EU foreign ministers reject proposal to suspend association agreement with Israel | European Union

The EU is divided on imposing sanctions on Israel, although some member states have criticized the country for the plight of Gaza and violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that proposals to partially suspend the EU-Israel association agreement remain on the table, but states must change their positions for it to come into force. “We didn’t see that today, but these discussions will continue,” he told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday.

Kallas rejected criticism that the bloc’s approach to Israel involved double standards; This is an accusation leveled by some EU members and has raised doubts about the impact of sanctions. “Would suspension of the partnership agreement stop expansion?” [by Israeli settlers] In the West Bank? “And you know that’s probably not true.”

Separately, he said the EU would add to wide-ranging restrictions on Iran by imposing new sanctions on Iranians who limit free movement in the Strait of Hormuz. He said the EU would aim to impose sanctions in May.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia pressed Kallas to resume part of the suspension of Israel’s association agreement with the EU, which was proposed last autumn but never achieved majority support.

The three countries, historically defenders of Palestinian rights, wrote to Kallas last week describing “unbearable” conditions in Gaza, with continued violations of the ceasefire, inadequate inflow of humanitarian aid and increased violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said on Tuesday: “We cannot do this while Israel continues on the path of permanent war. [run our relations] Likewise.”

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, who has been among the loudest European critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, last weekend called on the EU to end its association agreement with Israel.

“It was clear that we had to raise our voices on the issue of sanctions,” Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot said, citing West Bank settler violence that had reached “unprecedented levels” and the Israeli parliament’s vote for the death penalty. “There are clearly serious attacks on the principles regarding the rights and values ​​of the EU that regulate this agreement,” he said, referring to Article 2 of the EU-Israel agreement.

Kathleen Van Brempt, the Belgian vice-president of the European Parliament, speaking on behalf of the Socialists on trade, said the EU was undermining its credibility as a defender of human rights. “The failure of both the European Commission and EU member states to act in accordance with international law, human rights and their own values ​​and beliefs makes Europe complicit in the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel,” he said.

Germany said the offer to suspend the agreement was inappropriate. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said: “We must talk to Israel about critical issues. This needs to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel.”

The cancellation of the association agreement requires unanimous consent from the EU’s 27 member states, but a partial suspension only requires a weighted majority of the 15 member states representing 65% of the EU population. Assuming the support from last autumn remains constant, either Germany or Italy will need to change their positions.

Amnesty International issued harsh criticism, accusing the EU of a “moral failure” that showed “a brazen disdain for civilian lives, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon”.

The NGO was among 70 groups that called for the EU-Israel deal to be suspended last week. In separate initiatives, more than 1 million people and nearly 400 senior EU diplomats and officials made the same demand from EU leaders.

Adding to pressure from another direction, France and Sweden called on the European Commission to “urgently consider” imposing tariffs on products from illegal settlements in the West Bank and imposing restrictions on exports to those areas. Kallas said he would discuss this proposal with the European trade commissioner.

The commission, which is responsible for EU trade policy, has previously said the goods came from Israeli settlements that come under Israeli administration. June 1967 is not entitled to preferential treatment. “Under the EU-Israel association agreement, only products of Israeli origin are granted trade privileges,” a spokesman said in March.

Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said one of the main problems facing the Palestinian Authority was the encroachment of Palestine by violent settlers, which was “sometimes tolerated, even supported, by the Israeli government and the IDF.” [Israel Defense Forces]”.

Norway, which is not a member of the EU, played a historic role in attempts to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It was among the first governments to recognize the Palestinian state in the last wave of support.

The minister also called on Israel to release Palestinian “clearance revenues”, taxes and customs duties, which are the main source of revenue for the Palestinian Authority but collected by Israel under the Oslo accords brokered by Norway. Transfer of revenues suspended by Israel since May 2025; This creates problems for authorities in paying teachers, doctors, garbage collectors and police officers. “This is not asking Israel to do anything extra. This is just to do something that they are already legally obliged to do. This is our number one request and it must happen immediately,” the minister said.

He declined to comment on what the EU should do, but said: “I think it is important to make it clear to Israel that we expect Israel to comply with international law and that it is now well established that the occupation is entirely illegal,” he said, referring to the 2024 opinion of the UN’s international court of justice.

The Israeli government has hit back at critics of the EU, accusing Sánchez in particular of hypocrisy and double standards. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said the Spanish government had received thanks from “Iran’s brutal regime and terrorist organisation”, adding that the government was “dedicated to spreading anti-Semitism”. published the statement in xNext to a photo showing a poster of Sánchez’s face and criticism of Israel’s war against Iran against an Iranian missile.

Additional reporting by Sam Jones in Madrid