SPAIN OPPOSES SUSPENSION OF EU COOPERATION IN PALESTINE

The Spanish Government has expressed its rejection of the decision of the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, to suspend European Union (EU) cooperation in Palestine in retaliation for the violent terrorist attack carried out last Saturday by the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas against Israel.

According to Foreign Ministry sources, Olivér Varhely’s decision on the suspension by the EU of cooperation to Palestine “has caused discomfort in the Spanish Government”. For this reason, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, held a telephone conversation with the Commissioner today, Monday, October 9, 2023, to “convey his disagreement with this decision, which was not known to the foreign ministers” of the EU.

Likewise, Minister Albares has asked the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, to include this measure as an item on the agenda of the extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council to be held tomorrow, Tuesday, by videoconference to address, precisely, the situation in Israel and in the region after the latest events.

In calling the videoconference, Borrell assured that “the EU condemns in the strongest possible terms the multiple and indiscriminate attacks perpetrated in Israel by Hamas and deeply deplores the loss of life” and called for “the immediate cessation of these attacks and this senseless violence, which will only further increase tensions on the ground and seriously undermine the Palestinian people’s aspirations for peace.”

Borrell also warned that the EU “stands in solidarity with Israel, which has the right to defend itself in accordance with international law, in the face of these violent and indiscriminate attacks”, and recalled “the importance of working towards a lasting and sustainable peace by intensifying efforts in the Middle East peace process”.