Europe Scrambles To Regain Relevance in Gaza After Trump’s Ceasefire Deal
After being left out of President Donald Trump’s landmark Gaza ceasefire, European leaders are scrambling to reclaim a role in the region’s next chapter. At a high-stakes summit in Brussels this week, the European Union sought to prove that it can be more than just a checkbook in Middle East diplomacy — that it can still shape events, not just fund them.
“We can’t afford to just watch,” said Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden before entering the meeting. “Gaza is not over; peace is not yet permanent.”
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It was a rare moment of candor in a city where policy language usually comes wrapped in bureaucracy. The war in Gaza and the shaky truce that followed have exposed the EU’s chronic problem: It’s the world’s largest donor to the Palestinians, but it has little political clout to match. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it bluntly earlier this month, saying, “Europe has essentially become irrelevant.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas insist that’s about to change. The bloc’s plan: Turn its financial power into leverage—linking aid, border assistance, and reconstruction money to governance reforms and a Gaza free of armed factions. Kallas says Europe “should play a role in Gaza and not just pay.”
Meanwhile, Brussels hosted the EU’s first-ever bilateral summit with Egypt, where von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi agreed on a €7.4 billion strategic partnership. Egypt’s role as a regional gatekeeper—controlling Gaza’s southern border—made the timing hard to miss.
European diplomats privately admit that influence won’t come easy. The ceasefire board chaired by President Trump and administered by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves little room for latecomers. Yet with billions in aid on the line and a promise to rebuild Gaza under strict new conditions, Brussels may have found its way back to the table—if it can prove it belongs there.
