On Tuesday 3 April, an EU spokesperson told EUROPE that the EU had "taken note" of the cancellation of the agreement between Israel and the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR), which had aimed at settling the situation of tens of thousands of illegal Eritrean and Sudanese immigrants living in the country.
As part of this agreement, 16,000 migrants/refugees are reported to have been hosted in Western countries and 16,000 have apparently been offered temporary regularisation and vocational integration programmes. Before the talks, Israel had planned on expelling these migrants from its territory, leaving them the choice between an air ticket to a third country or unlimited imprisonment in Israel.
"The EU has taken note of the announcement by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel the agreement Israel had declared to have reached with UNHCR regarding the granting of a suitable legal status of refugees and migrants in Israel and the resettlement of 16,000 refugees and migrants elsewhere", an EU spokesperson said in answer to a question from EUROPE. "The EU expects all countries to fulfil their engagements towards asylum seekers, and to respect all provisions of international law", the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson stated that "while monitoring the further political discussion in Israel", the EU recalls that "migration issues are and remain one of the EU's main priorities". The spokesperson also said that as regards issues specifically linked to asylum, the EU was following the situation in Israel closely, "along with civil society, human rights organisations and UNHCR", adding that that EU regularly engages with the Israeli authorities as needed.
The issue nevertheless seems complicated. During the evening of 2 April, the EU delegation in Israel responded to the Israeli decision highlighting difficult relations. "Guess it's just one of those days. At 20:57 you congratulate Israel and the HCR on their agreement, at 21:46 you like (on Twitter) Israel's ministry of foreign affairs' announcement on the deal, at 22:50 the prime minister suspends it and blames, among others, the EU (where UNHCR hoped to resettle a significant number of refugees)", the delegation tweeted. When questioned about these relations, the European External Action Service did not respond. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)