Published on
•Updated
ADVERTISEMENT
In an interview with Euronews, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed the strategy to suspend trade-related provisions within the Israel-EU Association Agreement.
Trade between the EU and Israel was €42.6 billion in 2024, and the preferential treatment is around 37% of that, she confirmed.
“So it is a significant amount, and when it comes to the preferential treatment, then 37% of that trade really has the preferential treatment,” Kallas told Euronews.
“So definitely this step will have a high cost for Israel,” the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first announced the plan to target Israeli trade with the bloc during last week’s State of the EU speech.
The Commission is due to formally agree to the proposals on Wednesday.
The matter must be agreed among a qualified majority of member states, meaning at least one of the larger countries – Germany or Italy – will have to support the bid if it is to succeed.
So far, both countries have blocked all proposals at the EU level aimed at pressuring Israel into changing the course of the war.
Kallas said if the countries blocking the progress of measures disagree with the plan on the table, she should come up with alternatives, especially if they acknowledge the situation on the ground in Gaza is “untenable”.
‘”The question you posed is very correct. Will it pass in the (European) Council?” said Kallas.
“We had very intensive discussions in the Foreign Affairs Council about this,” Kallas said about the blockage at the EU level.
“My question to all counterparts, because it’s not only Germany, was that if you agree on the diagnosis that the situation is extremely grave, the situation is disastrous, and untenable, then the question is, what do we do about this?”
“If you don’t support these measures, then what measures can you support? Bring alternatives,” Kallas concluded.
