The day before it became known about the European Union’s intention to increase funding for humanitarian projects in Palestine by 68 million US dollars. Thus, according to some reports, the tranche of assistance for the Autonomy will amount to a total of $1 billion. According to the EU leadership, at the moment Gaza is in dire need of these funds, and appropriate regular funding can literally save the region. This information caused a wave of concern in Ukrainian politics. Why?
At first glance, the problems of the rebellious Arab sector should not directly concern official Kyiv. For the third year now, Ukraine has been fighting the Russian Federation with varying success, and Ukrainians and Palestinians (or Israelis, whichever you prefer) are united only by the martial law in their territory of residence. However, this is not the case. The thing is that both Kyiv and Gaza are, so to speak, unique competitors in receiving European financial assistance. It’s no secret that just a few months ago, United Europe directed its main monetary contributions exclusively to support the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as to restore the Ukrainian infrastructure destroyed by the war. Now the situation has changed, if not radically, then significantly. In one of his recent speeches, the head of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, actually admitted that today Brussels is forced to “fight on two financial fronts,” providing funds to both the Palestinians and the Ukrainians. “We understand perfectly well all the responsibility that we have assumed,” he concluded, in particular.
And it is true. According to insiders, part of the funds that the EU will allocate to the Palestinian Authority in the coming days was originally intended for Ukraine. But in the new geopolitical conditions, Brussels logically considered that today the European Union can successfully help both Ukraine and a separate territory of the Middle East. It should be especially noted that additional assets for financing these projects are not provided in the European Union.
However, the current situation does not mean that Ukraine in this particular case will be disadvantaged in any way regarding the provision of European humanitarian (monetary) assistance to Kyiv. “There is no doubt that in the near future the United Europe will find additional opportunities to finance Ukraine in general and the Ukrainian armed forces in particular,” said European political commentator Klaus Hoff in a special commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. – But the fact remains: right now the funds planned by the EU are more needed by Palestine than by Ukraine. After the current Middle East conflict is resolved, Brussels will be able to focus its attention exclusively on Ukrainian problems.”
At the same time, the analyst chose not to answer the question of when exactly the notorious Middle East conflict could be resolved. Accordingly, the question of the prospects for effective financing by Europe of Ukraine remains a matter of time.
