The Czech Foreign Minister criticizes the EC proposal for sanctions against members of the Israeli government. He stressed the failure of similar initiatives in the past.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský thinks that the sanctioning of members of the Israeli government by the European Union makes no sense. There have been several proposals for the suspension of the EU association agreement with Israel, but the Member States have never supported them majority. Lipavský pointed out that he did not know what was motivated von Der Leyen to the steps. He responded to Tuesday’s speech by the head of the European Commission Ursula von Der Leyen on the state of the Union in which she announced these steps, says TASR newsletter in Prague.
“Over the past year, we have discussed it regularly in various variants in the Council of Foreign Ministers and the proposals have never encountered support. Before the flight, the association’s suspension was discussed, it did not meet support. It makes sense to sanction them, ”Lipavský said.
You need to wait
So far, however, this is only a political statement and it is necessary to wait for the proposal to be actually submitted and how it will be presented. Therefore, he did not want to specify the resulting Czech position yet.
“In general, I have seen many similar proposals over the past year and they were all unsuccessful. So I don’t know what is motivated by Ursula von der Leyen,” added Czech diplomacy chief.
In her speech on the state of the EU, the President of the EC stated that the European Commission will propose the EU Council to a partial suspension of the Association Agreement with Israel on trade regarding trade. Before the MEPs in Strasbourg, she admitted that finding a majority to support this step in a line would be difficult. In addition, it will also propose the imposition of sanctions on extremist Israeli ministers and violent settlers. She described the current situation in the Gaza Strip as unacceptable.
