Ukraine is burning, while Brussels is thinking about the Middle East – Politico

At this week’s summit of EU leaders, two conflicts will vie for guests’ attention — the Ukrainian-Russian conflict and the Iran-Israeli conflict. However, Europeans can only influence the former. Nevertheless, paradoxically, the summit will primarily discuss the Middle East, where Europe has significantly less influence than the US.

This is reported by Politico.

The European Union seems determined to “portray vigorous activity to appear as a global power.” According to the draft version of the European Council’s final proposals, bloc leaders are set to persuade Israel to refrain from a strong response to Iran’s strike to avoid a full-scale war. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not heed the calls of the US and EU to cease fire.

“So why bother at all? Why try to influence a region where the EU, unlike the US, Turkey, or Saudi Arabia, is not a heavyweight militarily or politically, especially when the bloc still cannot figure out how to provide sufficient aid and weaponry to Ukraine — the largest country entirely within Europe?” the authors ask.

Opinions are already emerging in Europe that effectively defending Israel against Iranian missiles and drones essentially exposes Western double standards, showing that the West is not ready to provide such assistance to Ukraine, Politico warns.

According to the newspaper, many European diplomats are convinced that the Iranian attack should prompt the EU to focus not on the Middle East but on its own security, for which it is necessary to secure Ukraine. And although Europeans are currently trying to assure that the Ukrainian crisis will remain a priority for them, initiatives to support Kyiv are being implemented extremely slowly — while Russia is advancing in the meantime.