(August 4, 2025)

Gathered online for their regular Mashreq/Maghreb Working Party and despite mounting pressure on Israel over the hunger crisis in Gaza, the 27 EU diplomats still couldn’t reach any qualified majority on a European Commission proposal to cut Israel from partial access to the EU‘s €95 billion Horizon Europe research fund.

“The situation has not changed,” one EU diplomat said, referring to a formal meeting of EU ambassadors last week which also failed to agree to the Commission’s proposal. The diplomat said the issue was now in the hands of the EU’s foreign affairs ministers, who will meet informally on 29 August.