A recurring theme on this blog is the role - actual, potential or (usually) imagined - of the European Union in situations beyond its borders. This article in European Voice accuses the EU of not doing enough to end the blockade of Gaza and by extension contributing indirectly to the flotilla fiasco last week.
It's a familiar pattern: strongly worded statements from commissioners but with very little follow-through. Far from sending ambiguous messages to Israel, as Herremans asserts, the message from Brussels is very clear - inaction. The EU condemns the blockade policy but does not use its potentially considerable leverage to bring about change.
It was not for nothing that the International Crisis Group described the flotilla assault as "a symptom of an approach that has been implicitly endorsed by many."
It's a familiar pattern: strongly worded statements from commissioners but with very little follow-through. Far from sending ambiguous messages to Israel, as Herremans asserts, the message from Brussels is very clear - inaction. The EU condemns the blockade policy but does not use its potentially considerable leverage to bring about change.
It was not for nothing that the International Crisis Group described the flotilla assault as "a symptom of an approach that has been implicitly endorsed by many."
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