EU officials who were unhappy about Europe's handling of the Gaza War should file internal grievances instead of going public, the EU Commission has indicated.
"As a member of staff of the European Commission one has the right of freedom of expression, but ... it's not an absolute right," a commission spokesman told press in Brussels on Monday (26 May).
He spoke after more than 2,000 officials from the commission, the EU Parliament, and EU agencies signed a protest letter to their bosses on Gaza that was seen by The Guardian newspaper earlier the same day.
"EU institutions have failed to bring the European Union's political, diplomatic, and economic influence to bear in order to ameliorate the situation in Gaza," the letter said.
A new review of EU-Israel free trade perks by the EU foreign service was "devastatingly late for thousands killed in Gaza", the letter added.
And the EU was guilty of a "double standard", the signatories said, because several member states had told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu he could visit them even though he was wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court.
The EU staff letter comes after Israel killed over 54,000 people in Gaza over the past 20 months of war and amid UN warnings that 1.5 million people were at risk of starvation due to an Israeli aid blockade.
But the commission spokesman said on Monday he had not yet read the letter of complaint and that he would "zoom in on the HR [human resources]" implications of the protest note, instead of tackling its root complaints.
He noted that EU officials' right to issue protest statements was limited by their internal rulebook, the 238-page staff regulation, whose article 17a says: "An official has the right to freedom of expression, with due respect to the principles of loyalty and impartiality".
More than 1,500 EU staff also signed a leaked letter of protest in January and in May last year, while some have held small scale rallies in the EU district in Brussels.
But the commission spokesman said on Monday "dialogue between staffers and the hierarchy has been encouraged", instead of media outreach.
He also advised unhappy staff to rely on "internal letters" and "staff [trade] unions" as appropriate channels to vent their misgivings.
Meanwhile, an EU foreign service spokesman said on Monday the EU was considering "different tracks of sanctions" against Israel, including against "extremist settlers", but sanctions have been "blocked by one member state" until now, alluding to Hungary.
He declined to say when the review of EU-Israel trade relations would be completed.
Some 17 out of 27 EU countries called for the review last week, which could also see Israel excluded from EU science funding.
The EU Commission chief, German conservative Ursula von der Leyen, is firmly pro-Israeli.
But her centre-left Maltese sports commissioner Glenn Micallef also voiced dissent, telling the Politico news website on Monday that he sympathised with Israel boycotts at sporting events.
"When it comes to sports, I think there should be no space in sporting events for those who do not share our values," he said.
Protests against Israeli killing of civilians in Gaza have also continued across European cities and university campuses.
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.