European countries including Spain and Ireland pushed on Tuesday for suspending a European Union pact governing its relationship with Israel, but the bloc remained divided on whether to take action.
Arriving at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, a number of ministers called for suspending or partially suspending the pact over concerns about settlements in the West Bank, the humanitarian situation in Gaza and a new death penalty law.
“Today, Europe’s credibility is at stake,” Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters, calling for a discussion on suspending the association agreement, which came into force in 2000.
Diplomats and some of those attending nevertheless said they did not expect a decision at the meeting, as countries retain diverging positions as to whether – and how – to shift the bloc’s policies on Israel.
The European Commission proposed in September suspending some trade-related provisions of the association agreement, an arrangement affecting about 5.8 billion euros of Israeli exports. Israel said at the time the proposals were ‘morally and politically distorted’.
Suspending the trade arrangement would require a qualified majority vote among EU governments – the support of 15 out of 27 EU members representing 65 per cent of the EU population. A full suspension of the association agreement would require a unanimous decision from all member countries.
Thus far, the European Commission’s proposal has not garnered sufficient support to meet this threshold.
Officials are especially watching Berlin and Rome’s positions, but yesterday Germany and Italy indicated they were sticking to their existing positions.
“We have expressed our criticism regarding the introduction of the death penalty. We warned against taking this step beforehand. We also have a very clear position on settler violence,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters.
Berlin remains committed to creating the conditions for a two-state solution with the Palestinians ‘but this must be done through critical, constructive dialogue with Israel’, he added.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani yesterday said no decisions would be taken as ‘the conditions are not right, either in terms of numbers or politics’.
“I do not believe that blocking the trade agreement is a useful tool, because it would then end up affecting the general Israeli population, who often have nothing to do with the acts committed by the military,” he added.
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