Brussels, 7th October 2024

In the face of the tragedy of war, if the European Union wants to bring peace to the Middle East, it is time for it to open a Convention to reform the Treaties in order to have a common foreign and defense policy.

One year has passed since the day Hamas unleashed the most brutal aggression against defenseless Israeli citizens since the Yom Kippur War. On the part of the State of Israel, also on the basis of its legitimate right to self-defense, we are instead witnessing the fall into the demonic trap created by Hamas.

This never-ending tragedy of two peoples in one land is intertwined with the history of the peoples of the region and the processes of world politics, and becomes the subject and active part of a much wider, even global, power conflict. In these days when the whole world is holding its breath for fear of an escalation, with unpredictable outcomes, between Israel and Iran, and while the offensives in Gaza and now also in Lebanon continue, it is difficult to unravel the tangle. 

In this context, the United Nations is powerless. We live in a system where it is still the strength of the great powers that makes it possible to arrive at (sometimes having to impose) a diplomatic solution to conflicts, and creates the conditions for stability in the various areas of the world and for strengthening international organizations and cooperation. This system is in crisis and generates the escalation of the struggle for global hegemony and - as a cascade - in the different regions. 

The UEF cannot stress enough how weak the EU's voice is at this juncture, and how cacophonous the reaction of European states has been until now.

As HRVP Josep Borrell said in Ventotene on 1 September 2024, ‘If we are not united, we are irrelevant. In order to be relevant, we have to be united. And on this problem, we are not. Certainly, we have made progress on building a common and foreign policy. Certainly. But in order to do more, we have to be more united, and we have to have different ways of taking decisions. I don't see how Europe can work with unanimity rule'. He continues: ‘I know it's difficult. But the next generation of the Europeans will have to be more integrated, and more integrated means to be ready to accept decisions by qualified majority voting, not by unanimity, and is not a technicality, is at the core of what the European Union is, how it works and what it delivers.'

This is the reason why, if Europe really wants to contribute to the return of the possibility of peace, it must quickly equip itself with the decision-making and political mechanisms that will enable it to move on the international stage quickly and with a comprehensive common policy agenda, being represented by a true European government endowed with authority and autonomy in external action, generating a unique framework of European intervention that can influence global power relations.

The UEF considers the construction of a strong common foreign and security policy, together with a solid pillar of civil protection capacity, crucial for the future of European unity and global stability. That is why we support the launch of a Convention opening the revision of the Treaties to strengthen the EU and its institutions. 

RELATED LINKS

• Read the Speech by the High Representative Josep Borrell at the Seminar on Federalism in Europe and the world LINK HERE
• Resolution passed by the UEF Congress in November 2023 LINK HERE