funding indirectly enables any terrorist organization to carry out attacks against Israel,” the text says.

The Commission will also examine whether, in light of the changed circumstances on the ground, “it is necessary to adjust its support programs for the Palestinian population and the Palestinian Authority.”. Pulling back after snubbing national governments, Von der Leyen is forced to go further and clarifies that she will “carry out this review as soon as possible and coordinate with Member States and partners any necessary follow-up action.”. Meanwhile, since there are no planned payments, there will be no suspension of payments.”

A somewhat cryptic last sentence that does not clarify when the next payment is scheduled, what it would mean if that review is not completed by then or what I would have done if I had that obligation. Nor does it clarify why the commissioner's entire previous statement is practically discredited, since he announced a freeze with immediate effect.. The Commission emphasizes in its statement that the review of the programs “does not refer to humanitarian assistance provided within the framework of European Civil Protection”. But by then, millions of people had understood that all aid, including humanitarian aid, was suspended.

The chaos was absolute and Von der Leyen's teams were overwhelmed. They received public complaints from the governments of Ireland or Luxembourg, which discussed the legal basis for the commissioner, alone, to approve a freeze of that magnitude, despite the fact that months before he himself had long blocked another batch of more than 200 millions. Spain also joined, which this semester holds the presidency of the EU Council. “The decision of Commissioner Olivér Varhely on the suspension by the EU of cooperation to Palestine has caused discomfort in the Spanish Government. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has had a telephone conversation with the commissioner to convey his disagreement with this decision, which the Foreign Ministers were not aware of and has requested the high representative, Josep Borrell, to measure be included as an item on the agenda at tomorrow's extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council,” explain sources from the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

Improvise on the fly

In recent hours, the European Union has been rewriting or improvising on the fly, in the heat, without internal debate and giving a twist to decades of a very delicate and measured policy, its relationship with respect to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.. The official position is that of support for the two-state solution. There is diplomatic representation in Israel and many humanitarian and development aid programs for Palestine.. The last few years have been very tense, with all kinds of clashes between the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the community authorities, but the savage terrorist act over the weekend, which has left hundreds of dead and thousands injured, has provoked a reaction almost without precedents.

It has not only been the messages of condemnation and support, but the language, the implications and some facts. All institutions, even the European Central Bank, have come out en masse to condemn. The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, has been criticized by those who believe that she is giving Netanyahu carte blanche to do what he considers necessary and deviating from the repeated conclusions of the European Council on the matter.. “Today, Hamas terrorists have attacked the heart of Israel by kidnapping and killing innocent women and children. Israel has the right to defend itself, today and in the days to come. The European Union supports Israel,” he stated in one of the messages.. “The full magnitude of the brutality of the Hamas terrorist attack leaves us breathless. Defenseless people, brutally murdered in cold blood in the streets. We stand firm with Israel and its people. Today the flags of the EU and Israel fly side by side,” he added alongside an image of the main Commission building with a huge Israeli flag on its façade.

The focus is on the expression “right to defend oneself, today in the coming days”. Its chief spokesman, asked this Monday about the scope of this right to self-defense, said that it is up to the Israeli Government to determine what the appropriate means are.. “We don't know who is speaking, whether the president of the European Commission, the candidate to be the next secretary general of NATO or the former German defense minister,” explains a continental diplomat critically.

Something similar occurs with the decision announced by the Hungarian commissioner, who according to several community sources has acted practically on his own, trying to set the course for his own agenda.. “The Commission is currently analyzing how the tragic events affect the present and future development aid” that Brussels provides to Palestine to finance “essential services” of a social or health nature or democracy promotion projects,” explained the community spokesperson for Humanitarian Aid, Ana Pisonero. “The European Union closely controls who the beneficiaries of its financial aid are,” the spokesperson added, and does not finance “neither directly nor indirectly” any group or person linked to organizations designated as terrorists in the EU such as Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad for the EU.

Varhelyi had been trying this for a long time. In June 2022, Von der Leyen announced the unlocking of 214 million euros for the Palestinian authority after the commissioner had frozen them for more than a year, by trying to condition the disbursement on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) changing the content of Palestinian textbooks for considering that they include anti-Semitic content. For the period 2020-2024, the Union had budgeted more than 1 billion euros in aid for medical, educational, cultural or business projects.