Brussels – The day after, and even before, the very moment after the announcement of the two-week ceasefire in Iran, the European Union is abuzz with jubilant comments and a flurry of activity. The news is the sort that is welcome and longed for: the economy and politics can breathe a sigh of relief, but can the EU really rejoice? For weeks, stammering and barely visible, the European Union and its key players seemed relegated to the role of extras. Certainly, the diplomacy on which the club of 27 has so heavily insisted is, above all, work carried out behind the scenes, far from the spotlight, but the methods and timing of the Europeans’ actions are striking.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, announced a two-day mission to Saudi Arabia, from today until tomorrow (8 and 9 April), with a ceasefire already in place. The President of the Council, Giorgia Meloni, organised a tour of the Gulf States while bombing was taking place, demonstrating that diplomatic action and pressure could have been taken even earlier. What stands out, at the height of the crisis, is the absence of the head of what little foreign policy the EU actually has, followed by a resurgence once others had done the work. Added to this is the pleased comment by Ursula von der Leyen thanking Pakistan for its mediation – a mediation the EU was unable to take charge of due to the need to please the United States. The President of the European Commission showered Iran with accusations and criticism, and this does not allow one to be a mediator.
I welcome the two-week ceasefire the US and Iran agreed last night. It brings much-needed de-escalation.
I thank Pakistan for its mediation.
Now it is crucial that negotiations for an enduring solution to this conflict continue.
We will continue coordinating with our partners…
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) 8 April 2026
The EU executive, moreover, is not changing its stance: Brussels continues to view Iran as the root of all problems. Kallas’s spokesperson, Anouar El Anouni, once again criticised “Iran’s indiscriminate attacks on neighbouring territories,” without considering the reasons behind these actions. The aggression by the United States and Israel is neither mentioned nor taken into account. In the negotiation process now beginning, however, “the EU’s priority is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to halt its destabilising activities such as ballistic missile attacks and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a common good.” But it is regarding Kallas’s mission to Saudi Arabia that El Anouni reveals: “The fact that the High Representative is in the region today is, in itself, the activation of the best tools at our disposal.” That is to say, diplomacy, activated by the European official’s own admission, only now.
European Council President Antonio Costa has also reappeared in public via social media to congratulate Pakistan and to assure that “the EU is ready to support the ongoing efforts and remains in close contact with its partners in the region.” This is Europe, the day after, once the diplomacy of others has run its course.
In this context, the Belgian government, in a statement, is shifting its focus to Lebanon, which is the target of Israel’s anti-Hezbollah offensives. “The escalation of violence in the region continues…,and the humanitarian situation continues to worsen,” a warning that sounds like a criticism of the Jewish state’s operations in the Land of the Cedars.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
