Leaders of nine European Union member states in the Mediterranean on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire after a sharp escalation in conflict between Israel and forces of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Amid the backdrop of the conflict in Gaza in the broader region, we express our deep concern at the escalation of a military confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah,” a statement from EU leaders attending a summit, known as MED9, read after meeting in Cyprus.
“We seek an immediate ceasefire throughout the Blue Line and the timely dispatch of humanitarian aid to Lebanon,” leaders including France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal said in a joint statement, referring to a U.N. mapped demarcation line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted one year ago when the Iranian-backed group began launching rockets at northern Israel in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war, which followed a bloody rampage by Hamas through communities in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people in a matter of hours.
The conflict has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, and sending ground troops into areas of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.
Earlier on Friday, two peacekeepers were injured after two explosions near a watchtower in southern Lebanon, the United Nations peacekeeping force there, UNIFIL, said.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, condemned the Israeli attack on the UNIFIL headquarters in the South of Lebanon that had injured the blue helmets that were there. “That is completely unacceptable. We demand that any kind of violence should be brought to an end”, he said.
Sanchez noted that so far there have been more than 40,000 victims in Gaza, also in Lebanon, many of them women and children. “We got nearly 1,000,000 displaced in Lebanon. I would like to call once again for a ceasefire and an end to this cycle of violence”, he said.
“History has taught us one thing. That no just and sustainable world peace can be achieved with the end of a gun”, he noted, pointing out the need for diplomacy and EU’s role in that.
Sanchez called for the next European Council meeting to clearly demand a ceasefire in Gaza and in Lebanon, an end of hostilities in the West Bank and the release of all hostages held by Hamas terrorists.
“We want also to be able to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza and Lebanon”, he said, adding that the EU should suspend sending arms to the area.
Finally, he called for a peace conference and reiterated his support for a two-state solution.
On his part, the Portuguese Foreign Minister, Paulo Rangel, said in his remarks that the countries of the south of the EU have to be heard in the EU.
Furthermore, he thanked the Cypriot authorities for assisting Portugal’s evacuation plan both for their own citizens and other EU citizens from Lebanon.
Speaking through an interpreter, Rangel expressed concern over the escalating situation in the Middle East “as this has an impact not only on the region but the southern part of Europe, North Africa and beyond.”
“This situation in the Middle East is very worrying and endangers the stability in the whole of the region,” he added.
He referred to the challenges facing the EU, ahead of the EU Summit.
“There is broad consensus today between the nine countries and this is particularly important in the context of the EU as a whole, so all the countries of the southern Europe around the Mediterranean have to be heard in the EU as a whole not only as regards our views, our strategic priorities, as well as the situation of the Middle East,” Rangel pointed out.
“Today we had the opportunity to discuss various issues related to the cooperation of the Mediterranean member states with the President of the European Commission,” said Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, noting that the political priorities in the Mediterranean under the new institutional cycle of the European Union were discussed.
Referring to the current developments in the Middle East, Plenković said that “we all want to see peace in this region of Gaza and Lebanon” adding that “we need to do more for our southern neighbourhood such as Serbia and Herzegovina and for our eastern neighbourhood, especially for Ukraine which is suffering from Russian aggression.”
Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, referred to the crisis in the Middle East, saying that the killing that we have been witnessing for a year now, has now spread to Lebanon and there are very few signs that killing will stop anytime soon.
We condemn, he added, speaking through an interpreter, the attacks of the Israeli army on civilians in Lebanon and on personnel of UN missions.
Referring to energy, he said that energy prices are high and we have low access to fresh investments. The Commission President, he added, presented a clear strategy regarding how to tackle issues in the future and said that together we can solve them.
Regarding immigration, he said that we need to cooperate with countries of origin, encourage returns of those who stay illegally in the EU and be more proactive in finding organised crime which is encouraging illegal immigration.
In his remarks, the Maltese Prime Minister, Robert Abela, turned to migration, stating that there will be no solution to Europe’s migration crisis without a Mediterranean solution.
He said migration topped the agenda of the discussions of the Summit, noting that the issue “tops the list of concerns for most of our citizens.”
“Mediterranean nations are on the frontline of irregular migration into Europe, What happens here directly impacts what happens to countries of the north and not just EU members, which is why the Mediterranean voice must be heard loud and clear as decision are taken on tackling irregular migration,” he pointed out.
“Let there be no doubt, there will be no solution to Europe’s migration crisis without a Mediterranean solution,” he said.
In this context, Abela expressed satisfaction over the Commission President’s decision to designate a Commissioner for the Mediterranean for the new College of Commissioners.
Turning to the geopolitical tensions, the Maltese PM said “there should be no greater priority for Europe indeed than ending the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.”
Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said they also discussed EU’s competitiveness, which she described as “crucial” for the future of Europe. “We need to become more autonomous. We need to focus on strategic sectors, like tech, defence, agriculture”, she said, adding that we know what the objectives are, all is needed is how to achieve them.
She added that the leaders discussed migration flows. “Thanks to the work made by MED9 and Italy we’ve seen that the approach is working. We need to be specific; we need to fight illegal migration. We need to continue”, she said, adding that Italy works close with Albania to fight the traffickers.
