The proposals for alternative sanctions to press the government to stop its brutal offensive in, including one, do not stop stacking on the table of the high representative for EU foreign policy, Kaja Kallas. More and more Member States support – as Madrid has been claiming for a long time – the possibility of suspending at least the commercial chapter of the Association Agreement with Israel, sanctioning Israeli ministers who sabote the solution of two states (which is an official European position) or block the entrance to Europe of illegal settlement products.
But for frustration of many capitals and the head of European diplomacy itself, sufficient votes are not yet given so that any of these measures, nor the most shy of the catalog, become the common position of the EU. “There is no way to sweeten the situation in which we are: a large majority of member states have given more ideas (…) but it is clear that there are divergences on how to ensure that the Israeli government changes the course,” Kallas summarized, which did not hide his “frustration” by the impasse European more than a month after presenting the “options” of sanctions after having officially found that the bilateral agreement with the EU governs.
As stressed, it is not about lack of proposals on the table: in addition to Spain or Ireland, also Denmark, Sweden or Netherlands, despite their, they have explicitly supported the informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Copenhagen the suspension of trade within the association agreement or the imposition of sanctions to Israeli extremist ministers, among others. “The problem is that not all member states agree,” Kallas explained.
The Danish appointment, with which the political course has been opened after the summer pause, was informal, so decisions cannot be made. But since it was the first physical encounter of the European heads of foreign policy since mid -July and after an atrocious summer in which it has been and in whose capital it has also been officially declared, there was a lot of pressure to demonstrate that the EU can be able, at once, to “move from words to the facts” and approve at once some sanction against the Netanyahu government, as several ministers stressed.
“The EU is doing too little too late,” said Spanish José Manuel Albares upon arrival. “We cannot continue as we see this terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians face death by famine,” insisted the head of Spanish diplomacy.
Albares has proposed to limit at least the political dialogue with how humanitarian issues or the solution of two states, until Netyahu “reverses its usual policies” in the strip. It has also raised an embargo on weapons to Israel or the prohibition of imports to products from illegal settlements. Or at least, as France and Denmark proposed on the edgeimpose tariffs so high to these products that your trade is unfeasible.
But there was no consensus. Most of the measures require, at least, a qualified majority: the support of at least 55% of the states, that is, 15 of the 27, and that they suppose at least 65% of the total European population. And this is not yet on the table, especially because of Germany’s refusal – which for its weight and size could change the screws – to take any step. Its exterior head, Johann Wadephul, arrived in Copenhagen even at least approve the shy and so far the only proposal of the commission: exclude Israel from a part of the Horizon Europe European Scientific Program. Nor does that see Germany as “useful.”
“Horizon Europe is a scientific civil cooperation program. I do not believe that such useful cooperation will influence the political will and military plans of Israel,” argued the Christian -democratic politician, ignoring that the sanction proposal did not seek so much to have an impact on that context but to demonstrate the Israeli executive that the EU can and takes pressure steps.
In this sense, the Danish Foreign Minister and host of the appointment, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, has urged to “change the false narrative” that Israel uses, which every time the EU threats with a sanction accuses the European block of acting in favor of Hamas. “Israel is now sabotaging the solution of two states and acting in front of this is not reinforcing Hamas,” he said.
