Negotiate with the Taliban, protect Israel
BrusselsThis week has been particularly tough in Brussels. Not only because the city, without even shutters on most houses, is not at all prepared for heatwaves like the one we have experienced. But also because the European Union has marked a new setback in the consistency between what it preaches and what it does. After last week the European Parliament gifted us chilling images with the celebration of the new law to expel migrants with shouts of “Send them back, send them back”, this week the European Commission met with the Taliban. There are few possible nuances to this sentence.
The European Commission justifies itself by saying that this meeting took place after a large majority of EU countries requested it: 20 EU and Schengen area countries sent a letter requesting "technical discussions" to address the "return and readmission to Afghanistan of persons who have committed serious crimes or who pose a threat to security". Among the signatories were Germany, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Norway, and Poland.
The meeting has had repercussions. The European Parliament has already said it will request explanations, MEPs, experts, and non-profit organizations have published countless statements against the meeting. But the fact is that the meeting has already taken place, with all that this implies: the recognition as an interlocutor of a regime that gives more rights and freedoms to a cat or a squirrel than to a woman, in the words of Meryl Streep.
Furthermore, the Commission's argument that it cannot ignore the demands of such a large group of countries falls apart when compared with the reaction of the Community executive to other requests of similar weight.
Over the last two weeks, a group of up to 15 countries has asked the European Commission to present trade measures to stop the entry of products into the European Union originating from illegal Israeli settlements.
After the settlers' violence has become even more unbearable and the images of activists from the flotilla being mistreated and detained by Israel went around the world, countries like Ireland, Spain, France, Sweden, Slovenia, and Belgium, among others, have increased the pressure.
Disagreements between Kallas and Von der Leyen
And given the long list of EU members who wanted it, the head of community diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, committed to the Foreign Ministers to present a proposal at the next meeting (July 13). But President Ursula von der Leyen is making it very difficult for her, and a spokesperson came out to deny the high representative shortly after. Kaja Kallas responds to the Foreign Ministers as head of diplomacy, but she is also Vice-President of the European Commission. However, as was already the case with Josep Borrell, Von der Leyen wants to keep her on a tight leash.
The question is that it is not clear if the proposal will ever arrive, no matter how many countries request it. It is clear that Germany is not among the countries interested in sanctioning Israel in any way, while it is one of the signatories of the letter that requested a meeting with the Taliban.
All this highlights not only the double standard of this European Commission and the European People's Party, but also the power dynamics between capitals like Berlin and Brussels, the presidentialism with which Von der Leyen governs, and, the most difficult thing to reverse: a loss of credibility that the European Union is increasingly accentuating in everything related to respect for human rights and international law.