Costa And Von Der Leyen Diverge Sharply On Iran War

By Eddy Wax

(EurActiv) -- The leaders of the European Union’s two most powerful institutions are publicly clashing over the legitimacy of the US and Israeli war in Iran, and how the bloc should respond.

“It is in our interest to ensure that the world remains rules-based and cooperative,” said Council President António Costa in a speech to the EU’s 145 ambassadors on Tuesday, in a rebuke of remarks delivered a day earlier by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the same conference.

On Monday, von der Leyen urged the EU to take a more hard-nosed approach to the new era of geopolitical rivalry, and said the debate about the necessity of the war in Iran “partly misses the point.” She ruffled feathers by suggesting that the “old-world order”, as she termed it, is essentially defunct.

Costa and von der Leyen have, until now, gone out of their way to project unity. They have frequently issued joint statements to turn the page on the fractious inter-institutional relationship that marked the tenure of former Council President Charles Michel, who chaired leaders’ meetings until 2024.

The two leaders also put out a short joint statement on Iran on 28 February, after the first US and Israeli strikes, calling on “all parties” to “fully respect international law”.

But since then, their positions have moved apart, in part according to party lines. Von der Leyen has largely echoed the realpolitik tone of her centre-right allies. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said soon after the first strikes that he did not want to lecture Donald Trump about international law.

Costa, by contrast, has taken a stance closer to that of his fellow socialist in Spain, Pedro Sánchez, who has warned of the dire consequences of abandoning the rule of law across the world. The EU’s “first” mission is to uphold the “rules-based international order”, Costa said.

“Unilateralism can never be the path forward,” he stressed, repeating a line he first delivered on Friday in Hamburg. It is the closest any EU leader has come to openly criticising the US-Israeli attacks.

“It is vital that the EU speaks with one voice to defend its values and its interests,” Costa added.

For now, that may be the only point of consensus. EU leaders broadly agree the bloc should project unity on foreign policy. But they don’t agree on what it should be – or whose voice should carry it.