Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday called on other European Union leaders to adopt “stronger language” despite divisions on the conflict in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian sentiment has increased among western youth ahead of a crucial election year, according to Mr Varadkar.
“There's a major issue with [ …] the credibility that the EU has among young people,” Mr Varadkar said as he arrived at a meeting of the EU's 27 leaders in Brussels.
“The majority of voters under 40 in the US as well as the EU now are having more sympathy with Palestinians than with Israelis,” Mr Varadkar told reporters.
“That is a significant change and European leaders need to be wise to that.”
Mr Varadkar did not specify what polls he was referring to. A Gallup poll conducted in March, before the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7, showed that US Democrats had started to favour Palestinians for the first time.
An Economist/YouGov poll published in October pointed at a generational divide in the US with 28 per cent of 18 to 29-year-old respondents favouring Palestinians versus only 6 per cent among those over 65 years old.
A similar trend was found by YouGov last month in the UK, with 37 per cent of respondents aged between 18 and 24 sympathising with Palestinians, a figure which falls to 12 per cent among over-65s.
Both age groups also expressed a high level of indecisiveness on the conflict.
Elections will be held next year in a number of western countries, including European parliamentary elections in June and the US presidential election in November.
Ireland has been one of the most vocal EU countries on the Israel-Gaza conflict. A Hamas-led attack claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis on October 7. More than 18.400 people in the Gaza strip have died in Israel's military response, according to local authorities.
“I think that the EU has lost credibility because of our inability to take a stronger and more united position on Israel and Palestine,” said Mr Varadkar.
Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta have urged EU council president Charles Michel to call for a ceasefire but such a position must be adopted by consensus and there are deep divisions among member states over the conflict. In October, EU leaders agreed on a call for “pauses”.
Seventeen out of 27 EU countries, including Ireland, voted for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the latest UN General Assembly vote on Tuesday, while eight abstained, and two – Austria and the Czech Republic – opposed the call for a ceasefire.
Pointing at the vote, Mr Varadkar said that “the centre of gravity within the EU is moving closer to the position that Ireland has been taking for some time, but still needs to move further, in my view.”
Lack of EU consensus on the conflict has caused the bloc to “lose credibility”, he said.
“We have lost credibility with the Global South, which actually is most of the world, because of what is perceived to be double standards. And there’s some truth to that, quite frankly.”
The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, who also attended Thursday's meeting, said that “more and more countries are leaning on the side of asking for a ceasefire” but declined to comment on the potential outcome of Thursday's discussions.
EU leaders are also expected to discuss proposals to further sanction Hamas leaders. The group was listed as a terror organisation by the EU in 2003 and two of Hamas's senior military commanders were added on Friday to its terror blacklist.
Another topic of discussion supported by France, Belgium and Ireland will be to possibly bar Israeli settlers in the West Bank from Schengen territory. Israelis have visa-free access to the EU.
“I think there is broad consensus that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, while the question of settlers maybe needs to be more fine-tuned,” said an EU official ahead of the meeting.
The US last week decided to withhold visas to Israeli settlers who “undermine peace” in the West Bank.
The two-day discussions in Brussels are expected to be dominated by accession talks for Ukraine and financial support for the embattled country.
In a video address to EU leaders, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for continued support as Hungary threatened to derail the process.
“I ask you one thing today – do not betray the people and their faith in Europe,” said Mr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian leader has just returned from a trip to the US during which he failed to obtain assurances that Congress would pass an aid package with billions for his country.
“Europe must win, agreements must be honoured, and words must matter,” said Mr Zelenskyy.
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
