The European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was “immediately” suspending development aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Israel by Hamas to make sure no money was misused.
“There will be no suspension of payments” at the moment, a terse European Commission statement said late Monday, five hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had said that all payments from the development programme for Palestinians would be “immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals … postponed until further notice.” No immediate explanation for the reversal was given. A full European Commission statement always trumps a statement from an EU commissioner, but the reversal on a 691 million-euro (USD 730 million) programme capped an embarrassing day at the EU’s executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities. Since Saturday, support of the 27-nation bloc for Israel had been steadfast, including that the country had now every right within international law to defend itself in the war with Hamas. The surprise announcement by Varhelyi on development aid came just hours after EU officials stressed that no EU money whatsoever was going to Hamas in the first place and that contacts had been frozen for 16 years. The EU considers Hamas a terror group. After hours of uncertainty over how deep the measures would reach and whether they would possibly also affect aid to those in immediate need, the European Commission said there was no suspension for now, but said it started “an urgent review of the EU’s assistance for Palestine.” “The objective of this review is to ensure that no EU funding indirectly enables any terrorist organization to carry out attacks against Israel,” the statement said. The EU says it already has very strict rules in place to screen and vet beneficiaries and to make sure no such funds are made available to terrorists. The statement said that the European Commission would “equally review if, in light of the changed circumstances on the ground, its support (programmes) to the Palestinian population and to the Palestinian Authority need to be adjusted.”
And EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also criticised Varhelyi, insisting that “the suspension of the payments — punishing all the Palestinian people — would have damaged the EU interests in the region and would have only further emboldened terrorists.”
The EU says it’s the biggest donor to the Palestinian people and has been advocating for years for the two-state approach that has guided international diplomacy since the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Some of its programs though have been dogged by allegations that funds could be siphoned off for unintended use. EU foreign ministers are slated to meet in Muscat, Oman, and by videoconference on Tuesday to discuss the situation and determine what actions should be taken.