Catherine Field: France Correspondent on the European Union's response to the Gaza peace deal

A complicated road could lie ahead for Gaza despite world leaders declaring peace in the Middle East.

Donald Trump's signed a ceasefire agreement at a summit in Egypt along with the heads of Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar.

It follows a prisoner and hostage swap between Israel and Hamas.

The EU has effectively been sidelined, France Correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking, and is looking at how they can help the Palestinian Authority get back some credibility and clamp down on corruption.

They’re also continuing what they have been doing, she says, which is providing financial support to Palestine and the West Bank.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In France. Catherine Field, morning to you, Good morning match.
So Macron's there, what's the vibe in the EU? What
is the future of the EU and all these countries.
What are you going to do for the Middle East?
Do we have a plan?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, very difficult for the EU to have a plan,
where in the fact that the last couple of months
the EU has been making it very clear about what
they think about Israeli actions in Gaza and on the
West Bank. Essentially they are sidelined so much so that
now they're just retrenching and looking at how they can

(00:32):
help the Palestinian authority get back some credibility, get some
sort of clamped down on the corruption, and of course
what the EU has always been doing in Palestine, Palestine
and on the West Bank that whole area has been
financial support. Over the last two years, they've put in
around a billion New Zealand dollars, so of course that's

(00:54):
going to be needed, particularly in Gaza. They're also training
police and they think they will have to support those
border areas such as the Raffa boarding crossings. So essentially
back to what it was on the sidelines, leaving everything
to the Americans and the israelis.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh okay, Well, actually, while I've just got you on
the war as wars, the tomahawk comments from Trump this morning,
you might give the Ukrainians. Is that a game changer?
Do we still think about the Ukrainian War? Were just
obsessed with the Middle East at the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
If you're in Europe, you're still thinking about the Ukraine War.
Let me tell you that, Muke. Yeah, it would be
a game changer. And we've also heard over the weekend
that the US military have provided the Ukrainian military with
targets within Russia, particularly strategics to targets such as oil refineries,
that sort of thing. So, yeah, the game is changing.

(01:47):
Of course, we're getting into winter. You know, it's been
a year since we were all worried about what was
going to happen. Russia has gained very little territory and
has lost a lot of its manpower. Ever, starting to
see a lot of reports from Russia, particularly about things
like petrol shortages, about people actually having to get used
to not having Wi Fi because a lot of the

(02:09):
Wi Fi the equipment has turned off to try and
use it for drones drone technology, So it's starting to
affect them in Russia. But as we've always said, the
war will go on until Pilton wants it to stop.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Explain how this works. So the guy who was there
for twenty seven days quits, then he gets reappointed and
then in a sign of some hope that he had
revolutionized as cabinet, but he doesn't. So you've got the
same PM, the same cabinet. How does doing the same
thing change it?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Ah, you would be talking about France's second government in
a week, Mike. Yes, lots of tantrums going on over
the last week, but yes, we do have another government
and it's going to could well be a short lived one.
He came up with the new government yesterday, a lot

(02:58):
of the same figures there. Senior civil servants brought in
a couple of well regarded figures from the civil society
and there It's going to come to a crunch, probably
within about twenty four hours, Mike, because we getting to
the point where the government has to put constitutionally it
has to put the budget for next year before Parliament.

(03:20):
They're going to do that tomorrow. The new Prime Minister
is going to give a policy speech to Parliament on
Tuesday afternoon. The far left and the far right in Parliament,
who were left out of all the negotiations about who
was going to be in the new government. They have
already tabled a motion for a no confidence vote in
this new government.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh game, Well, we'll see how that one goes for you.
By the way, that in and out of the EU
passport control and entry is that running like a Swiss
train or a knife.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, if you're anywhere near where it's working, yeah, I
mean this is the new entry and exit system. You're
going to really start noticing it for people who are
traveling into the external areas of Shingham, particularly from the
UK into France. Essentially, it's that enhance passport check at
the external borders. It's going to mean facial scan and

(04:09):
fingerprints for people coming into the wider Shingan area.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
That's to talk Katherine Caffernfield in France for us this morning.
Just the other thing of night, by the way, and
keep an eye on this. The Dutch government had gone
and annexed a company called next Perier. They're Chinese dyeing
their chip maker. They're based in the Netherlands, so they're
looking to protect the supply of European semiconductors. There are
quote unquote serious governance shortcomings. December last year, the US

(04:34):
government placed wing Tech. Wing Tech own next Perier. They
placed wing Tech on their so called entity list. They
identified the company as national security concern so there could
be some tension between the EU and China in the
next week. For more from the my Casking Breakfast listen
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