European foreign ministers gathered in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss ways to harden the bloc's position on illegal Israeli settlements and the Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Speaking on arrival, the EU's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said that the required unanimity to sanction Mr Ben-Gvir was lacking.
“It has been proposed by many member states to sanction the minister Ben-Gvir,” Ms Kallas said. “We will discuss this. At the moment, my consultations with the member states suggest that we don’t have the necessary unanimity that we need for this decision.”
The Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka last week said that he would block the move, saying it would boost Mr Ben-Gvir's popularity in Israel before elections later this year.
A large majority of the bloc's members have voiced support for sanctioning Mr Ben-Gvir or have already issued national visa bans, including most recently France, Ireland and Poland.
Austria's Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger condemned Mr Ben-Gvir's actions and said she would speak out “very clearly in favour” of sanctioning him during her meeting with EU counterparts.
'Unacceptable' behaviour
Ms Meinl-Reisinger said she had been particularly appalled by Mr Ben-Gvir's taunting of European flotilla activists after they were detained last month by Israeli authorities on their way to Gaza.
“I find his behaviour unacceptable, especially towards Austrians who were part of this flotilla that sailed towards Israel and Gaza. And I want to make this very clear: he is not welcome here. Treating Austrians this way casts a very bad light on Israel,” she said.
Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right Israeli minister, has often been sanctioned along with Mr Ben-Gvir. Both are viewed as extremists who support violent, racist rhetoric against Palestinians and the annexation of the West Bank.
The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said he wanted sanctions against the two ministers to also be endorsed by the EU.
This would “send a clear signal that Europe cannot accept the explosion of violence and the continuation of unbridled colonisation in the West Bank, which threatens the possibility of peace in the near and Middle East,” he said.
Israeli settlements
There is also a parallel push by several states, led by Sweden and France, to restrict or completely stop trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Legal experts argue that this trade, while relatively small at an estimated $300 million a year, finances the occupation.
“Today we solemnly call upon the European Commission to do everything in its power to prevent the importation into Europe of products originating from illegal settlements in the West Bank, just as it has done to prevent products illegally imported from Crimea and annexed by Russia,” Mr Barrot said.
“We cannot accept that Europe, directly or indirectly, should support these illegal activities through its trade, activities that jeopardise the possibility of peace between Israel and Palestine,” he added.
The Commission – the bloc's executive arm – is expected to send a letter to member states arguing that such a proposal would have to be adopted as a sanction, which requires unanimity.
The European Council – the body in which member states are represented – has already put forward arguments during meetings in Brussels that go against the expected view of the Commission.
EU trade law can be used not only to enable trade but also to impose trade restrictions, it said. Tabling a proposal targeting Israeli settlements with this framework would make it more likely to be adopted, because it would require a qualified majority and not unanimity.
The European Council's position is shared by a number of member states, including France. Others, like Italy, have been more cautious and say they want to wait for a Commission proposal to make a decision. Germany reportedly opposes the move.
Spain last year moved ahead with a national ban, one month after Slovenia. “This is simply the European Union complying with international law and the opinions of the International Court of Justice,” Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.
“It is up to the other states to decide whether they want to follow Spain's example, whether they want a coherent foreign policy that respects international law,” Mr Albares added. “For the European Union, this question shouldn't even need to be raised. The European Union must respect international law; therefore, it should take this measure.”
It remains unclear whether the Commission will table a proposal – it refused to confirm whether it would or not after France and Sweden first made their request to the Commission in April. As the Commission stalls, a handful of EU states, including Ireland, are taking national measures despite trade being an exclusive competence of the Commission.
“It is completely unacceptable that Israel continues to take the actions that it has with impunity and without the EU responding decisively at home,” the Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said. “I am also bringing forward legislation on this matter as well.”
