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When the U.S. and Israel struck Iran on Saturday morning, “very few” people in Europe were told beforehand that the airstikes were about to begin, a senior lawmaker in the bloc told CNBC.
“Very few people have been informed,” Hannah Neumann, member of the European Parliament (MEP) and chair of the delegation for relations with Iran, said Tuesday.
She told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” that even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the leader of the EU’s largest economy, “had just been informed a few minutes in advance.”
The lack of notice reflects how, four days into the intensifying conflict in the Middle East, Europe has been largely on the sidelines as its wider economic impact spells potential upheaval for the continent.
