‘Stunned, sidelined and disunited’: how war in the Middle East paralysed the EU

<p>Amid fears the conflict will strengthen Russia, Ursula von der Leyen’s embrace of US-backed regime change already looks like a doomed strategy</p><p>• <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/22/this-is-europe-sign-up-guardian-email-updates">Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here</a></p><p>The message from Ursula von der Leyen was blunt. “Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old-world order” and needs a “more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy”. In a major foreign policy <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_576">speech</a> this week, the European Commission president said the EU would always “defend and uphold the rules-based system” but in a precarious and chaotic world, that could no longer be relied upon. On the day she spoke, missiles were raining down on Tehran and southern Iran as the war entered its 10th day, proving her point.</p><p>Reverberating around Europe, the Middle East conflict has triggered a range of responses. France is sending a dozen naval vessels to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. EU officials convened an ad-hoc <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/09/iran-war-live-updates-new-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-oil-prices-soar?filterKeyEvents=false&amp;page=with%3Ablock-69aedd7d8f089ad20518767f#block-69aedd7d8f089ad20518767f">summit with Middle Eastern leaders</a> in a show of solidarity with the region. EU humanitarian aid for Lebanon is being dispatched to help 130,000 people, after at least half a million were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/06/thousands-flee-israeli-bombs-beirut">displaced by Israeli bombs and evacuation orders</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/11/stunned-sidelined-and-disunited-how-war-in-the-middle-east-paralysed-the-eu">Continue reading...</a>

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