The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group welcomed the formal end to hostilities in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, but warned that the ceasefire will remain dangerously fragile unless it is followed by the credible disarmament of Hamas.

ECR Co-Chairman Nicola Procaccini said:

“This agreement is dangerously precarious, and the most difficult point of the plan is the disarmament of Hamas – the terrorist network that keeps the men and women of Gaza hostage.”

He argued that the only sustainable path to peace lies in advancing the framework first launched under President Trump and supported by Israeli, Palestinian, Arab and European partners.

Procaccini also took aim at members of the Left who, he said, seem unable to accept that it was President Trump who first made such a peace plan possible.

He said:

“Not everyone in this chamber showed the same relief – some seemed to have lost the toy with which they liked to play at being revolutionaries.”

“A left-wing MEP posted on social media celebrating Hamas for the executions of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel – ‘One by one’, it was written. Congratulations – and you would call yourselves pacifists?”

Concluding his remarks, Procaccini drew a broader parallel with Europe’s wider security challenges, observing that the same determination to preserve stability should guide EU policy both in the Middle East and in Ukraine. On behalf of his Group, he reaffirmed the ECR’s commitment to peace through strength, realism and the defence of human dignity against terrorism and ideological extremism.

ENDS

Procaccini’s full speech reads:

Thank you, Mr President. In the last plenary we welcomed with joy the end of the war in Gaza — the release of the Israeli hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid through crossings finally reopened. Not everyone in this chamber showed the same relief. The expression on many colleagues’ faces was rather that of those who have lost the toy with which they like to play at being revolutionaries on a sailing boat.

Some even seem to be in pain over this peace agreement because they consider it a betrayal of the Palestinian cause, carried out by the Palestinians themselves. A surreal thesis. Unfortunately, it is true that this agreement is dangerously precarious, and it is so because the most difficult point of the plan is the disarmament of Hamas — the terrorist network that keeps the men and women of Gaza hostage. Now the question is: whose side are you on? A Left MEP posts on social media celebrating Hamas for the executions of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel. “One by One” was written. One by one, they must be taken and killed. Congratulations — and you would call yourselves pacifists?

We Conservatives believe we must proceed with the peace plan advanced by President Trump, endorsed by Israelis and Palestinians as well as Arab states and European partners. Also because its stabilising and security effects would extend throughout the Middle East, and with some optimism even beyond.

Today it seems possible to consider a freeze in the line of conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We would welcome that as good news. I do not think it would be the same for other colleagues in this chamber. I mean those who like to call themselves pacifists, but who become excited by war.