Similarly, when E.U. Foreign Ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss “how to better protect shipping in the region,” they debated a potential expansion of the Aspides mission—an E.U. naval operation launched in 2024 in the Red Sea as a response to Houthi attacks on international shipping—but ultimately decided against it.
Ahead of the most recent summit, Kaja Kallas, the European Commission’s high representative for foreign affairs, attempted to create a distance from the conflict, telling reporters: “Member states do not have an appetite to go to this war.”
“There is no international law basis,” she said, highlighting the dilemma facing the E.U. leadership. “If you think about using force, for example, there are two cases: one is self-defense, and the other one is under the U.N. Security Council resolution, as there is no such thing at this moment.”
European Council President António Costa, chair of the summit, said the “military escalation in the Middle East is causing global instability and its negative consequences are already being felt in Europe.”