The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has proposed that EU nations should retain their authority to recognise Palestine as a state. While speaking in Brussels, he suggested the possibility of building a coalition of several EU countries that can choose to acknowledge Palestine as a state, but only with the implementation of reforms by the Palestinian Authority. The idea has been met with strong resistance from Israel, particularly following Spain and Ireland’s recent intent to formally recognise Palestine as a state, amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Charles Michel admitted that he does not foresee the likelihood of a unanimous decision in the European Union in favour of recognising Palestine as a state. Despite this, Mr Michel suggested that the countries could potentially collaborate in deciding whether to recognise Palestine or not. This position could potentially gain support by a few EU nations who might consider recognising Palestine as part of a strategic process.
Mr Michel compared the framework to the EU enlargement process, which entails countries looking to join the EU fulfilling a series of reformative phases before inclusion. He suggested that if the Palestinian Authority adhered to certain conditions, potentially, a significant number of EU nations along with other nations outside the EU could recognise Palestine as a state.
Charles Michel entertained the idea of some level of synchronisation at the EU level among member states that are ready to move forward with this decision. He also mentioned the potential inclusion of non-EU nations in jointly recognising Palestine. He used his recent discussions with the Emir of Qatar and other leaders as an example of further dialogue regarding this issue.
Abbreviating his central argument, Mr Michel indicated that the recognition would be a singular opportunity, an irrevocable choice. “Once a member state has recognised Palestine, the act cannot be repeated,” he proclaimed.
In a recent group discussion with journalists from numerous media outlets, Mr Michel expressed his viewpoints. He emphasised that the European Union (EU) needed to pay more attention to enhancing its economic competitiveness against the United States and China. Mr Michel critiqued the European Commission’s introduction of excessive bureaucracy that had incensed businessmen and agriculturalists alike. His view was that businesses needed more autonomy to be effective.
Mr Michel highlighted the absence of any tangible progress towards plans, long debated, that aimed to modify the EU market so that businesses could easily procure financing. Consequently, according to Mr Michel, entrepreneurial ventures were obstructed from gaining ample investment in Europe, thus seeking funds from China or the US to scale their operations. The attempt to establish a unified market for capital across the EU had been largely unsuccessful, as concerns arose about potential advantages and disadvantages the restructuring could mean for native financial markets.
Addressing this kind of impasse was seen by Mr Michel as crucial to releasing large sums of private savings that could partially be directed towards investment in European firms. “Currently, the EU is comprised of 27 distinct capital markets, which means savings from one nation cannot be efficiently utilised for projects in another,” he noted. He asserted that the establishment of a capital markets union would be a potent financial tool for the EU. Further, Mr Michel encouraged nations to contemplate injecting more funds into the European Investment Bank.
He expressed optimism that the US would follow the EU’s precedent on Ukraine and greenlight the €55 billion assistance package which has been stuck in Congress thus far. He also shared his analysis of Russian chief Vladimir Putin’s strategy of overextending and thus wearing out the EU in its backing for Ukraine amidst the conflict, however, he added, “this is where he’s mistaken”.