Messaging Mayhem: The EU’s Struggle for Clarity on Israel-Palestine
Johannes Nordin and Selina Daugalies
Few long-standing conflicts evoke such intense discussions and foreign policy debates as Israel-Palestine, be it within or between the European Union’s 27 member states – informed by differing historical and political backgrounds. Therefore, the presence of a wide variety of viewpoints should not come as a surprise. And yet, the EU’s overall response to the unfolding geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in Israel-Palestine since the 7 October Hamas attacks has been shocking in the sheer magnitude of repeated mis-coordination. Twelve years after the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS), a crisis of credibility casts long shadows over the EU’s aspirations for a cohesive and unified Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). This Insight Piece will elucidate the contradictions on display and analyze the implications for Brussels’ vaunted efforts to become a geopolitical actor.
This piece was first published in International Development Research Network on December 1, 2023.
Related Publications
-
ISDP Annual Report 2023
ISDP’s Annual Report for the year 2023. We look back on 2023, a year in which tensions and conflicts captured the strategic space in ISDP’s focus areas, making headlines around […]
-
Turkey’s Problem Isn’t Sweden. It’s the United States.
The issue isn’t what Sweden says or does but what the United States does or fails to do on the ground in Syria that matters for Turkey’s national security interests. […]
-
TURKISH QUAGMIRE: WHY TURKEY BLOCKS SWEDEN’S NATO ACCESSION
Turkey was bound to have issues with Sweden and its pro-Kurdish stance, and singled out Sweden because of its longstanding commitment to Kurdish aspirations. However, it is the continued US […]
-
Trade, Connectivity and Supply Chains in EU-India Relations
In the decade and a half since 2007 when the EU and India first started their FTA negotiations, the world economic order has undergone a sea change. During that period, […]
-
The Political Split at the Heart of Taiwan’s Struggle against Foreign Disinformation
Taiwan’s struggle against foreign disinformation and concerns about China’s impact on its 2024 election has received much international attention recently. This issue brief examines the domestic and international politics behind […]