LAST UPDATE | 15 Dec 2023

AN EU COUNCIL summit has ended without a decision to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta had called on the EU Council to adopt a clear stance on demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues its assault.

However, a number of member states are not on board.

On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

Austria and the Czech Republic, both EU members, voted against the resolution. Eight member states abstained and 17 voted in favour. 

Minister of State for European Affairs Peter Burke has said that ”while there was a huge groundswell of support within the room, there wasn’t unanimity”.

Speaking to RTÉ Radio One, Burke said: “There are a few countries that still haven’t come on board and that poses a huge challenge to the European Union.”

“Obviously, we’re a collection of democracies, we’re not a federal union, and that poses a challenge in terms of getting a text into the European Council conclusions.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar earlier called for the European Union to “insist on a two-state solution in the Middle East” and that Israel should be “pressurised” for its failure to “allow the Palestinians their own state”.

He was speaking to reporters in Brussels on the second day of the two-day European Council summit.

Among the issues raised at yesterday’s summit was a €50 billion euro aid package for Ukraine, which was vetoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Today’s agenda included the “immediate security and humanitarian situation in Gaza”.

Ahead of the meetings, Varadkar called on the European Union to “become more active and more interested in this issue”.

“For a long time now, we’ve talked the talk when it comes to building a two-state solution in the Middle East, but we haven’t really put our political or economic power behind that and I think we should,” said Varadkar.

The Taoiseach said the EU should “insist on a two-state solution”.

He added: “We should work with the Palestinian Authority, or a new Palestinian leadership perhaps, to make that happen but also really pressurise Israel and say that their failure to allow the Palestinians to have their own state is going to affect the relationship between Israel and the EU into the future.”

Further speaking on the situation in the Middle East, Varadkar said: “It’s not going to be back to the way it was before this war.”

Meanwhile, Varadkar again called for a ceasefire, and remarked that “the majority of EU countries are now calling for a ceasefire”.

He said this was “very clear from the UN vote the other day”.

Varadkar said Austria and the Czech Republic voted against the UN resolution “because they believe that it would prevent Israel from pursuing Hamas terrorists”.

“I don’t agree with that interpretation,” Varadkar told reporters this morning in Brussels.

“You can pursue terrorists without engaging in the kind of war and destruction that Israel is engaging in at the moment in Gaza,” he added.

“We know that from European countries who have also had to deal with terrorism, they didn’t do or even contemplate doing what Israel has done in Gaza.”

Varadkar added: “We now have a clear majority of countries here in the European Union calling for a ceasefire.

“I think that’s the view of the people of Europe as well, which is important.”

He also called for “strong language on human rights”, particularly in relation to the West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry yesterday said that Israeli forces had killed 11 people in a multi-day raid in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and in recent months troops have carried out repeated deadly raids on Jenin, with the casualties including militants and children.

Varadkar said there is “no possible justification or excuse for what’s happening there” and added that “hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by violent Israeli settlers in an area that is not controlled by Hamas”. 

-With additional reporting from Lauren Boland and AFP