The European Commission has left in limbo the review of the European Union’s association agreement with Israel requested by Spain and Ireland almost three months ago, one of the most emphatic measures proposed in Brussels in response to Israeli action in Gaza.
In the midst of the Israeli offensive on Rafah, the territory where 1.5 million Palestinians displaced from their homes by attacks by Benjamin Netanyahu’s army are taking refuge, voices calling for stronger European measures from the EU towards Israel are multiplying. Also the questions about what has happened to the letter request from the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the former Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in which they urged review the European relationship with Israel. “The president has not answered the letter,” said the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, this Tuesday.
Spain and Ireland, two of the countries most critical of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, derived from the Hamas attacks of October 7, are still waiting for Von der Leyen’s response to the letter sent on February 14, according to what they say. European sources. However, within the community Executive there has been a short circuit. Borrell, to whom the letter also appealed as the head of European diplomacy, tried to carry out a debate with the 27 member states on the basis of the association agreement with Israel – the framework that regulates the relationship of the community bloc with that country – and , specifically, on the Spanish and Irish request.
The high representative also wanted to invite the Israeli Foreign Minister, as well as call a meeting of the association council to address the matter. But it did not prosper. There was no consensus among the partners to talk about a possible suspension of this framework, as Madrid and Dublin demanded in their letter. This is one of the main tools of pressure that the EU has on the Government of Israel.
Von der Leyen’s response is pending, who was asked to analyze whether the violations of Israel’s humanitarian legislation in Gaza – with the attacks on the civilian population, and the blockade of humanitarian aid to a Strip that in some areas famine has already been declared, according to the UN food program—may violate the trade agreement, which is based on respect for human rights. But in the community Executive they refer to Borrell’s attempts since there was no consensus to debate the issue as if this attempt at an intermediate debate responded to the question raised by Sánchez and Varadkar.
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A difficult matter forgotten
Several European sources say that it is “difficult” to make an analysis of the situation, but they also accuse Von der Leyen, one of the European voices perceived as closest to Israel, of leaving the issue “forgotten”—her trip to country in which he met with Netanyahu on the day his army launched the offensive on Gaza after the Hamas attacks caused great unrest in several member states. Others blame the problem on the short circuit between departments and the enormous bureaucratic machinery in Brussels.
The EU, like the United States, has warned Netanyahu that attacking Rafah is a red line, but the Twenty-Seven are having a hard time unifying a quick, tough and common response. Among the member countries there are some like Spain, which not only strongly defends the two-state solution, but also leads an initiative for the recognition of the Palestinian State, to which it has added Ireland, Malta and Slovenia; also to Norway, outside the EU.
The analysis that Madrid and Dublin asked of Von der Leyen is also a way of putting on the table that the association agreement with Israel is one of the EU’s levers to pressure Netanyahu. Others are to impose sanctions – a group of violent settlers from the West Bank has already been included on the list and it took months to reach an agreement -, an arms embargo or the recognition of the Palestinian State, as Spain wants to do.
But although the Twenty-seven have toughened their tone on Israel – last month the EU for the first time clearly called for a ceasefire based on the UN Security Council resolution – it would be difficult to achieve unanimous approval to suspend the treaty with the Jewish State, signed by both parties in 1995 and in force since 2000. In any case, only a qualified majority is required to suspend any of its clauses. There are already similar antecedents. A few days ago, Turkey announced the suspension of trade with Israel until a permanent ceasefire is reached and humanitarian aid is allowed to enter the Strip.
The agreement is one of the oldest between the community club and a third country and involves commercial exchanges by both parties for more than 63,000 million euros annually in goods and services; For Israel, that amount represents close to 25% of all commercial transactions with the world, according to data from the European Commission.
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