- Europe needs to ‘move away from this bandwagoning … being very submissive to the US,’ says Belgian MEP Marc Botenga
- ‘There’s European public money going to Israeli institutions. This makes the EU directly complicit,’ Botenga tells Anadolu
BRUSSELS
To become a credible actor in global politics, Europe should stop being a sidekick to the US and carve a path of its own, a member of the European Parliament said.
Marc Botenga, a Belgian member of the European Parliament, told Anadolu: “If Europe wants to be a credible actor, we need to move away from this bandwagoning we have toward the United States, being very submissive to the United States, being a little junior partner to US imperialism.”
He said the EU’s submissive posture toward Washington undermines European interests, from energy prices to the bloc's standing in the Global South.
Botenga, a member of the Left group, said the reason why the EU did not sanction Israel over its ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza was “in part because of our obedience towards the US.”
He also accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of prioritizing her "loyalty" to the US over the security of Europe, referring to her recent statements in which she said: "Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old world order."
"I think these statements by Ursula von der Leyen endanger global security … because they undermine (the) UN-based order. They basically send the signal that Europe doesn't care about international law anymore," Botenga said.
He warned that abandoning international law leads to a world of unchecked violence.
“The world where it is normal to kill scientists like Israelis and the United States are doing now in Iran, a world where it's normal to kidnap presidents like the United States did in Venezuela, a world where it's normal to … completely asphyxiate a country, like they're doing with Cuba by not allowing oil to get to the country, a world where genocide is acceptable, as in Palestine.”
- Israel’s approval of death penalty for Palestinians
Touching upon the Knesset's approval of the death penalty for Palestinians, he said the EU stayed silent on the issue too.
"The EU says, well, this is a fundamental violation of human rights … but we have a partnership agreement with Israel that says that Israel should respect human rights … Why are we not suspending that agreement?" Botenga said.
According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs, 117 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons could be subject to the law.
The bloc expressed "deep concern" over the death penalty law and urged Israel to abide by its international legal obligations, emphasizing that the EU has a "principled position" against capital punishment.
However, Botenga dismissed the move as mere lip service.
"If you do not act upon your rhetoric, there's no sense for people, for other countries to believe and to interact with you as if you were an autonomous power," he added.
- On US, Israeli attacks on Iran
Criticizing von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, he said their recent statements largely omitted the actions of Washington and Tel Aviv, by just asking Tehran to stop attacking countries in the region.
"If you want to be credible on the international stage, you first and foremost, need to accept reality. And the reality here is that Israel and the United States, which are long-standing partners of the European Union, are committing a massive violation of international law," he said.
"They have basically been forgetting about the fact that the United States and Israel have attacked Iran. So they have systematically called for Iran to stop attacking countries in the region," he said.
For over a month, the US and Israel have carried out an air offensive on Iran, killing more than 1,400 people so far, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and infrastructure damage while disrupting global markets and aviation.
Botenga underscored the inconsistency of EU's stance on other conflicts, particularly the Russia-Ukraine war, where the bloc imposed extensive sanctions and robustly backed Ukrainian territorial integrity, actions he contrasted with the relatively restrained reaction toward Israel.
The lawmaker warned that EU inaction not only tarnishes its image but also risks weakening the international system based on respect for human rights and the rule of law.
- 'Ethnic cleansing' in Lebanon
Asked about the possibility of Lebanon becoming "a second Gaza," Botenga responded with alarm, citing statements from Israeli officials as evidence of a deliberate strategy.
"If you listen very carefully to what the Israelis are saying, and if you look at what they're doing in Beirut, in the South of Lebanon, you know, targeting entire villages, emptying spaces. This is ethnic cleansing," he said.
"These are war crimes, but at the same time there's a strategy of occupation, of annexation, of expansion that the European Union would condemn and would act upon if it were any other country," Botenga further added.
Since a cross-border attack by Hezbollah on March 2, Israel has carried out airstrikes and a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire that took effect in November 2024. Lebanese authorities say at least 1,270 people have been killed and 3,750 injured in Israeli attacks since then.
Botenga accused the EU of not only failing to stop the violence but of actively enabling it through existing agreements.
"It's not so much that the European Union has not done anything to stop this. We're in a privileged partnership with Israel. This is extremely bad. It means that there's European public money going to Israeli institutions. This makes the EU directly complicit," the lawmaker said.
