State of the Union: von der Leyen bid for re-election, sanctions and Rafah crisis

Ursula von der Leyen will run for re-election and said this week that she is excited about the possibility of a second term as President of the European Commission. An excitement shared by the European People’s Party (EPP), given the notoriety she has gained in the EU and the rest of the world. 

Another highlight of this week was the approval of the 13th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine launched two years ago. The new package targets companies that help Russia obtain sanctioned products, including those based in China, Turkey and North Korea. 

Josep Borrell, the EU’ chief of diplomacy, said that following the death in prison of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the bloc’s Human Rights Sanctions Regime would now have his name.

The proposal was discussed during a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, where there was no consensus on a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Once again, unsurprisingly, Hungary was the only one of the 27 countries holding out, including in calling on Israel not to carry out a ground operation in the city of Rafah.

Around 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering there and the humanitarian catastrophe would reach a new level, the UN warned. Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN’s Development Programme (UNDP), had meetings with the European Commission at the beginning of the week.

Invited by Euronews to discuss a possible evacuation of Palestinians to Egypt in case of an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, Steiner considered it a serious risk.

“The only answer right now is a humanitarian ceasefire. To rely on an evacuation of, you know, maybe a million people who are already internally displaced, under these circumstances, could, as many have said, result in an absolutely catastrophic loss of life,” he said. 

“Therefore, the speculation about where else people could move, I think, is not one that in the UN we consider to be either feasible, nor do we wish to be part of a forced relocation of people,” he added.

Watch the full interview in the video player above.