War between Israel and Iran, Europe’s silence weighs heavily

Tension continues to rise in the Middle East, with the risk that the war between Israel, Lebanon and Iran could degenerate into an ever wider conflict. Every action is followed by a retaliation, with diplomacy essentially powerless. They manage to do little the United States and it’s doing even less Europe.

Working for peace is the only option on the table to prevent the costs of war, first of all human but also economic and geopolitical, from ending up overwhelming any hope of détente in the Middle East. We need more politics and, above all, a policy capable of impacting on the decisions that will be made.

Something, however, moved today. Following the worsening of the crisis in the Middle East, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, urgently convened and chaired this afternoon a telephone conference of G7 leaders. During the conversation, Palazzo Chigi informed, the “firm condemnation of the Iranian attack against Israel” was reiterated. “In a constantly evolving scenario, it was agreed to work jointly to encourage a reduction in tensions at a regional level, starting from the application of Resolution 2735 in Gaza and Resolution 1701 for the stabilization of the Israeli-Lebanese border”. Beyond the technicalities that pass through the almost always unheeded UN resolutions, it is the message that counts. “In expressing strong concern for the escalation of these last hours, it has been reiterated that a conflict on a regional scale is not in anyone’s interest and that a diplomatic solution is still possible”.

In the legitimate positions of the parties involved, including the caution of individual governments, what clashes with the complexity and catastrophic consequences that can derive from what is happening remains the substantial silence of the European institutions.

The recurring question is: What is being done concretely to avoid escalation? It is said to work at every level, both at the political level and with intelligence. But between firm condemnations and generic requests for a ceasefire, Europe’s voice risks being completely irrelevant.

“We are faced with the impotence not only of a country like Italy, but of the entire international community. And the European Union’s inability to implement a common foreign policy, which does not and cannot have – even more so during the rotating EU Presidency entrusted to Orban – but which would serve together with the defense presidency and would be the only way to have an impact”, summarizes Benedetto Della Vedovadeputy of +Europa, speaking at the joint session of the Chamber of Foreign Affairs and Defense commissions.

Without a doubt, the delay accumulated at community level in terms of common defense and one common foreign policy. In the new EU Commission that is being born, there are hopes that Europe will gradually begin to make its voice heard. In the meantime, it is hoped that we can somehow contribute to quickly stabilizing a conflict that is degenerating.