Brussels had to put out a fire this Tuesday over the claim that it had decided to suspend humanitarian aid to Palestine, an issue which on Monday afternoon was ignited out of the blue by a "rogue" commissioner who, according to the European Commission, was acting on his own. The Commissioner who took matters into his own hands is the Commissioner for Enlargement, Olivér Várhely, who, through his X account, announced without it being true that European Union development aid to Palestine would be stopped after the bloody attack by Hamas against Israel, reports the Efe agency.
Sources from the European Commission had to clarify this Tuesday that Várhely made this announcement without coordinating with "any member" of the European executive. In fact, this announcement, which quickly reached the news agencies and digital press around the world, generated unease in some countries, especially in Spain, with a government that has been accused of having a position closer to Palestine, than to Israel.
The European Commission's chief spokesperson, Eric Mamer, has had to explain this chaos at the institution's daily press conference in Brussels. Mamer admitted that the message written by the Hungarian commissioner "was not coordinated with other members of the college (of commissioners)".
The announcement generated maximum confusion because another commissioner, that of Crisis Management, came out to issue a contradictory message, although he did not quite disavow the version given by his fellow commissioner. In fact, on Várhely's X account there is still, this Tuesday afternoon, the message thread with the fictitious announcement, which the international community considered to be true.
The scale of terror and brutality against #Israel and its people is a turning point.
— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) October 9, 2023
There can be no business as usual.
As the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, worth a total of EUR 691m
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Denial six hours later
The denial of the announcement did not arrive until six hours later, although it received complaints from several countries, such as Spain and Luxembourg, among others. The European Commission, through another commissioner, pointed out that aid to Palestine has not been suspended, but that after the outbreak of war, it is reviewing the channels through which funds reach both the population and the Palestinian National Authority, to ensure that they do not end up indirectly in the hands of Hamas, which the EU considers a terrorist organization.
While the audit is being carried out, Brussels will suspend funds to Palestine, although the EU executive assured on Monday that in reality because there are no payments planned, "there will be no suspension of payments", and said that the measure will not affect humanitarian aid, which for this year amounts to 27.9 million euros.
In total, the aid that the Commission is reviewing amounts to 691 million euros between 2021 and 2023, planned for the Palestinian National Authority, for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA, its acronym in English), as well as other NGOs, and for projects to assist the population, Mamer explained this Tuesday.