Ahlan wa Sahlan, good afternoon!
Prime Minister, dear Mohammed Mustafa,
Ministers,
Excellencies, dear colleagues, 
Ladies and gentlemen, 
Dear guests, dear friends, 
 

Let me welcome you all very warmly to today’s gathering in order to mark together Europe Day. We are particularly honoured to have with us the Prime Minister: dear Mohammad Mustafa, thank you very much for your presence. Let me also thank the Ministers who are with us today. Since the inception of this government, about a year ago, the EU and your government, Prime Minister, had the pleasure and privilege to develop a ever-increasing deep relationship, a true partnership, working hand in hand for the benefit and the well-being of the Palestinian people. I wish to express here my profound admiration for your leadership, for your steady engagement, for your constancy and your optimism, and also praise the significant achievements made over the past year, in extremely difficult circumstances.

Let me also welcome – equally wholeheartedly – the many partners and interlocutors, whether para-governmental, or from civil society or from the business circles, who are present here today; you are essential interlocutors for the international community and a necessary complement to the relationship we have developed with the Palestinian Authority.

This is my first Europe Day in Ramallah – I guess most of you, if not all, had a chance to see me or meet me before today. I started my mandate as the Representative of the European Union in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in September 2023; needless to explain how much of a steep start and learning curve this has been. The last year ½ unfolded in an unprecedented way; never has the situation been more tragic for the Palestinian people and for the region at large. Daily, our thoughts are with our friends, our colleagues and the people of Palestine, who undergo 
unimaginable losses and sufferance.

Tomorrow is the 9^th of May, Europe Day. 

It is the day of the Schuman Declaration of 1950, a day of peace, the birth act of our European Union. As an Alsacian, whose family was deeply affected both by WW I and WWII, I value this commemoration very dearly. 

Robert Schuman, together with the other founding fathers (namely Jean Monnet, Alcide de Gasperi and Konrad Adenauer) had the aim to secure peace in Europe after the horrors of WWII - and the many wars that preceded. 

How? 

Through cooperation among countries (not least France and Germany), by encouraging them to pull sovereignty in key economic areas (coal + steel), making them truly interdependent and preventing rearmament and warfare. What was back then a risky bet with a good dosis of idealism – matched with an equal amount of pragmatism and determination (some would add: and a tiny push from America) – has proven to be a success story that unfolded and consolidated over 75 years, a success story, we can legitimately be proud of [and that could be repeated elsewhere in the world]. From the early stages on, the European Union committed to defend and promote a rules-based international order, engaging with countries around the world, working on solutions and building partnerships. The EU is part of the international order – and aims at contributing to shape it, whether bilaterally or in a multilateral forum like the United Nations, with whom we share the same DNA.

The European Union is the concrete political and human manifestation of reconciliation and solidarity; it is the firm commitment of peoples looking together towards a common future.

The European Union is the living proof that coexistence and cooperation can win over ashes, tears and destruction; it is the proof that justice and fairness can prevail for all.

It is also in that spirit – and with that determination – that the European Union promotes and defends its values beyond its borders. 

Yes, we Europeans sometimes fail – and we have been failing, but this was and must remain the beacon of our diplomatic actions. And this is certainly what motivates us on a daily basis – myself and my colleagues at the EU Representation office, as well as my colleagues from EU Member States (if I may speak on their behalf in that respect).

While gathering here this afternoon, in this peaceful place, our minds and thoughts are inevitably with our friends and colleagues, and the people of Palestine, whether in the Gaza Strip, where military operations of an unprecedented scale never stopped and where famine is unfolding, or in the West Bank – from Jenin or Tubas all the way down to Masafayer Yatta – and closer to us in East Jerusalem, in Silwan or Shuafat, where cities are being raided and destroyed, where private houses and community buildings are being demolished, where violence is being perpetrated repeatedly by settlers, where expropriations and displacements of populations have become the new norm, where schools and health centres are being shut down (and even raided), where lives are being destroyed, where hope is being shattered in pieces.

Let me throw back a year ago, when we were already facing the unprecedented difficult and saddening circumstances we are in, when the European Union and other international partners were unanimously calling on all parties for a cease-fire in Gaza and for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, leading to a permanent end of hostilities. We – unfortunately – have to reiterate this very same call today, after 19 months of war.

Today, the EU repeats its urgent call on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza immediately.

Our message is clear: humanitarian aid must never be politicised or militarised. Aid must reach civilians in need. Voices are speaking louder and louder; it seems that the point of no return was reached. It is indeed high time we come to terms with our hesitations, and that we come close again to the ideals, the values, the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms we hold on to, and that constitute our DNA, as inherited from the EU Founding Fathers I mentioned before.

Yet, none withstanding these unprecedented and difficult circumstances, our partnership with the Palestinian people and their institutions entered a new phase of development, depth and maturity – the road to a true partnership.

The EU was quick in putting up an emergency financial package in the summer of 2024, in concertation with the then new government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa – a government that showed to be determined, hands on, and eager to tackle the long-awaited administrative, institutional, financial and political reforms. My heartfelt praises, thanks and respect go to the Ministers and their teams, who have worked with us relentlessly in order to achieve this significant outcome. 

More recently, on the occasion of the first High Level Political Dialogue between the EU and Palestine, the EU reiterated its unwavering support for the Palestinian People over the next 3 years in the form of a multiannual Comprehensive Support Programme worth up to € 1.6 billion.

We are, more than ever, committed to engage with and in favour of the Palestinian people, in the whole of the Palestinian Territory, whether financially or politically. We have not – and we will not – let you down!

We will continue supporting the government – that is actively working on the jointly identified reforms – in order to help paying salaries, social allowances, hospital referrals (notably in East Jerusalem); we will continue being present on the ground, daily (as was the case in Jenin yesterday, in Birzeit and Shuafat two days ago, last week in Tubas and Nablus), in order to see, to witness, to report, to show solidarity, to engage with all stakeholders (notably youth, civil society, business circles, religious communities), to discuss, and to shape policies together. Let me express my special thanks to my colleagues Karin LIMDAL, Head of Mission of EUPOL COPPS, and Nataliya APOSTOLOVA, Head of EUBAM Rafah, for the incredible work they have done with their teams respectively in the West bank and at the Rafah Crossing Point.

We will continue to help fostering Palestinian identity through culture, supporting artist and cultural institutions, particularly in East Jerusalem.

We will continue to defend the universal character of Jerusalem, a city where all communities should equally enjoy living together, enjoy freedom of access to their holy places of worship, share a common space in peace.

Here as well, we will not backtrack, notwithstanding the difficulties.

Although being given a hard time, hope regenerates itself. There are sign of positive change over the coming weeks, with significant diplomatic steps being announced, or with civil society initiatives taking place, like the one in Jerusalem over the next days.

Future will tell.

All I know is that this region of the world deserves better – that its people have suffered more than their fair share, and that it is our responsibility as international community, as diplomats, as political decision-makers, and as individual human beings, to spare no effort to achieve this, in the true spirit of Europe. 

Thank you all for being here – let me welcome you once more very warmly – and I express the sincere wish for a better and brighter future for Palestine and for the whole region. 

Choukran ! Thank you ! Merci !