[Axios] Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania, in coordination with Israel, today blocked a joint EU statement criticizing the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Israeli officials and European diplomats told me.| Oh my. |
According to European diplomats and Israeli officials, the draft statement circulated in European capitals had three points:
o Jerusalem should be the capital of both states ‐ Israel and the future state of Palestine.
o The final status of Jerusalem should be negotiated and only determined through negotiations between the parties.
o The member states of the EU will not follow the U.S. and will not move their embassies to Jerusalem.
According to European diplomats and Israeli officials the French and other member states wanted to publish the statement today as a statement by the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini supported by all 28 EU members.
But earlier today, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania announced they object to the statement and made it impossible to reach the consensus needed to publish it.
A senior European diplomat told me with a lot of frustration: "The Hungarians didn't want to poke Trump in the eye and the Czechs and the Romanians are considering to move their embassies to Jerusalem against the EU position. This is the state of the EU these days".
Never been so proud of eastern Europe