‘Not all member states on board’: EU ‘divided’ on Gaza issue, says its chief diplomat

EU chief diplomat Kaja Kalls (File photo/AP)

European Union (EU) chief diplomat Kaja Kallas on Saturday acknowledged significant internal divisions within the bloc over its response to the war in Gaza. Speaking after an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen, Denmark, she warned that this lack of unity is “undermining” the bloc’s credibility on the global stage.”It’s clear that member states disagree on how to get the Israeli government to change course. The options are clear and remain on the table. We have presented the options on paper. But the problem is that not all EU member states are on board,” Kallas said, according to EuroNews.Estonia’s former prime minister — and the first woman to hold that post – also expressed frustration at being seen as the “face” of inaction, saying, “If you ask personally how that feels, that I’m the face that is to blame, that we don’t have a decision, then it’s hard. It’s very hard.”The 48-year-old leader specifically highlighted disagreement over whether to suspend the EU-Israel free trade agreement. While countries like Germany and Hungary oppose such a move, others —including Denmark, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency— support it.Kallas noted that although support for the suspension is growing, it still hasn’t reached the consensus required to implement it. “If the majority is growing, then the division is not getting bigger, but it’s actually getting smaller… But it is true that we still don’t have an agreement on those measures,” she remarked.The EU, however, has been successfully putting pressure on Israel to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza, Kallas said, adding that this has resulted in more trucks entering the zone and the opening of more border crossings.Meanwhile, Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, suggested that the EU could take certain steps in order to bypass the veto of some member states.”We have to work and think more innovatively about what could be the next best solutions. For instance, we want to put a ban on imports from the occupied territories. That’s probably not doable. But then we could put a heavy tariff on imports, and we could do that by a qualified majority,” Rasmussen stated.He also rejected Israeli claims that limiting the free trade would strengthen Hamas.