An amendment proposed by members of the European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group and one member of The Left that would have allocated European Union resources toward the “reconstruction” of Iran was blocked on Wednesday.
The proposal, contained in Amendment 61 to the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee’s draft opinion on the EU’s 2027 budget, called for “stable, adequate and predictable funding” for the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood. The bloc’s Southern Neighbourhood comprises 10 partner countries, including Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority.
The amendment called for funding for “the reconstruction of Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran,” even as the United States remains at war with Iran. The U.S. military carried out a new wave of strikes against Iranian targets this week, while Iran retaliated against U.S. forces in the region.
Yifa Segal, managing director of Hetz, an organization that works to counter the misuse of international law, told JNS that the amendment was blocked on Wednesday during negotiations on the 2027 budget, which are “still ongoing.”
