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The Instrumentalization of Euroscepticism by Third Parties

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Book cover The New Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

In January 2016, the European Union’s (EU) Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) reinforced its “differentiation policy” in the “conclusions on the Middle East Peace Process” (MEPP). It highlighted the Union’s position that Israeli settlements products must be clearly labeled in all the 28 member states, and expressed the Union’s “commitment to ensure that—in line with international law—all agreements between […] Israel and the EU must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967” (Council of the EU 2016, Clause 8). While the Council’s conclusions were hailed as a great success by several member states, in the days leading up to the vote the foreign policy document was constantly changed and its criticism of Israel’s colonial project was softened.

This chapter expands on Pardo and Gordon 2018.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In 2015, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) adopted “Guidelines on Communication with Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe”. While the document remains classified, we were told that the Guidelines stipulate three major conditions and considerations: (1) Israeli government ministries and agencies are not allowed to communicate with anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi populist radical right parties, whose leaders and or members call for the destruction of Israel and of the Jewish communities in Europe; (2) the Israeli government will not launch a dialogue with a radical right party if the local Jewish community is against such a dialogue; (3) the Israeli government will consider the positions of “like minded countries” towards the relevant radical right party. Interview with a senior Israeli official, Tel Aviv, 30 March 2017.

  2. 2.

    In June 2017 Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu visited Hungary. It was the first visit by an Israeli PM in over 30 years. During the visit, PM Orban “noted that Hungary recognizes Israel’s right to self defense and also wants other nations to recognize that of Hungary” (Ravid 2017a). “From an Israeli perspective the political statements were very good,” says Barak Ravid, the former diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz, “but it was not about the words. It was all about the music that Netanyahu and Orban played. These two leaders are truly close to each other” (Ravid 2017b).

  3. 3.

    E-mail correspondence between the authors and Cas Mudde, 19 March 2017.

  4. 4.

    Interview with a former top Israeli diplomat, Tel Aviv, 13 February 2017.

  5. 5.

    Interview with a senior Israeli official, Jerusalem, 25 January 2016. In April 2016, following an invitation by the Likud party, Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ -- Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs) and the current Vice-Chancellor of Austria, visited Israel. During his visit, he showed support for Israeli products from the Occupied Territories (OT), despite the EU decision to label them as “settlement products”. The Head of the Likud Court, former Member of Knesset Michael Kleiner, said that the MFA policy of boycotting FPÖ party officials “was wrong, because Strache is a friend of Israel. It was decided that if the anachronistic and stupid boycott of the [MFA] will not be removed, he will come on a private visit,” Kleiner said. Strache “wants to learn about Israel and encourage Europeans to buy Israeli products. How long can we give a cold shoulder to people who want to show us love?” (Keinon and Reuters 2016). In a letter from June 2017 to PM Netanyahu, Strache vowed to do all in his power, “be it legislative or eventually executive, to move the [Austrian] Embassy […] to Jerusalem”. In the letter he also asserted Israel’s “right to build wherever is required in the Land of Israel” (Ahern 2017).

  6. 6.

    Interview with a senior Israeli diplomat, Tel Aviv, 13 February 2017.

  7. 7.

    The member states of this regional group are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Romania. The group aims at boosting the partnership between its members in cases of common security challenges and increased migratory pressure.

  8. 8.

    The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

  9. 9.

    Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

  10. 10.

    Interview with a senior Israeli diplomat, Brussels, 7 June 2017.

  11. 11.

    Following the discovery of offshore natural gas by Israel and Cyprus, Greece discussed with the two countries the idea of becoming alternative European energy providers, with Greece being the transit state for their gas. In March 2014, however, it was found that the “financial and topographic realities render such a pipeline financially and topographically infeasible” (Good 2014).

  12. 12.

    Interview with senior Israeli and Greek diplomats, Brussels, 7 June 2017.

  13. 13.

    Interview with a senior Israeli official, Jerusalem, 25 January 2016.

  14. 14.

    Interview with senior EEAS official, Brussels, 29 June 2016.

  15. 15.

    Interviews with senior Israeli officials, Jerusalem and Brussels, 25 January 2016 and 29 June 2016.

  16. 16.

    Interviews with senior EEAS official, Brussels, 29 June 2016; 8 June 2017.

  17. 17.

    Interviews with senior EEAS and Greek officials, Brussels, 29 June 2016 and 7 June 2017; Interviews with senior Israeli officials, Jerusalem and Brussels, 25 January 2016, 29 June 2016 and 7 June 2017.

  18. 18.

    Interview with a senior Israeli official, Jerusalem, 25 January 2016.

  19. 19.

    Interview with an EEAS official, Herzliya, 9 May 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Sharon Pardo & Neve Gordon

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  1. Sharon Pardo
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  2. Neve Gordon
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Correspondence to Sharon Pardo .

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  1. Department of International and European Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Spyridon N. Litsas

  2. Department of International and European Studies, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Aristotle Tziampiris

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Pardo, S., Gordon, N. (2019). The Instrumentalization of Euroscepticism by Third Parties. In: Litsas, S.N., Tziampiris, A. (eds) The New Eastern Mediterranean. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90758-1_6

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