‘Yet another symbolic meeting’: Critics pan EU’s latest Palestine push

However based on some lawmakers, that purpose is a good manner off.

“Brussels want to give the impression of management, however in actuality the Palestine donor group is one more symbolic assembly,” Anders Vistisen, chief whip of the far-right Patriots group, instructed POLITICO. “The EU has poured billions into Palestinian establishments, tasks and so-called reform processes for many years — and it has neither delivered stability nor accountability.”

It’s “the USA — not the European Union — that’s defining the political and safety framework in Gaza,” he added. “So long as Brussels acts as a money machine and not using a coherent technique, situations, or political leverage, the EU will stay a spectator reasonably than a significant actor.”

Hana Jalloul, a Socialists and Democrats MEP, mentioned the EU’s inaction on Israel amid mounting atrocities in Gaza had broken its credibility as a stakeholder within the peace course of. Requested if the outcomes of Thursday’s much-vaunted convention may assist make the EU an actual participant in Gaza, Jalloul laughed. “No,” she mentioned. “However dreaming is free.”

One diplomat who attended the convention, which gathered round 60 delegations from nations in Europe and the Center East, mentioned the EU had “repackaged what they already do into this.” There was little point out of Gaza past reiterating assist for the U.N. Safety Council decision authorizing Trump’s plan, and no “artistic pondering” about reconstruct or govern Gaza, the diplomat mentioned.

Funding the Palestinian Authority

At an occasion on the margins of the assembly, the EU, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain dedicated an extra €82 million to the Palestinian Authority, bringing the quantity pledged this yr to €88 million.