EU’s Borrell urges international community to ‘pressure’ Israel for a ceasefire

by Fernando Heller

The international community must pressure on Israel to achieve a ceasefire and "end the tragic situation" in the Middle East, EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

Speaking at the second session of the ninth Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Forum in Barcelona on Monday, Borrell urged the 43 countries attending the meeting to reach a consensus on putting pressure on Israel to end what he called "the most serious and acute humanitarian crisis since the Second World War".

“We have to do more than just show our concern (about the conflict in Gaza),” Borrell who is also of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE (S&D) said while noting that Palestinian recognition and the two-state solution are the only options for long-lasting peace and stability in the region.

To ensure peace, there is a need to start working fast

“Implement. This is the key word. Not just to say that we support, but to start doing things. To move on to action, to act so that this solution is implemented”, Borrell said about working towards achieving a two-state solution, EFE reported.

On Monday morning, Borrell also expressed concern about the ’Italian-Albanian model’ of outsourcing the management of migration flows to countries outside the EU.

“At the moment, there is a tendency in the EU, led by some countries, to resort to ‘offshoring’ the care of asylum seekers”, Borrell told Spanish public broadcaster Radio Nacional de Espana (RNE).

Borrell also criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to Georgia after the EU called for an investigation into election ‘irregularities’ in the recent elections in that country.

“I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that whatever Mr Orban says on his visit to Georgia, he does not represent the European Union”, Borrell told RNE.

Concrete steps towards a two-state solution

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (PSOE) echoed Borrell’s words on the two-state solution, saying on Monday that it was time to "turn words into deeds" to try to achieve its implementation, adding that it was the best way to end the protracted conflict in the region.
In May this year, Spain joined Norway and Ireland in recognising Palestinian statehood, prompting harsh criticism from Israel and several subsequent diplomatic spats between Madrid and Tel Aviv over deep divisions within Sanchez’s progressive coalition government over the conflict.

In this sense, according to Albares, the recognition of the Palestinian state "is also a guarantee of security for Israel and for the whole region".

Meanwhile, Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs, Ayman Safadi, also spoke along the same lines at the Barcelona meeting, stressing that the only alternative to the two-state solution is "more war and apartheid".

*first published in: Euractiv.com