EU foreign ministers on Tuesday failed to reach a unified position on the recent Israeli-Palestinian military hostilities, forcing the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, to issue an informal call on his own to end the violence.
While 26 out of 27 EU countries agreed on the text of his statement, Hungary blocked the EU from taking a formal position, as the bloc’s foreign policy decisions and statements have to be made unanimously.
"The priority is the immediate cessation of all violence and implementation of a ceasefire. The purpose is to protect civilians to give full humanitarian access in Gaza," Borrell told reporters following the videoconference meeting of foreign ministers as he read out a personal statement as the EU’s high representative for foreign policy.
Borrell said that reaching a ceasefire in the region would be a temporary step. He stressed that "a true political solution" must be found to provide security for both sides, allowing "for the potential relaunching of the peace process, which has been in a stalemate for too long."
Borrell had called Tuesday’s videoconference in hopes of achieving a unified EU position on the Israeli-Palestinian hostilities, and he stressed that he was “quite satisfied” with the text of his own statement, which received “an important support” of almost all countries, Politico reported.
