Divided Union on Palestine
But also — Enlargement, Franco-German Summit, Polish Elections, DMA, CMA
Hi! This is Wednesday, 18 October 2023, and here’s the EU news you need this week. Feel free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues, and follow us on Twitter and Linkedin.
The Briefing
On October 14, the European Commission tripled its humanitarian aid to Gaza. This announcement came after a week of contradictory declarations between Member States and within EU institutions.
MADE-IN-EU MESS • The Hamas attacks of October 7 were followed by contradictory signals regarding the position of the EU-27 on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On October 9, European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy Oliver Varhelyi declared the general suspension of European aid to Gaza, i.e. almost 1 billion euros over the period 2021-2024 — only to be contradicted by an official statement referring instead to an "urgent review of EU aid" aimed at ensuring that the Union is not financing any terrorist activity based in Palestine.
THE EU-27 DIVIDED • This unilateral decision was heavily criticized, first and foremost by Member States — historically divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — whose diplomats said that they had not been informed in advance.
The Irish Foreign Office said it did not support the suspension of aid, arguing that "there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind", while others, such as Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, endorsed the initiative.
Ultimately, European Council President Charles Michel clarified that "the suspension and review of development aid to the Palestinian people cannot be decided without the support of Member States or the Council", which also reassured UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was concerned about the initiative.
DIVIDED TRIANGLE • Criticism also came from within the Commission itself, notably from High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell: "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," he declared on X (ex-Twitter).
Similar tensions arose over the question of Israel's compliance with international law in the conduct of its retaliatory operations. The head of European diplomacy distinguished himself from the positions of Ursula von der Leyen and Roberta Metsola by taking a firm stance on the matter, while von der Leyen and Metsola showed unwavering support for lsrael during their visit there on 13 October.
While a Commission spokesman announced that civilians in Gaza had been alerted by Israel about forthcoming operations to give them time to seek shelter, Josep Borrell said it was "unrealistic" to think that a million people could evacuate northern Gaza in 24 hours — the deadline set by Tel Aviv.
These divisions perfectly illustrate the singular institutional positioning of the High Representative, who, since the Lisbon Treaty, has been wearing two hats: he is a member of the Commission but also reports to the EU Council, where he chairs the Foreign Affairs configuration.
Several European leaders, including Belgium's Alexander de Croo and Spain's Pedro Sanchez, also stressed the need for Israel to respect international law.
SUMMIT • This part of the EU-27 enjoyed the support of Antonio Guterres, who met Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday to urge the EU to put pressure on Israel to prevent the conflict from escalating.
Despite the tripling of European humanitarian aid from €25 million to €75 million in Commission funding, the Union's common position has yet to be further defined.
This was the purpose of the extraordinary summit convened by Charles Michel on Tuesday, October 17, to establish, with European leaders, "a clear unified course of action that reflects the complexity of the unfolding situation”. According to a press release, EU leaders:
“condemned Hamas’ terrorist attacks”,
“reiterated Israel's right to defend itself, in line with international law”,
“are mobilised to ensure access to humanitarian aid to populations most in need”,
“addressed the security and migratory impact of the conflict”.
“There is no contradiction in standing with Israel in solidarity, and acting for the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians”, Charles Michel commented. “There is one country that benefits from this conflict, and that is Russia. (...) Let’s not fall into that trap”, he added.
THIERRY GETS INVOLVED • In addition to the tense situation within EU institutions, the attitude of European Commissioner Thierry Breton on social media surprised many.
Breton called out Elon Musk on X about misinformation circulating on the platform concerning the Hamas attack on Israel and the elections in Slovakia.
As part of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online, major platforms and search engines such as Twitter and Google have been required since August 2023 to take a number of measures to limit the proliferation of illegal content.
Several experts felt that the content and tone of Breton's letter to Musk were not in line with the spirit of the DSA. By demanding the removal of certain content from the platform, Breton would in effect be departing from the logic of the DSA, which is based on respect of several principles.
"Big platforms have to put systems and resources in place to mitigate the risks of that content. That does not necessarily mean taking it down (...). Why? That would effectively amount to censorship," commented Zach Meyers, from the Center for European Reform, on X.
He added: "This means the Commission needs to enforce the DSA by looking at a platform's overall approach and its systems.” In other words, the issue here is not really the presence of individual illegal content online, but rather how the platform organizes to deal with such content.
