Spain Urges EU To Suspend Trade Deal With Israel
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called on the European Commission to take an official stance on whether to suspend the European Union’s association agreement with Israel.
“The European Commission must respond once and for all to the formal request made by two European countries to suspend the association agreement with Israel if it is found, as everything suggests, that human rights are being violated,” Sánchez told an event on Monday in Barcelona.
Requests made in February by Spain and Ireland called for an immediate review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, over concerns that Israel violated human rights obligations stipulated in the pact.
There’s fragmentation within the bloc regarding how the EU should approach its trade relations with Israel. Spain, Ireland and Belgium want to reopen the agreement and impose trade sanctions while countries like Finland, Austria and Germany are more skeptical.
Similarly, a letter sent to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borell and signed by 51 MEPs called the council’s agenda to include the suspension of this agreement.
Sanchez is increasingly pushing Brussels and the continent as a whole to exert pressure on Israel. Last Friday, he called on the international community to stop arms exports to Israel following intensified strikes on Lebanon.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, 40 countries condemned Israel’s attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which wounded at least five peacekeepers.
UNIFIL said that its facilities have been “repeatedly hit” and that Israeli forces had “deliberately” fired shots at the mission’s headquarters in the town of Naqoura.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to evacuate the region “immediately.” Later that day, Israeli tanks destroyed the gate of a UNIFIL base in Ramyah and forcibly entered, leaving after 45 minutes. Israeli forces then fired several rounds 100 metres from the camp, according to a statement made by the UN mission.
UNIFIL was established as an interim force in 1978 to confirm Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and help restore peace in the region. When war broke out between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, its mandate expanded to monitoring the cessation of hostilities and support the Lebanese army.
Lovin Malta has sent questions to the Foreign Ministry for the country’s stance on this issue.
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