On 22 June 1967, less than two weeks after the June 1967 war had ended, the European Parliament (EP) held a debate on what was called ‘the situation in the Middle East’. The rapporteur, Fernand Dehousse, opened the debate by particularly deploring the ‘lack of a politically united Europe at this juncture’, which ‘was a marvellous opportunity for the Six to work out the first elements of a common foreign policy’, according to Dehousse (Bulletin of the EEC 8-1967: 82). Members of the Parliament from all party groups unanimously supported Israel, with René Pleven, the representative of the Liberal and Allied Group stating:

The representative of the Christian Democrat Group, Henri Moreau de Melen, stated that it would be more profitable to discuss the consequences of the war than its cause, and that it was of no great consequence who had fired the first shot. He went on to deplore the fact that Europe had not yet made sufficient progress to be able to present a concerted policy (Bulletin of the EEC 8-1967: 82). The representative of the Socialist Group, Ludwig Metzger, stated that the Middle East crisis did not permit neutrality, and that Israel, whose survival was at stake according to the representative, must be supported (Bulletin of the EEC 8-1967: 82).