On this point, "Musk is clearly not playing his role here. But, by mis-enforcing the DSA like this, neither is Breton", Zach Meyers concludes. In parallel with this letter, the European Commission opened an information request to X to find out more about the conditions that enabled the circulation of this illegal content.
Although Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Shou Zi Chew (TikTok) and Sundar Pichai (Youtube) were also called out by Thierry Breton on X, they have not been the subject of an information request — at least not yet.
In Case You Missed It
ENLARGEMENT • Estonia is prepared to lose its access to European funds if Ukraine joins the EU. That's what Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told the FT at the recent informal European Council meeting in Granada. “Eventually it will happen", she explained.
An internal EU Council study revealed by the FT predicts that Ukraine could receive €186 billion in European funds if it joins the EU, including €61 billion in cohesion funds and €96 billion in funds allocated under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
According to the study, the accession of nine new Member States would result in Estonia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta losing access to cohesion funds. The Cohesion Fund supports Member States whose gross national income per capita is less than 90% of the EU average.
Kaja Kallas and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar made similar comments on the budget issue. "It’s really important that when we look at these questions we don’t see them as just a financial calculation", the Taoiseach said.
FRANCE-GERMANY • The French and German governments met on October 9 and 10 for a joint seminar aimed at revitalizing Franco-German relations, which have been weakened by repeated disagreements for several months. The meeting was intended to be informal and dialogue-oriented, with no obligation to produce an agreement.
The two governments met in Hamburg, where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was mayor for seven years between 2011 and 2018. Despite a lovely visit to Hamburg's Airbus plant, a boat trip and a Fischbrötchen — the popular fish sandwich from northern Germany — tasting, there were few areas of agreement between Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron.
At the European level, the main points of contention between Paris and Berlin lie in the reform of European budgetary rules and the place to be given to nuclear power in the EU's green industrial policy.
"If France and Germany can't agree, Europe is blocked", declared Emmanuel Macron at the end of the visit, asserting that the "seeds sown" in Hamburg will bear "fruit" — the quality of the latter remains to be seen.
On a more positive note, the deadlock on the reform of the electricity market design finally ended yesterday, when the Council agreed on a position. What’s up EU will dive deeper into what it means next week.
POLAND • On Sunday, Polish citizens voted to elect members of the Sejm — the lower house of the Polish Parliament. The three opposition parties — the Civic platform, the Third way and the Left — won a majority over the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), which still ended up in first place. Voters massively participated in the elections, with a 74.38% turnout.
Over the upcoming weeks, the three opposition parties will likely be able to form a coalition government.
The final results are the following:
PiS: 35.38%
KO: 30.70%
Third Way: 14.40%
Left: 8.61%
Confederation: 7.16%
This outcome is good news for Brussels. Since the PiS came to power in 2015, European institutions have had a complicated relationship with Poland — to say the least — particularly on the subject of the rule of law.
The party at the head of the opposition is the Civic Platform — led by Donald Tusk, ex-president of the European Council — displays a pro-European line.
DMA • The European Commission has published the template for the compliance report that gatekeepers designated on September 6 will be required to submit under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
As a reminder, the DMA aims to regulate the power of the largest digital companies — so-called “gatekeepers” — in order to make markets in the digital sector fairer and more contestable.
Compliance reports will have to contain all the relevant information the Commission needs to assess designated entities' compliance with the provisions of the DMA.
Gatekeepers will be required to submit these compliance reports within six months of their designation, and to update them at least once a year. Gatekeepers designated on September 6, 2023 will be required to submit their first reports by March 7, 2024.
The Commission will publish a non-confidential summary of each compliance report.
CMA • The UK Competition Authority (CMA) has adopted new guidance to allow agreements between companies provided they have a positive impact on the environment.
Companies will have to prove that the benefits consumers derive from an agreement — for example, mitigating climate change — outweigh the harm caused by the agreement — such as a higher price.
The CMA is a leading figure in this field among competition authorities worldwide.
The European Commission has also relaxed its antitrust guidelines for agreements with a sustainability objective. However, it has been less clear and ambitious than the UK on the nature of the agreements it will authorise.
What we’ve been reading
In a paper for the Peterson Institute, Chad P. Bown and Kimberly A. Clausing highlight the need for China, the United States and the European Union, to agree on a reform of international trade rules to make them more climate-action-friendly.
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Clément Albaret, Marwan Ben Moussa, Maxence de La Rochère and Augustin Bourleaud. See you next week!