The European Commission is not suspending financial aid to the Palestinians, after all. Earlier today, the committee announced it would do so. This raised many questions. For example, the Commission did not obtain the approval of EU member states.
The commission will “immediately suspend all payments.” European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said earlier that the aid would also be subject to scrutiny. Al-Hungarian wanted to make sure that European money would not end up in the wrong hands, as is the case with Hamas. Critics, including from other EU countries, argued that these measures would affect innocent and desperate Palestinians.
The suspension of payments raised questions, because countries will not discuss this matter until Tuesday afternoon. Shortly after Varhelyi’s statement, European Commissioner Janez Lenarčić also announced that emergency humanitarian aid would continue. Varheli does not make this distinction explicitly.
Several hours later, the committee announced that it did not intend to pay money to the Palestinians in the near future. So no payment will be stopped. Emergency aid will certainly not be frozen, as Varheli’s colleague in crisis response has made clear. No investigation has been conducted into this humanitarian aid, as is the case with other European support.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reacted with satisfaction. “Scheduled payments will not be suspended,” he wrote on the social media site X. Freezing aid would “punish the entire Palestinian people.” “This would have harmed the interests of the European Union in the region and would only strengthen terrorists,” he added.
-
09 okt 2023 om 17:01
Vier vragen over het Israëlisch-Palestijns conflict en de huidige crisis
-
09 okt 2023 om 16:29
Voor zover bekend bij Buitenlandse Zaken geen Nederlandse slachtoffers in Israël
