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European Union (EU) foreign ministers blocked a push backed by multiple member states and UN human rights experts to suspend the EU’s special trade agreement with Israel in a meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
The discussion on the measure was called by Spain, Slovenia, and Ireland, who pushed for EU leaders to consider suspending the agreement due to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, violence in the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, and recent passage of Israel’s openly anti-Palestinian death penalty legislation.
“Today, Europe’s credibility is at stake,” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told reporters of the discussion.
The countries, among some of the most outspoken against Israel’s expanding conquests, pushed for the EU to reconsider its association agreement. Such a measure would require a qualified majority vote with the support of 15 out of the 27 EU member states, or countries representing 65 percent of the EU population.
However, Germany’s and Italy’s foreign ministers spoke out against the initiative, while other countries like Denmark and Belgium indicated that there was no hope for the measure to pass. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that “the conditions are not right, either in terms of numbers or politics.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said such a decision “has to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel,” which is not part of the EU.
Meanwhile, the EU’s foreign policy head, Kaja Kallas, said on Tuesday that the EU has agreed to widen sanctions on Iran over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The EU already has sweeping sanctions in place on Iran, but today we also reached the political agreement to widen our sanctions regime to also target those responsible for breaches to freedom of navigation,” said Kallas. “None of us want to see a nuclear armed Iran.”
Advocates have long called for the EU to end its special trade relationship with Israel.
The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, and their 2000 agreement grants Israel preferential access to EU markets. However, states backing the suspension of the agreement cited a human rights clause, under Article 2, that says that “respect for human rights and democratic principles” is an “essential element” of the pact.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for the EU to end the agreement in remarks on Sunday. “A government that violates international law and, therefore, the principles and values of the EU cannot be our partner,” he said.
A group of two dozen UN experts also signed a statement urging the EU to suspend the agreement on Monday.
“Europe faces a clear moral test,” the experts said of the meeting. “The EU cannot credibly claim to uphold human rights while sustaining preferential trade with a State whose conduct has been found by multiple international bodies as amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.”
They say that Israel’s genocide in Gaza, systematic torture, annexation in the West Bank, and more violations reveal “patterns reflect the systematic violation of virtually all human rights and freedoms as a structural feature of Israel’s regime. Impunity is near total, while the victims of atrocities have been constantly dehumanised.”
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