00:00 Hello and welcome to State of the Union.
00:02 I'm Stefan Grobe in Brussels.
00:04 It was a sad and solemn moment of remembrance.
00:08 Flanked by the other leaders of the EU institutions, European Parliament President Roberta Mazzola
00:14 led a public ceremony to honor the Israeli victims murdered in the attacks by Hamas.
00:21 Mazzola offered Israel the EU's backing, telling the country's ambassador who was standing
00:26 next to the president that "Europe stands with you."
00:31 And she unequivocally condemned the Hamas terror.
00:35 There is no justification for terrorism.
00:40 Hamas is a terrorist organization.
00:44 They do not represent the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.
00:51 They do not offer solutions.
00:55 They offer bloodshed.
00:58 So far, so clear.
01:00 But the EU's reaction to the Hamas massacres in Israel was muddled and embarrassing at
01:05 best and incompetent at worst.
01:08 First, Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhely announced that the EU would immediately suspend
01:14 almost 700 million euros in aid to the Palestinian Authority.
01:19 Just hours later, Crisis Management Commissioner Yanis Lenarchich corrected Varhely by affirming
01:26 that humanitarian aid would still be flowing.
01:29 Then the next day, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell had this to offer.
01:35 The fact is that at that moment the casualties in Gaza are also increasing.
01:40 One hundred and fifty thousand people are internally displaced and the humanitarian
01:46 situation is dire.
01:47 So we will have to support more, not less.
01:52 More.
01:53 You get it?
01:55 Within 24 hours, the EU went from no money for the Palestinians to less money to finally
02:01 more money.
02:03 On top of that, Borrell announced an urgent review of the EU funding programs to make
02:08 sure no money ends up in the coffers of Hamas.
02:12 Does that mean Brussels is uncertain whether taxpayers' money hasn't been funneled
02:17 to Hamas in the past?
02:19 In any case, there were only two EU countries that cut payments to the Palestinians, at
02:24 least temporarily, Austria and Germany.
02:28 The others were willing to keep on with business as usual.
02:32 Of course, a group of 27 nations cannot be as coherent in its foreign policy as, for
02:37 instance, the United States.
02:40 But then, the EU wants to be a serious geopolitical player.
02:44 So how do we square this circle?
02:47 Sander Sears spoke to former Finnish Prime Minister and current presidential candidate
02:52 Alexander Stoke.
02:54 Let's talk about the EU's reaction on the Hamas attack on Israel.
02:59 Some member states quickly suspended development aids and the European Commission also made
03:05 similar statements.
03:06 So what should have been done from the European Union's side?
03:11 I think the only weapon that the European Union has at the moment is one of sanctions
03:15 or development aid.
03:17 So it has to probably look at all the weapons in its arsenal because, of course, this is
03:23 an act of war.
03:26 Israel has the right to protect itself.
03:28 But at the same time, it's very important for the European Union to work towards de-escalation
03:34 and make sure that international humanitarian law is observed.
03:38 How can we draw the line between punishing Hamas but at the same time not punishing the
03:44 whole of the Palestinian society?
03:47 I think it's very difficult to draw that line because what Hamas has basically done is attacked
03:52 Palestine at the same time in the sense that they know and they knew that there are going
03:56 to be ramifications of this.
03:58 This conflict is going to escalate.
04:01 Now it's pretty much about trying to keep it local rather than expanding it regional.
04:07 So what we're looking at is a cynical way of murdering your brothers and sisters and
04:12 also, from Hamas' perspective, the enemy.
04:16 So I simply cannot understand why this senseless attack was made unless there are bigger players
04:22 behind it.
04:23 After these attacks, the European Union is now understandably aligned with the Israeli
04:28 position.
04:30 But many critics say that this will actually limit the future steps that the European diplomacy
04:36 can make.
04:37 For example, in terms of securing the rights of the Palestinians.
04:40 Do you agree?
04:42 What we're looking at is a set of uncontrolled conflicts which can be local or regional.
04:49 We've seen it with Russia attacking Ukraine.
04:52 We now saw it with Hamas attacking Israel.
04:56 It is very important that these types of conflicts don't now spill over to the likes of Sahel
05:03 or Nagorno-Karabakh again or northern Kosovo.
05:08 It's good that you mention actually these conflicts around Europe because we have war
05:12 in Ukraine.
05:13 We have conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis.
05:17 And we have also a flare-up in the Caucasus.
05:20 So what does it tell about the future security situation of the European continent?
05:26 I think Europe is fairly permanently divided.
05:30 It is going to take about 10 years for the new world order to settle.
05:34 And of course you always have three options.
05:36 One is competition, two is conflict, and the three is cooperation.
05:41 What I would like to see is competition but cooperation which prevents the conflict.
05:47 And I believe that we can contain the situation.
05:51 Thank you very much.
05:53 Alexander Stubb, a former prime minister of Finland.
05:57 The divisions within the 27 EU governments over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a
06:02 mirror image of feelings and opinions within our European societies.
06:08 Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, supporters of both sides took to
06:13 the streets and made themselves heard.
06:16 Demonstrations, rallies and vigils were staged all over Europe, moving the long-running Middle
06:22 Eastern conflict right to our doorsteps.
06:25 In France, Britain, Germany and elsewhere, authorities stepped up security measures amid
06:31 fears that hateful rhetoric could soon become real violence.
06:36 And as the war between Israel and the Hamas is unlikely to end tomorrow, the hope is that
06:43 the situation will not get out of control on European streets.
06:49 That's it for this edition.
06:50 I'm Stefan Grober.
06:51 Thank you for watching.
06:53 Have an excellent week.
