Foreign Affairs Council: Press remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell upon arrival

By : Heba Abdel Fattah

if I may say “good morning”, because the developments around the world make us work permanently in a crisis mode.

We were in the European Parliament, after [we went] to Washington, from Washington to Cairo and now in Luxembourg we continue discussing about the same issue: the situation in Israel [and] Palestine after the terrorist attacks launched by Hamas against Israel. Today, the Ministers [for Foreign Affairs] will continue elaborating on the decisions, on the analysis done by the European Council.

I participated in this Council from Sevilla, in the south of Spain, by videoconference, and now the most important thing is to call for humanitarian support to go into Gaza.

In Cairo, the Secretary-General of the United Nations [António Guterres] made a dramatic call in order to allow this humanitarian help to enter. The first day, 20 trucks were allowed to come in – 20. Yesterday, they were about 20 more. But in normal times, without the war, 100 trucks entered into Gaza every day. So, it is clear that 20 [trucks], it is not enough.

We have invited to participate in the Council my colleague, Commissioner in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, who will inform us. I have been talking with him, and he explained to me that it is important [to bring] more support – more humanitarian support – and it is important to have fuel in order to make the power stations work and the desalination stations work. Otherwise, there is no water, there is no electricity. Without water and electricity, the hospitals can barely work. It is important [to bring] more, quicker and in particular to enter the basic things that make water and electricity supplies being restored.

We will discuss also about the call of the United Nations for a humanitarian pause, which is also needed, even for giving back the hostages.

The attacks of missiles, of rockets from Hamas throughout Gaza have to stop. The hostages, the people who have been kidnapped, have to be released, obviously. It is part of any step towards de-escalation, and we have to start thinking of how to revive the political process. But the priority at the moment is to make humanitarian support go into Gaza.

The [European] Commission, we – the European Union – have increased our support, but there are queues and queues of trucks waiting to enter. They have to enter, and they have to bring the things that are badly needed, in particular, the fuel needed to make – I repeat – the desalinisation of water.

Then, we have to discuss about the political process. The peace process has been forgotten for too long. The great powers have forgotten about the Palestinian issue thinking that it was going to be solved alone or that it does not mater – yes, it matters. Yes, we have to continue working on that. We launched this initiative [Peace Day Effort] during the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Now, there is for sure the need, it has to be upgraded, and we will start discussing about that.

Then, Ukraine. Do not forget about Ukraine. Ukraine continues fighting. It will be on the agenda.

[We will also discuss] Nagorno-Karabakh.

We are going to have a meeting with the Central Asian countries, a ministerial meeting at the level of the [Foreign] ministers. All ministers will come – it shows the great importance that we consider that this part of the world has, in particular in order to watch the circumvention of sanctions towards Russia.

This is the agenda for today.

Q&A

You are talking about getting the humanitarian aid into Gaza. Who so far is the main obstacle of letting the aid into Gaza? Is it Egypt? Is it Israel?

In that moment, Egypt is ready to let all the trucks which are queuing enter. I do not want to put the blame on anyone, but the fact is that they are not entering.

Mr Borrell, the question of the cease fire, is it on the table today, or not?

Obviously, we will discuss about a humanitarian pause. In Cairo, it was very much discussed, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations asked for it. I am sure it will be on the table of the leaders at the next meeting [of the European Council]. How can we not discuss about it? Certainly, we will.

Do you think that the battle of narratives [in] the Global South can be put at risk because of what is happening in Israel, that we can be accused of double standards?

Well, the Ukrainian war and this war have different causes and consequences, but both are sending shockwaves around the world. Russia is certainly taking advantage of this situation. The issue of double standards, which was already there before the war in Gaza, now it comes again. We have to be very much careful in order to show the same concern for every civilian killed. We have to show the same concern.

We showed our strong support to Israel because they have been [suffering] one of the biggest attacks against the Jewish people – and this has to be very much condemned and we do it. But we have to also take into consideration the innocent Palestinians being killed. They are also victims of Hamas. We have to show exactly the same concerns for every civilian being killed.

Do you think that, by the end of the day, you will have the consensus on the humanitarian pause?

I cannot anticipate the result of the meeting, but it is certainly something on which the ministers will have to discuss, and I know that the leaders, in a couple of days, will have to discuss [it] too. But the Secretary-General of the United Nations asked for it very much. Personally, I think that the humanitarian pause is needed in order to allow the humanitarian support to come into [Gaza] and being distributed. I think that half of the population of Gaza has been moving from their houses.