The situation between Israel and Palestine has directly affected the EU for obvious reasons. In a multipolar world it is difficult to get out of these situations, but there has also been a small fire in Brussels in the last few hours.. And the one who started it was Oliver Varhelyi, the commissioner in charge of the Neighborhood, who announced already in the morning that all aid to the development of the Union for Palestine was suspended: a total amount of around 700 million euros. Since then, the leader was in the spotlight and had to be qualified by his colleagues until the final statement from the Community Executive.

But who is Oliver Varhelyi? He is the Hungarian representative on the Commission, and has held the position of Neighborhood and Enlargement since 2019.. He is, after all, Viktor Orbán's man in Ursula von der Leyen's cabinet, although the commissioners do not serve their political formations per se.. The key with Varhelyi is that he maintains a tough speech regarding Palestine, and in the past he has already threatened to freeze some aid, for example after an educational reform they carried out.

Varhelyi is a career diplomat and lawyer, and came to the Commission without being the first choice of the Hungarian Government. Orbán then nominated László Trócsányi, but he did not pass the European Parliament's examination for the position, something that the current commissioner did.. In addition, he has considerable experience in community institutions. From 2008 to 2011 he was head of unit at the European Commission, in charge of industrial property rights in the Directorate General for Internal Market and Services and before that he had worked in the European law department at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He is not affiliated with Fidesz, but he almost fully agrees with Viktor Orbán's ideas and in fact was his eyes in Brussels as Permanent Representative of Hungary to the EU. This was the previous step, or his preparation, for the opportunity that would come to him in 2019: he was on the list to be the Hungarian commissioner after the European elections of that year and although he had to wait, he ended up getting the green light from the European Parliament.

He is no stranger to controversy; that of Palestine and aid is not the first, although it is perhaps the most relevant at a political level. But in February of this year he made headlines for calling MEPs “idiots” during an appearance on the situation in the Balkans.. In some spheres of Brussels, in fact, there is concern that it has the external 'approval' of leaders such as the Bosnian Serb Milorad Dodik or the president of Serbia, Aleksandr Vucic.. The second, however, has become a small headache for the EU and is also an ally of Orbán (and Putin).

Already this Monday, Varhelyi shared on social networks that the European Commission was blocking all development aid for Palestine due to its “brutal” attack against Israel. At first it aroused criticism in some countries, including Spain, because the issue had not gone through the Council, but it also had to be qualified on two occasions: his colleague in charge of crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, clarified that the Humanitarian aid will be maintained and then the Commission itself pointed out that what will happen will be “a review” of the existing development aid programs.