European leaders doubled down on Thursday in refusing to join the United States and Israel’s military campaigns in the Middle East as they gathered in Brussels to deal with rising oil and gas prices caused by the war.
European leaders have rejected US President Donald Trump’s requests to send military equipment to secure the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for the flow of oil, gas and fertilizers around the world.
However, rising energy prices due to war and Europe’s fear of a new refugee crisis have forced leaders to make the Middle East a priority at the summit.
“We are very concerned about the energy crisis,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said before the conference. He said electricity prices were very high before the war, but said the conflict “caused another rise.”
“If that takes shape, we’re in big trouble,” he said.
The conference was expected to focus on defeating Hungary’s opposition to lending more money to Ukraine, but conflicts in Iran and Lebanon reshaped the agenda.
European leaders have been highly critical of the Iranian government, but no one has offered immediate help to the US and Britain has flatly refused to be drawn into the war. France says the war must end first.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said that Europe “will not allow itself to be tied down” to join the military campaign of the United States and Israel in the Middle East.
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“Europe – and Austria too – will not agree to be tied down,” he said ahead of a European Council summit of 27 EU leaders. “Intervention in the Strait of Hormuz is not an option for Austria anyway.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there was “no appetite” for leaders to increase the European military force in the Red Sea to help protect the Strait of Hormuz or join the conflict.
Looking forward to the end of the war
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the war must end before his country can help with things like keeping shipping lanes clear.
“We can and will commit ourselves only when the arms remain silent,” he said of possible German military support for shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz. “We can do a lot, open the sea lanes and keep them clear, but we don’t do it during an ongoing war.”
He said that would require an international mandate, among other complex steps, “before we consider such an issue.”
Although the EU is not a party to the conflict, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he understood the US and Israeli reasons for launching a campaign against the “brutal” government of Iran. He called on the EU to increase both sanctions on Iran and support the opposition groups in Iran
“We are against this war because it is illegal,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. “It causes great damage to the people, of course, the refugees and the economic consequences for the whole world, especially in the southern part of the world, which is already suffering.”
Trump has talked about NATO funding to clear the Strait of Hormuz but has not formally requested it, said Evika Silina, the prime minister of Latvia, one of 23 of the 27 EU countries that are NATO members.
“If there are going to be legitimate requests, I think we should always evaluate those requests.”
There is no single fix for the EU’s various energy markets
The European Commission told leaders that it has a mix of financial instruments that member states can use to lower electricity prices, which will be discussed. No single policy would work to cushion the economic shock from war across the bloc’s markets from Romania to Ireland.
EU leaders are hoping that their experience of relinquishing Russian power after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and building up the bloc’s military spending to become independent will enable them to do the same for independence.
While some European officials have called for a freeze or scrapping of climate policies to avoid the worst recent spike in electricity prices as a result of the war, others have argued that the EU’s long-term energy strategy should be home-grown energy out of vulnerable fuel markets.
The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said that “energy means security” and that the EU should “build our own power to produce our own energy, because it is the only way to security.”
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