EU countries weigh trade ban on Israeli settlements
EU foreign ministers discuss imposing an import ban on products from Israeli settlements, after pressure from a raft of member states.
“Everybody agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says at the start of a meeting in Brussels.
“What is happening in the West Bank is actually making it more and more impossible that the two-state solution ever can come into effect.”
Several EU countries — including Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain — have already imposed their own trade restrictions on Israeli settlements, considered illegal by most of the international community.
Under pressure for the EU as a whole to take measures, the bloc’s executive last week laid out options to curb trade with settlements, including a ban.
“There have been a lot of asks and requests from the member states regarding the ban of the trade with illegal settlements,” Kallas says.
“Let’s see if these options that have been provided now will have a stronger push from member states.”
Diplomats say the debate at a meeting in Brussels is not expected to yield any concrete decisions, but will help to sound out if there is enough support to move forward.
The slow pace of the discussion has angered countries keen to curb trade — with some diplomats accusing the European Commission of dragging its feet.
Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prevot says the options laid out appeared to be more “a bone to gnaw on than a genuine desire to move forward.”
“We are calling for concrete proposals,” he says.
There is disagreement in Brussels as to whether that move would need backing from all 27 member states or just a weighted majority.
Diplomats say that key players Germany and Italy are still undecided on the move.