The European Union’s pledge to suspend €691 million ($728 million) worth of aid to Palestinian territories following the Hamas terror raid on Israel appears to have unravelled, with the governments of France and other EU member-states voicing public opposition.
Hungary’s Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, had said all payments to Palestinian territories, comprised of Hamas-controlled Gaza and the West Bank, were “immediately suspended” due to the “scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people” over the weekend, which Varhelyi called a “turning point”.
France, which along with Germany is the European Union’s dominant power, appears to disagree, however, with Emmanuel Macron’s government announcing on Tuesday it is “not in favour of suspending aid which directly benefits the Palestinian populations” and has “made this known to the EU Commission.”
The Irish government, too, seemed surprised by Verhelyi’s announcement, saying: “Our understanding is that there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind by an individual Commissioner and we do not support a suspension of aid.”
They were backed up by Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain.
Notably, Verhelyi put out his announcement through his own social media, not the European Commission’s central communications office. The European Commission now says “[t]here will be no suspension of payments” – though it claims a review of the aid portfolio will still be carried out.
