On Wednesday 3 January, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced that the EU was considering a mission in the Red Sea, following missile attacks on several ships by the Yemeni Houthis.
“We are going to present a proposal to the Member States to create a mission that can contribute to security in the Red Sea”, he announced at the Seminário Diplomático 2024 in Lisbon.
Mr Borrell pointed out that the creation of such a mission would require unanimity and a certain number of procedures, and that this could not be sorted “overnight”.
This could be a specific ad hoc mission to escort and protect merchant ships crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with the participation of countries wishing to be involved.
According to the High Representative, while some were proposing to extend the Atalanta mission – which is combatting piracy off the coast of Somalia – to other tasks, not only on the Somali coast, but also on the coast of the Red Sea, Spain, which currently has a ship in Atalanta, was opposed to this because, in Madrid’s view, “these are two completely different things that deserve to be treated differently”.
In a joint statement on 3 January, the governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom warned that the Houthis would be responsible for the consequences if they continued to threaten human lives, the global economy and the free flow of trade on the region’s critical waterways. According to these countries, nearly 15% of the world’s maritime trade passes through the Red Sea, including 8% of world trade in grain and liquefied natural gas and 12% of maritime trade in oil.
Recalling that the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea were undoubtedly also linked to the war in Gaza, Mr Borrell also spoke of the situation in Lebanon. “What happened with the death of one of the leaders of Hamas [killed in an Israeli strike on 2 January, editor’s note] is an additional factor that could push the conflict to an escalation”, he warned. The High Representative is due to visit Lebanon on Friday 5 January. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)