10 September 2025
EU measures too little too late
by Simon Droeven
This morning, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her State of the Union speech to finally address the situation in Palestine after weeks of silence.
She described images of 'people killed while begging for food' and 'mothers holding lifeless babies' as catastrophic, and she added: 'Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity, this must stop.'
She also warned against the financial suffocation of the Palestinian Authority, the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and extremist Israeli ministers inciting violence, framing these as clear attempts to undermine any two-state solution.
She then announced a series of measures. The Commission will suspend bilateral EU support to Israel. She will also present two proposals to the Council: sanctions against extremist Israeli ministers and violent settlers, and a partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement on trade.
Finally, she announced the creation of a Palestine Donor Group next month, with a dedicated instrument for Gaza reconstruction.
It is important to understand what these measures mean. The suspension of bilateral support is within the Commission's power. Sanctions require unanimity in the Council, so a single member state can block them.
Suspending the Association Agreement would require a qualified majority, easier to obtain but still fragile given divisions. The donor group can be created through EU financial instruments, which also need majority approval.
This shows both the potential and the limits of what was announced. Von der Leyen admitted it will be difficult to find majorities, but she stopped there. She pointed to paralysis yet did not propose to challenge the rules. By doing so, she failed to address the deeper problem: Europe's process enables paralysis even in the face of atrocity.
And beyond procedure, the fundamental reality remains genocide. For nearly two years Gaza has endured mass killing, starvation, and destruction. More than 65,000 people have been killed, including over 20,000 children.
None of the measures she announced changes that reality. Europe may pledge aid and prepare reconstruction, but as long as the killing continues, it is complicit.
On Russia, von der Leyen announced the EU is working on the 19th package of sanctions. Nineteen in less than three years. Yet on Palestine, after almost two years of genocide, she only now proposes hesitant steps. That difference tells its own story.
Von der Leyen has avoided Gaza for weeks, but she could not escape it today. History will not remember applause in Strasbourg or procedural hurdles in Brussels. It will only remember that while Gaza was starved and bombed, Europe remained complicit.
Full speech transcript: https://lnkd.in/eKENBzcW
