(CN) — Meeting amid wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, European leaders on Friday vowed to continue sending aid to Kyiv and called for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” in the fighting over the Gaza Strip, but stopped short of backing a cease-fire.
After a two-day summit in Brussels, the European Union's 27 national leaders issued a communique on Friday expressing “grave concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza” and appealed for “unhindered humanitarian access and aid” to civilians trapped in Gaza “through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses.”
The EU's wording largely mirrored the pro-Israel messaging coming out of Washington and disappointed those in Europe who want the bloc to stake out a more critical position on Israel's massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary were among the countries opposed to appealing for a humanitarian cease-fire, arguing that would run counter to the EU's position that Israel has the right to self-defense. Spain, Ireland and Portugal were in favor of calling for a cease-fire.
The EU statement also condemned Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, “in the strongest possible terms” for “its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel” and accused the group of using “civilians as human shields.” EU leaders demanded Hamas release more than 200 hostages it seized during its Oct. 7 attack.
EU leaders added that they “strongly emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law and international humanitarian law.”
In its communique, the EU also vowed to continue sending military aid to Ukraine “to help meet its pressing military and defense needs, including missiles and ammunition.”
But the pledge to support Ukraine has become much more complicated because Hungary and Slovakia — countries with pro-Russian prime ministers — are opposed to a proposed 50 billion euro ($53 billion) aid package for Ukraine.
EU leaders face difficult budget discussions at their next summit in December when they are expected to debate potentially raising taxes and cutting expenses to pay for the Ukraine aid package and higher interest costs for EU debt.
In a piece published Friday, Marco Bresolin, the Brussels correspondent for the Italian newspaper La Stampa, wrote that the two wars pose a major dilemma for the EU.
“One question is increasingly pressing: Is the EU capable of withstanding two conflicts of this magnitude on its doorstep?” Bresolin wrote.
He said it remained uncertain whether the EU will be “prepared to throw more money into the common budget to meet the new challenges” and will be able to cope with “more waves of migrants fleeing the bombs.”
At the summit, Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez led efforts to get the EU to call for a cease-fire in the Middle East and then he haggled with other EU leaders over whether to call for a “pause” or “pauses” in the fighting. Other leaders felt that using the word “pause” would be construed as calling for a cease-fire.
Still, Sánchez claimed success because other EU leaders agreed to include his proposal to hold a Middle East peace summit in the near future. In 1991, Madrid held an important conference to revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. The EU backs a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The “history of this conflict did not start with attack on October 7 and won’t end with a land war in Gaza” but began 75 years ago when the state of Israel was founded, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
“This won’t end because of military solution. There should be a two-states solution, we need to have a peace conference and the European Union needs to be part of that,” he said, as reported by Politico.
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